Survey says… people are idiots.
With about 50,000 more responses, the numbers on ESPN’s SportsNation poll have changed dramatically. 62% now believe the Knicks/Nuggets brawl was almost as bad as the Pacers/Pistons brawl. 65% now believe that the fight will have an impact on NBA policy. And 60+ percent voted to suspend each of the players involved for ten or more games.
Somehow I doubt that the numbers could change so drastically in four hours. This is a poll where people can vote multiple times, but I strongly doubt that someone out there voted 50,000 times. So what accounts for the sudden and strong shift in public opinion? Certainly, the responses here speak to a public that apparently has no idea what an actual brawl is; Nuggets/Knicks was nowhere close to Pacers/Pistons and will certainly not have a lasting effect on the NBA. Furthermore, the idea that anyone outside of Carmelo Anthony and Nate Robinson be suspended for 10 or more games is ludicrous; these new respondents seem to be acting out of some kind of newfound outrage.
The difference between the first 30,000 respondents and the next 50,000? I have no idea. It’s possible that because SportsCenter aired at 7:00, more people were exposed to the poll and voted. However, with Football Night in America airing and FOX’s NFL coverage coming to an end, I don’t think SportsCenter had enough of an audience to manage 50,000 votes on its website. No matter what, the poll numbers are now completely opposite of what they were earlier, and it looks like a bad sign for David Stern.
People are drinking the anti-NBA Koolaid. But then again, that’s nothing new.
