I know that if I post every flagrantly heinous generalization about the NBA, I won’t have time for anything else. Still, I found this cobbling of isolated incidents to be quite hilarious.
Adrian Dater of the Denver Post on why the NBA gets more national media attention than the NHL:
“Why is that? Because NBA players get into more trouble, which creates drama for our superficial electronic media and print pundits, giving them great reasons to point their stern fingers of morality and accomplish the neat trick of staying “above the fray” all the while jumping right in. NBA players slug fans in the stands (Ron Artest), spit at them (Charles Barkley), kick photographers (Dennis Rodman), or choke coaches (Latrell Sprewell).”
Yes, the actions of four players in four isolated incidents is why the NBA gets more attention than the NHL. Not because the game is vastly more athletic than an average NHL game, or that the players have the charisma that NHL players are sorely lacking. It’s because the vast majority of the players are fan-attacking, photographer-kicking, coach-choking thugs.
I guess Todd Bertuzzi nearly murdering Steve Moore just wasn’t enough to help the NHL gain popularity.
(Interesting note — Dater goes back decades to get his four examples. Only one of the incidences he talks about, the Pacers/Pistons brawl, even occurred since the year 2000.)
