RazorOye
carry all the groceries in in one trip
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The players really do run that league it seems. Not an NBA fan so don't follow it that close. I am a City of NO fan and really wish the Pel's FO would get it together.
I'm not sure 'run the league' is quite on the mark, but they do moreso than the NFL. That player presence is part of the reason, though, that the NBA has been surging in popularity. There are people who don't like that player-centric dynamic that exists in the NBA (esp relative to other sports), but there are a heckuva lot of people who do.
e.g. A Game and Its Culture: Why the NBA has Thrived While the NFL has Declined
Today’s NBA is a professional-sports league on the rise. Its ratings on TNT are up 20 percent from last year. Its ratings on NBATV, the league’s cable channel, are up 20 percent. ESPN and ABC’s NBA ratings are up as well, and 17 out of 30 teams have seen improvements in their local markets. Taken in isolation, these numbers are impressive. Viewed in context, they’re breathtaking.
Yet the NBA rolls on. How? It’s a league that’s political, but it’s not defined by politics. Its stars can be controversial, but they’re not defined by controversy. It’s a league that’s learned to put the main thing — the game — front and center while respecting its players’ convictions and individuality.
Second, the NBA not only has learned how to celebrate its players and respect their autonomy, it’s blessed with a generation of young stars who use that freedom to live publicly as family men, with stars such as Curry and James showcasing their domestic life on social media.
Critically, a league that respects its players earns respect in turn. It prohibits kneeling without controversy in part because the players don’t feel stifled. The NBA encourages them to develop their immense public platforms. Last September, James declared, “My voice is stronger than my knee” — a sentiment that, for him, is surely true, and a sentiment that the NFL would do well to understand.