The Demise of Basketball

I used to love coaching basketball.  Now I only like it.  I used to enjoy practices but lived for coaching the games.  Now it's the opposite.  Now, if I have a fun team I love coaching practices but just tolerate the games.  If the kids aren't much fun then it's just a grind-it-out season.  Luckily, the past two seasons I have been fortunate enough to have had great kids to work with.

Why the shift in attitude?  Refs, mostly.  The refs seem to be getting worse and worse yet more arrogant at the same time.  We're getting some now that just flat out don't even know the rules.  A big factor in the demise of good officiating is that, really, who in their right mind would want the job?  It doesn't pay much and too many fans, coaches, and even players are becoming increasingly obnoxious.

Another aspect of the game losing its luster is that coaches are increasingly teaching players to cheat.  This attitude of "it's only a foul if you get caught" is ruining the game and teaching kids rotten messages.  Shoving in the back, grabbing jerseys, moving screens, coughing during free throws, all so some jackass coach can go home thinking that somehow it all makes him a winner.  Pathetic.  These win-at-all-costs coaches are turning a once-elegant game into a pitiful bout of pushing, shoving, yelling, and whining.  And the refs just let it go on.

My theory is that the cheat-to-win mentality started with the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons teams and has worked its into the colleges, high schools, and now youth basketball.  It's to the point where I seldom watch an NBA game, don't like the college game as much, and will only go see a high school game if I know some of the kids playing. 

It's a shame.  If I want to watch that sort of contest, and sometime I do, I would rather just watch a football game or MMA match.