THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: 65 lines
Why should somebody who is closer in age to Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell than to Shaquille O'Neal and Grant Hill be expected to enjoy another pro basketball season?
The NBA may be celebrating its 50th anniversary, but in some ways the league never seemed more juvenile.
A comment on the migration of teenagers and college dropouts to the NBA? Not exactly.
More like the observation of someone from the fortysomething crowd who is bemused by the culture and hype surrounding pro hoops.
With each year, it's getting harder to separate the youthful vigor of the NBA from the annoying childishness of its players.
Some of the self-indulgent stuff you see on the court - or in the obnoxious TV ads that promote the athletes - is a product of youth. But some of it looks like it was inspired by pro wrassling or MTV.
No question it's all aimed at teens and Generation X'ers. Does the NBA even care if the over-40 crowd watches? Sometimes you have to wonder.
Seen through middle-aged eyes, much about today's NBA is nonsense, from O'Neal's embarrassing self-promotion to Pat Riley's pompousness to Dennis Rodman's couture to Derrick Coleman's surly underachievement to Shawn Bradley's gawky misadventures. How can an adult be expected to take the league seriously?
These are the thoughts of a fogy, no doubt. And yet, the fogy easily admits that the game remains attractive in spite of Shaq and all the other distractions created to annoy grown-ups.
After all, the NBA offers the world's best spectator sport played by the universe's finest athletes. It's a nice combination.
In the '60s, a young boy went to his first pro basketball game. The Cincinnati Royals against the Detroit Pistons. He sat at half court, in the front row. The tickets were a birthday present from his parents.
At his first NBA game, he marveled at Oscar Robertson, the finest all-around player of his generation.
It's a long way from watching the Big O create a ``triple double'' before the term even existed to reading about J.R. Rider sitting in the back seat of a car allegedly smoking marijuana from a soda can.
Many of today's NBA players come from planets a child of the '60s will never visit.
It's not always fashionable to admit you enjoy the NBA, especially around this part of the country, where the college game is so revered.
The presence of Michael Jordan, though, still makes it respectable to say you follow the pros. The Bulls, out to defend another title, are again the NBA's most intriguing story, though Shaq's teenage fan club may disagree.
Saturday night, one of the NBA's newest public relations projects went to Chicago to play against Jordan's Bulls.
Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia rookie, wanted to measure his game against Jordan's. You get the impression from some of these kids that they think if they can take Mike off the dribble now and then, they have somehow proven something important.
Most of them don't have a clue what makes Jordan the player and winner he is. Most of them never will. This is the generation to which Jordan will be turning over the game.
While Jordan spent a year away from the court, a certain fortysomething fan lost interest in the pros. When Jordan leaves for good and O'Neal becomes the dominant cultural figure of pro basketball, it may be time for a lot of us to leave the NBA behind.
But not now. Not quite yet. by CNB