"Shut up and dribble."
Boycott: NBA playoff games called off amid player protest
All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
The dramatic series of moves began when the Bucks — the NBA’s team from Wisconsin, a state rocked in recent days by the shooting by police officers of Jacob Blake, a Black man — didn’t take the floor for their playoff game against the Magic. The teams were set to begin Game 5 of their series shortly after 4 p.m., with the Bucks needing a win to advance to the second round.
Players had been discussing boycotting games in the bubble after the shooting of Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. More discussions were scheduled Wednesday, but even before that the Bucks apparently decided they would act.
https://whyy.org/articles/milwaukee-bucks-players-boycott-nba-playoff-game-after-police-shooting-of-jacob-blake/
The players should start their own league.
In China. For all I care.
It’s kinda funny to me that you say that. If the NBA disappeared tomorrow it would have zero impact on my life whatsoever. It’s as relevant to me as underwater basket weaving or synchronized swimming.
In fact I can’t even think of one person I know offline that’s big into watching the NBA. But that could just be because the Bulls have sucked for so long.
Now I know it’s important to a lot of people and obviously the league commands enough viewership to ink huge TV deals.
But I think with this current limbo sports are in, a lot of people are realizing sports aren’t and shouldn’t be the focal points of their lives as they had been before COVID, and it could have a long lasting impact on the sports economy. Upsetting the fan base that pays their insane salaries by refusing to do their jobs isn’t going to help much either.
If refusing to play a basketball game would truly have one ounce of meaningful impact on the situation they’re boycotting, it would be different. I’m just pretty sure it doesn’t.
Well, it has sports people discussing what happened, so there is that. I think that is what they want.
I think as opposed to most NBA playoff situations, the players actually are getting a cut of the money for the playoff games played under the bubble.
For the rest, the reaction to decisions being made about college amd NFL football appear to undermine your argument. I read earlier in the month that baseball tv ratings were generally up 17% over 2019 and up dramatically for younger demographics.
Activism always has to walk a fine line between awareness and being too heavy handed. As an activist you want people to be aware of your message and have enough relevant info to support your cause. But the best of causes can suffer from fatigue if activists don’t do enough and they can cause backlash when they keep beating something to death.
In a vacuum I see nothing wrong with what the NBA players are doing but I do see for some segments of society and their fan base they’ll be lumped into the same group of idiots that show up after these events and cause way more hardship and destruction than the initiating incident did.
I wouldn’t put much stock in how baseball is doing relative to 2019 considering it’s pretty much the only game in town following the cancelling of sports for months. Tons of pent up demand that people that don’t normally watch baseball are watching baseball. I’m one of them.
In another super weird 2020ism, the Klebolds and Harris’ of 2020 are out chasing down the next riot where they can destroy lives and entire communities rather that settling for a classroom.
One final observation: So whenever there is a mass shooting it’s always this right wing white supremacist or whatever. Now in 2020 in many cities there have been these huge throngs of activists and minorities, some contingent of which is causing incredible amounts of damage to property. People they hate doing things they hate, after night, over and over again, in the exact same place.
These people are proverbial fish in a barrel. One dude with a couple AKs or ARs and a bag full of magazines could wipe out dozens of people in moments.
Just kinda begs the question...with millions unemployed and nothing to do, gun and ammo sales spiking, massive civil unrest, tensions high...its almost surprising it hasn’t happened. Maybe that’s the next chapter in this fucked up year. Sure hope not.
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