Metro Pulse/Sports/Don't Believe the Hype

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ESPN's tireless promotion can't save the NBA

by Tony Basilio

So I'm sitting around watching a little TV the other day, and ESPN is running a promo for what it's billing as the next big thing, Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers versus Carmello Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. So, like a typical American male sports fan, I get sucked in. And boy did it suck!

ESPN is now a broadcast partner with the NBA. So, in true NBA fashion, their promotion of this happening event was, well, ESPN. Watch any edition of SportsCenter, ESPN's marquee highlights show, and they lead with the NBA! They had a 10-minute story a couple of weeks back on the supposed feud between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Who cares? It doesn't matter because ESPN is all about agendas (see Peyton Manning and the Heisman Trophy race of '97.) The NBA is their property just as the Big Ten is as well. ESPN is the 10,000-pound gorilla of sports marketing. The depths to which they stoop in the attempt to give the NBA every opportunity to become our pastime are comical. SportsCenter even led off its telecast over the weekend with Saturday night NBA action. Two years ago, the NBA would have been fifth in terms of billing behind college football, NFL, racing and perhaps hockey. Back to the game. Oh, yes, the game. Lebron versus Carmello. Can't wait!

Lebron James, the much ballyhooed, 18-year old, next savior of the NBA, leading his upstart Cleveland ball club against last season's player of the year in College basketball, Carmello Anthony. This was their first meeting as professionals in the NBA. A sold-out crowd, the next two Grant Hills battling. This was must-see TV. ESPN was billing this as if it were Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson all over again. Close. Yeah, there was a Bird feel to the game all right.

Like when half of the sell-out crowd, announced in excess of 20,000 bored folks in Cleveland, decided to fly the coop at half-time. How embarrassing it must have been to the lords of the league to see that much of the packed house had vacated the premises by the time the second half tipped off. Now, that's fantastic! Since I tuned in late to the game, I thought to myself where could the crowd have gone? So, I checked CNN, Fox and a couple of other places to see if something had happened in Cleveland's arena. It literally looked like a bomb threat had emptied the place. Could something terrible have happened? Where did everybody go? Then I realized after watching about 10 minutes of that alleged sport how close my first instincts were.

On the floor was no threat. It was the real thing. What a bomb the NBA served up on this night! Both teams combined to shoot 39 percent on the night. As I watched the carnage in horror and amazement, I was left with a couple thoughts: Who are these guys playing basketball? What group will claim responsibility for this act of domestic terrorism? Why are people dressed like blue seats? Can I catch the end of Joe Millionaire in Europe?

Who are these guys? Great question. Who in the hell knows. I've heard of Lebron James. He's the $100 million dollar man. A golden child who is so talented that he was offered $9 million cash to skip his senior year in high school in Dayton, Ohio, to play pro ball in Italy. I also knew about Carmello Anthony after he led Syracuse to the national title last spring. As for the rest of the guys who filled out both rosters, your guess is as good as mine as to who they were. Some were overcompensated veteran scrubs like Voshon Lenard, while most were kids with deficient skills. Want names? Nene Hillario, Earl Boykins, Ricky Davis, Darius Miles, Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Not only didn't I recognize the names on the court, I couldn't relate to the game they were trying to play.

Therein lies the problem of the NBA. The league has become a caricature of its former self. The NBA was built on solid team play and fundamentals, coupled with a complementary star system. Now, it gives us overpaid, over-hyped kids who are fundamentally deficient at the game they are paid millions of dollars to master. So, the league fights to find the next Michael Jordan instead of worrying about how awful its product has become. The NBA bills itself with slogans like "I love this game!" and "FANtastic". Here are a couple of new catch phrases for you that the "NBA will be able to use in about 10 years once the American sports fan reaches my conclusion. 'NBA, nobody around!" Or how about: "I loved this game!" I'm glad college hoops season will soon be here. Until then, I'm avoiding ESPN like the plague.

Tune in and talk sports with "The Tony Basilio Show" each weekday from 3-6 p.m. on the network (670 WMTY-AM, 850 WKVL-AM, 1140 WLOD-AM, 1290 WATO-AM, or 1400 WGAP-AM).