NBA urges players to voice themselves on social issues.

Are we likely to see the NBA promoting social justice this season?


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Does this mean they are allowed to criticize the referees?
They reassigned a technical foul to a coach in the middle of a playoff game last year because they were worried people would say they were being racist to Draymond Green. He's the guy that accidentally sent a dick pic out on a public Snapchat post and was known for kicking players in the stones.
 
True, but if and when that happens, there will at least be an open dialogue about the risks involved that a hockey player must accept, and how vital a part of the game that is. Body checking is a vital part of the game. Skates are a necessary part of the game. Fighting? Not so much. For revenge for a cheap hit from behind, or whatnot, sure, and it won't ever go away even if they do start handing out mandatory suspensions. Those fights will happen no matter what, just like they do in baseball and basketball on occasion.

What I think they could do without are "motivational" fights, or the agreed upon fights. Fighting shouldn't be part of a strategy to get back into a game, if your team is getting their asses kicked. Only in hockey is that kind of mentality acceptable. If a first baseman just started kicking the shit out of baserunner as he was running up the line, because he got a hit and tacked on a few runs in a 12-0 game, you'd think the first baseman was insane, and he'd probably be kicked out the league, because that fight culture is just not normal in baseball, or any other sport, really. Not even in the roughest of all sports, can you just stop what you're doing and beat the piss out of someone on the other team because you're mad about the score. It's kind of silly when you think about it.

It doesn't make any sense to superimpose the culture, tradition, morality, history, machinations etc. of hockey on to another sport, as you say hockey is unique in regards to fighting, among other things.

I just whole heartedly disagree with the opinion that banning fighting wouldn't change the game in any meaningful way.

One thing that separates hockey from other sports is, in my opinion, the extreme intensity. You don't get that type of "on field" hatred from any other sport, fighting is a big part of that. Guys who don't want to fight don't have to, a la the instigator rule.

And like I said, in regard to the list of injury causing plays, fighting is at the bottom.
 
The NFL is still the biggest ratings powerhouse on television.
However, the drop in ratings has been precipitous. For example, this season's opening week has seen a 12% across the board drop from last year, which was already lower by between 20 and 25% than 2015 for national prime time games.

In most polls, the anthem protests by Kaepernick and others were the single largest reason cited by fans for their decline in interest. For example, this poll by JD Powers: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-protests-no-1-reason-viewers-tuned-nfl-games




https://www.sbnation.com/2017/7/27/...national-anthem-protests-jd-power-survey-2017

Here's a closer look at the poll.


a whopping 287 polled stopped watching because of protest, the same degree as people who stopped watching because of game delays.

It's almost a non factor and many other things come into play as well. Especially how local teams are doing.
 
Why are right wingers so triggered about this? You snowflakes need a safe space?
Lol maybe some of us don't actually enjoy the intrusion of politics into every facet of our lives
 
https://www.sbnation.com/2017/7/27/...national-anthem-protests-jd-power-survey-2017

Here's a closer look at the poll.


a whopping 287 polled stopped watching because of protest, the same degree as people who stopped watching because of game delays.

It's almost a non factor and many other things come into play as well. Especially how local teams are doing.

A 3% drop based on that one factor alone is not negligible. And that's ignoring the respondents who said the protests were one reason they watched fewer games but not the main reason. So 287 people is not the full number of people who watched fewer games because of the protests.

As far as how local teams are doing, the numbers I've seen is that regional game viewership was down by 1% only from 2015 to 2016. So sure, some teams lost viewers because they suck, but others gained viewers because they were good. So the claim made by this article that the loss of viewership was based on local team success seems false.

It's national games in prime time where the ratings are 20-25%. And no doubt there are many factors. One strong argument is that the NFL has oversaturated the market. Thursday night, Sunday night, and Monday night prime time games might just be too much of a good thing. Also, cord cutting has to be factored in, but this poll puts it far beneath the protests as an issue.

And finally, it's not a non-factor if it is the single largest factor as well as the simplest thing to put right.
 
I don't give a shit...but I would love it if somebody said fuck liberals and conservatives on live television just to troll America/NBA.
 
A 3% drop based on that one factor alone is not negligible. And that's ignoring the respondents who said the protests were one reason they watched fewer games but not the main reason. So 287 people is not the full number of people who watched fewer games because of the protests.

As far as how local teams are doing, the numbers I've seen is that regional game viewership was down by 1% only from 2015 to 2016. So sure, some teams lost viewers because they suck, but others gained viewers because they were good. So the claim made by this article that the loss of viewership was based on local team success seems false.

It's national games in prime time where the ratings are 20-25%. And no doubt there are many factors. One strong argument is that the NFL has oversaturated the market. Thursday night, Sunday night, and Monday night prime time games might just be too much of a good thing. Also, cord cutting has to be factored in, but this poll puts it far beneath the protests as an issue.

And finally, it's not a non-factor if it is the single largest factor as well as the simplest thing to put right.


I wonder if head trauma on the players is something we'll be seeing more of in regards to lost viewership
 
I wonder if head trauma on the players is something we'll be seeing more of in regards to lost viewership
Maybe. The NFL seems more worried that the effects will be that long term fewer athletes will go into football in jr high and high school. They are making every effort to increase the safety of the game at the earlier levels so players don't have to relearn how not to lead with their helmets in college and the pros.

Overall, the NFL seems extremely sensitive to things that affect the long term health and profitability of football. This is why Kaepernick can't get a job. If he were a great QB he still might get offers, but he's mediocre and he hurts the bottom line, possibly long term. Owners care about more than winning in the short term, which is a big part of why the league has been so successful. The biggest single reason for their ratings decline also happens to be the easiest to fix.

As for the NBA, it has seemed to be a well run league for some years now. It has really blossomed in the past few decades. Politicizing their message seems like it would be an unforced error. In a country as polarized politically as ours is, you risk alienating a large part of your audience.
 
True, but if and when that happens, there will at least be an open dialogue about the risks involved that a hockey player must accept, and how vital a part of the game that is. Body checking is a vital part of the game. Skates are a necessary part of the game. Fighting? Not so much. For revenge for a cheap hit from behind, or whatnot, sure, and it won't ever go away even if they do start handing out mandatory suspensions. Those fights will happen no matter what, just like they do in baseball and basketball on occasion.

What I think they could do without are "motivational" fights, or the agreed upon fights. Fighting shouldn't be part of a strategy to get back into a game, if your team is getting their asses kicked. Only in hockey is that kind of mentality acceptable. If a first baseman just started kicking the shit out of baserunner as he was running up the line, because he got a hit and tacked on a few runs in a 12-0 game, you'd think the first baseman was insane, and he'd probably be kicked out the league, because that fight culture is just not normal in baseball, or any other sport, really. Not even in the roughest of all sports, can you just stop what you're doing and beat the piss out of someone on the other team because you're mad about the score. It's kind of silly when you think about it.
Keep in mind it's hard to throw a good punch on ice skates , you can't plant your feet well, it's not the same thing as a regular fight
 
Maybe. The NFL seems more worried that the effects will be that long term fewer athletes will go into football in jr high and high school. They are making every effort to increase the safety of the game at the earlier levels so players don't have to relearn how not to lead with their helmets in college and the pros.

Overall, the NFL seems extremely sensitive to things that affect the long term health and profitability of football. This is why Kaepernick can't get a job. If he were a great QB he still might get offers, but he's mediocre and he hurts the bottom line, possibly long term. Owners care about more than winning in the short term, which is a big part of why the league has been so successful. The biggest single reason for their ratings decline also happens to be the easiest to fix.

As for the NBA, it has seemed to be a well run league for some years now. It has really blossomed in the past few decades. Politicizing their message seems like it would be an unforced error. In a country as polarized politically as ours is, you risk alienating a large part of your audience.


I do agree the unwanted media scrutiny is the reason he hasn't been signed. People don't want the drama involved.

But NFL viewership is so still so incredibly high. The numbers they had two years ago aren't sustainable forever. Even the past Super Bowl had lower over night ratings and it was a crazy game.
 
I do agree the unwanted media scrutiny is the reason he hasn't been signed. People don't want the drama involved.

But NFL viewership is so still so incredibly high. The numbers they had two years ago aren't sustainable forever. Even the past Super Bowl had lower over night ratings and it was a crazy game.
Again, while the numbers remain high, they are dropping precipitously. Maybe they will bottom out, and everything will be fine. I hope so. I enjoy NFL football. But this doesn't seem like a natural fluctuation.
 
Well probably because punching is part of the sport, for a few blows anyway.

Obviously not as much as mma or boxing.
I'm a huge fan of hockey but the NHL has had its fair share of players go overboard. Todd Bertuzzi sucker punched Steve Moore ending Moore's career, Matt Cooke elbowed Marc Savard in the head on purpose ending his career, in 1999 you had Marty McSorely purposely swing his stick into the face of Donald Brashear causing him to fall to the ice. Mcsorely was suspended for the remainder of the 1999-2000 season and also was convicted of criminal assault for the incident and got 18 months probation. Ultimately when his suspension ended no NHL team would sign him and he retired. You then have Chris Simon who swung his stick like a baseball bat at the head of Ryan Hollweg leading to a 25 game suspension back in 2007. Then early the next season Simon purposely stepped on the back leg of Jarkko Ruutu while said player was prone on the ice and was suspended for 30 games. As a result of that, the incident with the stick and a bunch of other bad stuff he did he all but retired from hockey playing briefly with the Minnesota Wild and then going over to Europe to play in the KHL.

The NHL is pretty good in regards to dealing punishment for dangerous hits and the likes for the most part.
Keep in mind it's hard to throw a good punch on ice skates , you can't plant your feet well, it's not the same thing as a regular fight
I used to play a bit of ice hockey as a child, was goalie and I got into one fight and let me tell you trying to punch on ice skates and especially with all the padding is pretty hard. Ended falling face first to the ice while trying to land a punch. Shit was embarrassing not to mention both myself and the other person got ejected from the game and my coach was not happy
 
Keep in mind it's hard to throw a good punch on ice skates , you can't plant your feet well, it's not the same thing as a regular fight

There are still a few guys who can drop some devastating bombs on skates. Colton Orr comes to mind. He had a devastating right hand.
 
Then why make threads crying your guts out if you can just "change the channel"? Why not change the channel?

It's amazing how you guys bitch about all this stuff "the left" does, but it's YOU that's even making it a thing. Do you honestly think anyone else but a butthurt conservative would create this thread in here? Do you think leftists or centrists actually give a shit about small potatoes like this when we consistently shit on you guys for bringing it in?



The problem with your whole "this is why it isn't a safe space" diatribe is that it has no bearing on what a safe space is commonly understood to be, nor does it have congruence with previous issues raised along these lines. A safe space is literally a place where one group chooses to isolate themselves while excluding those that they believe are either antagonistic or add nothing to their discussion. The rest of the stuff you're trying to add to draw a difference is extraneous. So you can try and act like they're different all you want, but that doesn't change the essential meaning of the term, which definitely applies to people crying about politics being injected into their sporting events. In fact, you have your priorities ALL fucked up because with political action meetings or group discussions, you can at least point to a motive or reason(s) to exclude the outgroup. The only reason you can come up with as to why we should keep politics out of sports is that you don't like hearing it. No real meaning to it, no constructive reason, it just aggravates your feelings.

That's not only requesting a safe space, it's requesting a safe space because your fee fees got hurt. Are you any better than the college students you so bemoan?

But it's silly to act like making a thread about something is the same as demanding a safe space from these athletes and crying about being traumatized. Pro sports is a form of entertainment. Athletes don't usually make a lot of noise about political/social issues, of course there are exceptions like Ali for example and now with Kaepernick. But a league actively encouraging its athletes to players to get political and be socially conscious and all that is not something we usually see so obviously it raises some eyebrows among fans. Imagine if Dana encouraged his fighters to be like that, or even Vinnie Mac and his wrestlers. If someone brought it up and said they don't really wanna hear politics from these guys you gonna call them snowflakes? "LOL you need a safespace!" etc, I think it's silly.

You're comparing it to people who demand to not be exposed to certain opinions or people - even races of people ffs, we've seen people demand white-free spaces - based on the claim that they'll suffer from some trauma if they aren't protected. These demands are always centered around potential trauma. People who sometimes go to crazy lengths to exclude others, you're comparing that to some guys on the internet talking about how they don't need to be lectured on politics from guys who get paid millions to play a game. There are plenty of opportunities to rub some dumb right-wingers noses in shit especially now with Trump's constant BS but there's no need to force it where it doesn't really make sense....that's how I see it anyway.
 
There are still a few guys who can drop some devastating bombs on skates. Colton Orr comes to mind. He had a devastating right hand.

The days of a Colton Orr type are done I think. Barely any teams had a guy like that this year and if they did the guys barely played at all. I just hope they don't get rid of fighting altogether.
 
Good on them. People listen to players Like Lebron, Steph, etc. They can do a lot to help race relations, police brutality, etc. Lets just hope that players stand up like Kap did but dont have to pay the professional price
 
The NBA and NFL sorta has a thug culture. You'll see some seemingly well raised black men get to the league and then decide that they have to get street cred and tattoo up so much of their body. Even many of the white guys do that too. Then some are also getting in trouble with the law

I don't watch football so I can't speak to the NFL's culture. But it's been a long time since the NBA had a thug culture. That era of players is gone. The culture in the league is the tamest it's ever been.

Now you see tattoos on a black guy and automatically call him a thug, which is just silly. Tattoos are so common today they're not associated with any one culture or group. Everybody and their grandma has tattoos today.
 
The days of a Colton Orr type are done I think. Barely any teams had a guy like that this year and if they did the guys barely played at all. I just hope they don't get rid of fighting altogether.

Ryan Reeves is probably the toughest guy in the league right now. He can also chip in a few points. He had 13 this season.


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The NHL can't stop allowing fights, or they'll lose half of the fan base. They know this.

And I'm pretty sure McSorley paid a price for what he did. That guy will be shit on forever. What names do you think he's been called for the last 25 years? I surely hope he wasn't called "thug".
That incident is all that he is. It's like talking to Scott Norwood. Uhhh... so... how bout that Super Bowl miss? Uh... why'd you nearly kill that guy?

Norwood never kicked one that far before on grass!
 
I don't watch football so I can't speak to the NFL's culture. But it's been a long time since the NBA had a thug culture. That era of players is gone. The culture in the league is the tamest it's ever been.

Now you see tattoos on a black guy and automatically call him a thug, which is just silly. Tattoos are so common today they're not associated with any one culture or group. Everybody and their grandma has tattoos today.

and my grandma looks like an idiot with all of them.
 
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