Why I Cannot Stand Professional Sports

Yahoo ! Olympic glory too high a cost for NBA By Adrian Wojnarowski Yahoo! Sports Aug 22, 6:45 pm EDT http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/basketball/news?slug=aw-olympicrisk082208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns ...Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had two 30-something maximum-salary players – Dirk Nowitzki and Kidd – in these Olympics and had long been leery of exposing his franchise stars to so much risk. He watched an archrival, Ginobili, go down on Friday and understands that whatever gloss that comes with Team USA’s golden glory, the dirty little secret of Olympic basketball doesn’t go away. “I absolutely continue to worry about it,” Cuban said Friday in an email. “Maybe we should do something similar to the soccer approach and limit it to players 23 and under. The real question is whether or not the NBA, with our increasing global strength can create our own global tournament to replace the Olympics and make money doing it.” Sooner or later, the NBA has to take a look at the good of these Olympics beyond the needs of Nike and the commissioner’s global imperialism. Maybe the Americans are protected with the waves of talent that they can turn to, but that gap will just drive the rest of the world harder and harder to catch them. More risks with multi-million dollar investments, more Ginobilis crumbling to floors around the world. These are the NBA’s casualties, too. “It is a tough decision to make,” Delfino said. “We come here with pride. We play because we want to represent our country.”... This is why I go to cricket matches to watch the young gentlemen from India and Pakistan and Jamaica and Bermuda and the Bahamas play: it is free to watch, the parking is free, bring your own food... ...and you get to have a sport experience, not a staged entertainment.