While many of us have remained fans, many haven t. Rating are down, and disenchantment is up. Some of these arguments are utterly bogus, but perception counts. In my view, however, the basic problem remains the game itself. Once again, scoring is declining, to historically low levels. Fouling is a strategic weapon.
Fast breaks are hard to come by.
The game is ugly, or, to borrow a few words from my thesaurus inartistic, unsightly, unseemly, uncomely, unlovely, beautiless, misproportioned, graceless, inelegant, rugged, awkward, lumbering, hideous, odious, forbidding, repellant, and disfigured. Today s All-Star game was few of those things. We saw players striving not just to put on a show, but to play the game at a higher level than it s ever been played before they succeeded often, and it was a thrill to watch. The game flowed and moved back and forth so quickly that we were able to forget about everything we don t like about the game in anticipation of the next play and that s how the game should always look. Right before our eyes, Kobe, Allen, Vince, Chris, Jason, Ray, Tracy, and Stephon expanded our notions of what the game can be.