NBA: Traveling a forgotten rule

[Gunslinger]

I'm watching the Pacers v. Celtics.

Gary Payton travels so much I swear he's carrying a pair of Samsonites.

Am I the only one who notices these guys forgetting they have to dribble?

[Rushville]

I have distanced myself from NBA fanship for the last several years because of the officiating. And not from a fairness standpoint, just from the standpoint that, I don't understand the game they're playing anymore. The rules have become so deteriorated that I hardly recognize it as basketball.

At the same time, I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists that believes David Stern is in the pockets of the network that broadcasts them so he makes sure certain teams make while others don't. I just believe that the refs of the NBA have naturally shown a little bit of lenience on the rules when it comes to the stars of the league. And Stern has not done anything to curb this lenience, so over the past couple of decades, the game has evolved into something completely different than what it once was.

For example, I may still consider myself a Pacers fan. I watched exactly 0 regular season games this year. The opportuntiy came up to go to game 6. I had never been to an NBA playoff game before so I thought it might be interesting. Now, I came to the conclusion several years ago that Reggie Miller travels every time he gets the ball. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Basically, every time he catches the ball, I cringe as I wait for the whiste to blow. It almost never does. But whenever Reggie comes around a screen, he catches the ball and takes at least 4 steps just getting himself into the position to either shoot or drive. Just to get to that point, he takes 4 steps. Every single time. But as far as I can tell, the refs let it go simply because it's Reggie's thing. He does that, so don't call it.

So I go to this game, and people around me are shouting at the refs the whole game to call traveling on Celtics players. And I'm thinking, "You do realize you're watching an NBA game don't you?" It almost seemd as though the diehard NBA fans, like those who probably have season tickets or at shell out a ton to go to a lot of games, or at least those who were at game 6, are walking around in some kind of fog. They can't, or refuse to, see how this game has evolved. I was once in this fog, so i know what it's like.

I was a Bulls fan during the Jordan years. And I had to defend Jordan against all those who were Jordan haters for years. "He's a ball hog. He gets all the calls. He travels every time he has the ball." I had fight off all these slams. Then when Jordan retired, I was closer to Indiananpolis, so I started pulling for the Pacers. Then i got to see the other side of it when they went to the Finals against the Lakers in 2000. When Travis Best gets knocked OVER the cameramen's row into the floor seats by Shaq and then a ref calls an offensive foul on Best, I begin to wonder. Then when you can almost set your clock by the fouls they called on Rik Smits in that series, it began to come clear. At first I shouted at the TV. Then it occurred to me, I was now on the other side. The side of being the small market team trying to knock off the league's stars.

The NBA is what it is. It's a league that caters to it's stars. If you've got a reputation and you've got a signature move or a typical way of doing things, the refs give you a break. Personally, I prefer the college game. I even prefer the high school game to NBA. Give me a floor full of guys who respect the rule book, especially those who are there to enforce it.

[Funkywhiteboy]

I left my seed in many cities during my travels.

Sin, Shawn Kemp