What's going on in Sports?

With the battle of words going on between StoneZ and Mr. A, it helped me raise a few questions. Has the NBA turned into a thug league? It's certainly different since the days of Bird, Magic, Dr. J, hell even Jordan. Gone are the short shorts replaced by shorts down to your ankles. Gone are fundamental team players. Gone are players who actually care about playing the game. So it then becomes a question of why? and how did it become this way? Is it money, marketing or ego's? I think a little of all three. I don't blame the players for wanting to make as much money as possible, after all, it's a business and I'd try and get as much money if I were in their shoes. Marketing really didn't help because overnight it's become a multi-billion dollar industry and players need to put up the numbers to get the lucrative marketing dollars from the Nike's of the world. Ego's, well, when players averaging 8 pts per game are making 6 million a year, how would you act? I guess as viewers we can all say that they are whining little kids who should just do their job, if you want to call it a job, and do it with pride, dignity and respect the fans who pay for their salaries and watch them win a game for their respective city. Hey, we all stereotype players on how they act with the media and how they dress, that's it!! We really don't know how they are with their families or off the court/playing field. There are a number of athletes that do great things in their communities. But they are making the $$$$$. We can bitch and moan all we want but it's not going to change. If anything, it'll get worse. Players don't have the same team concept that players had when we were watching them on TV years ago. Back then it was all about the team and doing whatever you could do to win. I guess that's why I respect the Patriots players so much. They could get more money elsewhere but it's all about winning Championships. It's a team concept that should be followed in all sports.

BOE