NBA Crap

Well it happened again. The refereeing in NBA finals was so blatantly pro Dwayne Wade, it was embarrassing. I don't think NBA fixes games, I just think NBA desperately wants the next MJ. And DW is the next MJ, so don't breathe on him or you'll be called for a foul. I remember last year against Detroit DW jumped, hit a Detroit guy smack in the front with nowehere to go, and got a foul. That was pathetic I felt. Now I see the NBA finals and I feel the league has anointed him the next Jordan. So he can travel, push people off etc etc and will get all the calls.

The sad thing is, DW, Lebron James et al are such great athletes, they will win by themselves... I don't know why the heck the NBA has to make us hate them by the way they get all the calls. I frankly think NBA gives a crap about the real basketball fans. They want to create a deity so casual fans tune in to watch like they watch Tiger play golf. So all the crying foul about NBA refereeing by sports fans is pointless. There are so many people I talk to who have just stopped watching NBA games because they feel the referees are pro superstars.

And I am amazed by logic of so called NBA "experts" who say: "Stop whining, Dallas had themselves to blame, if they didn't miss shots they would have won". Of course they would have, any moron can see that. The fact is most basketball games come down to a few points, teams go through hot and cold streaks. If referees can sway the game by 10 points, thats huge. And I am not even including the psychological effect of the bias. The fact is that these "experts" depend on the NBA for their livelihood, so cannot criticize it. Or like when ABC won't show replay of a terrible foul, yet due to the miracle of DVR you can go back and see what they don't want to show. The commentators won't say anything , because hey, they are fed by the league.


So, now Stern has his next MJ. This guy for all the accolades he gets, is an idiot. Since I came to this country 10 years ago, NBA has been unwatchable, I got a dose of 70-68 NY, Miami games in the '90s (big market teams)... I got to see MJ and Ewing taking 4-5 steps to dunk a ball and now I see phantom fouls on DW. Or maybe he's not an idiot, he know people all over the world love icons and superstars and a person in China and India is dazzled by the NBA machine and its Lebron's and DW's... they can't tell a foul from a non-foul and they don't care either. Its a nice way to sell the league.

So what does a sports fan do... stop watching NBA, why let your blood boil over an obviously subtly rigged game.... realize that NBA is entertainment, not really sports and look for true and fair competition elsewhere.

BTW, here is Bill Simmons (the one nationally prominent guy with balls to point this out)...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060620

GM's marketing problem

I follow with great interest the war between Thomas Friedman and General Motors. For those unitiated Mr Friedman proposes that GM is like a drug dealer feeding the gas guzzling American public by subsidizing gas on its large SUV's. GM had offered a fixed price of $1.99 per gallon till end of 2007 on its new SUV behemoths. Mr F. suggested that America would be better off if Toyota bought GM. He sees GM as producing the most number of large gas guzzlers. According to him, if GM wasn't so short sighted to rely totally on these large SUV's for its profit, it would be far better off.

I see both sides of the issue. GM and Ford have been extremely short sighted. They got lazy with these large SUV's and trucks and didn't see far out that gas price could be a major issue. Toyota and Honda on the other hand developed hybrids and even now are working on reducing price of hybrids. GM on the other hand scoffed at hybrids initially and then reluctantly took them up.

The problem now is that GM needs to sell these SUV's as they bring in upto 6-7000 in profit per vehicle. They can't make money on small cars. A company which is on the brink of collapse can't afford to be environmentally conscious and energy conserving.

The problem according to me is marketing for GM. Specifically, marketing for Hummer. Now this is a vehiclewhich evokes hatred and bemusement in many people. It gives 8 miles per gallon and looks like a monster on the road. Who buys it ? I have no idea. You buy a vehicle for performance or utility or comfort. Hummer has neither. It is a war vehicle and should stay that way.

Now what does GM do in trying to appear cool to customers. It heavily markets a niche vehicle which doesn't make them much money. Companies get associated with an image. E.g. Apple is cool, Google is innovative, Microsoft is evil and slow etc etc. Toyota also makes huge SUV's but get associated with the Prius. Hence, Toyota is a very environmentally and fuel price aware while GM is clueless. When people raise their ire over these monster vehicles , they turn to GM, primarily because of the Hummer.

Why the heck would you market this nonsensical vehicle so heavily and ruin your image in these times of high gas prices. Its not like the vehicle will save your company. The idiots who buy it would have done so regardless of the advertising. Now you have as association : GM -> Hummer -> bad company from point of view of environment and fuel. Toyota -> Prius -> makes fuel efficient cars and is good for enviornment.

Like it or not, what you market determines your image. Now GM comes up with ads for Chevy and how fuel efficient those cars are. But you are working against your image... of bad quality from the '90s and of being irresponsible from the Hummer.


I hope GM turns around. It is very important to lots of people. I also feel Toyota has to go down, no way it maintains quality being such a large company. Also, if GM improves its quality and fuel efficieny while keeping stylish models, Toyota will have to deviate from its boring looking Camry and Corolla and in the process lose quality.

And I pray to god that these SUV's go away. They suck fuel like a drunk... kill sight lines on the road... people inside are so coccooned that they act like jerks.... I just hate these vehicles. I think unless you have two kids, if you buy a SUV you should get taxed 100% and should get your head examined.

American obsession with soccer

Every four years I wonder why Americans get so obsessed about professing to hate soccer. The rest of the world has a grand party and the media (especially of the radio variety) start waxing about their disdain of the sport..... there is lack of action, not enough goals, too much flopping etc etc....

The criticisms can be applied to any sport you tend to like, some American football games drag, NBA has tons of flopping and very suspicious refereeing and baseball, if not played in the lazy summer months, can be slow (though I feel not boring at all).

My suggestion, don't waste you energy making fun of soccer... just don't watch it. Its on at daytime, so doesn't bother working people. Enjoy your "world" basketball championship and "world" series and celebrate your "world" champs. The rest of the world doesn't miss you, so chill out.