basketball

[james_w]

My hubby completely agrees. He also feels the same way about Nascar. He says there's no skill in it. It's just "drive fast, turn left, drive fast, turn left and then you've done a lap". Again, no skill required.

Now, my cousin who got accepted into the Sydney Kings, but is barely 5'9" tall, now that's skill!

I would have to disagree about no skill for BASKETBALL or NASCAR have you or your husband ever been in Nascar one wrong move and your dead or if you have no skill you may kill someone else aswell.
Thinking you just drive fast and turn you can't drive that fast on a normal road you'll flip the car for sure.
I suggest taking a trip to the goldy and having a go at the V8 supercars then come back after you have tried this.

My brother races super sedans V8's in speedway has since he was about 16

I have seen first hand when you go flying around a corner called death mans corner when my brother first started and flipped the car 4 times with his head bouncing each time.

If you think driving a nascar is so simple go do it they pay big bucks.

driving a nascar is more then just driving you have to know when anything goes wrong

with your car make split second decisions to avoid accidents etc etc.

He has won Several MVP titles for basketball also so he's 6" 4 that's really not that tall these days, since he has a skill at basketball and has won plenty of trophies to prove it, Should he not be allowed to play becuase of his height? This is totally ludicrious

Congrats to your cousin for getting into the kings

 

[BayView]

I can assure you that there's a whole lot more skill involved in dunking the ball vs shooting a 3 pointer.

When you are 6 feet 5 inches tall or taller, as most NBL players are, with another 2 feet of reach on top of that up to your hand, and you can easily jump a further 2 feet above the ground...this means you are effectively 10 feet in the air at hand level when you let go of the ball. Or even more if you can really jump.

How high is the net?

There is no skill in rolling the ball off your hand into the basket from point blank range.

To lob a ball into the hoop from about 5 or more metres with someone trying to block your angle by reaching out and up in front of you, or you have to make a deft dodge around an opponent to set up the same shot with no interference - but with pressure on constantly...that is skill.

 

[james_w]

With golf, the designers recognised that the players are hitting the ball further and made the courses longer, they grow the rough longer, cut the greens until they are super fast, make them more sloped, put in more bunkers and water.

In tennis, it is one player directly against another, and yes; the taller player has the advantage in serving. There is definitley an argument for raising the net height these days because the majority of (male) tennis players are over 6 feet tall. But generally, it is the emphasis on the skill of controling the ball to beat an opponent.

But basketball footage on the news sports reports like to glamourise the dunk, and the crowds cheer and applaud it.

ok I'll bite I have played basketball/tennis and yes even golf

I find golf ok bayview but I wouldn't class it as needing the skill of a top
NBA Player

Basketball is played in a team enviroment with coaches and if you don't have the skill to play basketball you sit on the bench weather your 5ft or 7ft
and you certainly won't be in the NBA just becuase your tall.

My other brother used to be short around 5" he was an extrememly good basketball player though as was my other brother that's 6"4

Golf : which I know is your sport so your going to be passion about it

So if I said golf was a good walk spoiled or has no skill you would be annoyed.
Right to me golf is pretty boring but to you you like golf so you will say it takes lots of skill etc what exactly does how the groundskeeper maintaince of the course etc have to do with the skill of any golfer?

I have played

basketball/tennis/rugby

Not to bad at them either however these were not my passions

My passionate sport is tae kwon do and I did that sport for 20 years

followed by zendo kai which I did for about the some amount of time I trained 1 on tue/thurs one on fri/sat

so my most passionate sport is martial arts my brothers most passion sport is tennis/basketball/football

each sport takes a set of skills and golf if you were to play it at a pro level I am sure it is the same.

 

[BayView]

ok I'll bite I have played basketball/tennis and yes even golf

I find golf ok bayview but I wouldn't class it as needing the skill of a top
NBA Player

Basketball is played in a team enviroment with coaches and if you don't have the skill to play basketball you sit on the bench weather your 5ft or 7ft
and you certainly won't be in the NBA just becuase your tall.

My other brother used to be short around 5" he was an extrememly good basketball player though as was my other brother that's 6"4

Golf : which I know is your sport so your going to be passion about it

So if I said golf was a good walk spoiled or has no skill you would be annoyed.
Right to me golf is pretty boring but to you you like golf so you will say it takes lots of skill etc what exactly does how the groundskeeper maintaince of the course etc have to do with the skill of any golfer?

I have played

basketball/tennis/rugby

Not to bad at them either however these were not my passions

My passionate sport is tae kwon do and I did that sport for 20 years

followed by zendo kai which I did for about the some amount of time I trained 1 on tue/thurs one on fri/sat

so my most passionate sport is martial arts my brothers most passion sport is tennis/basketball/football

each sport takes a set of skills and golf if you were to play it at a pro level I am sure it is the same.

You've mis-interpreted what my whinge is about.

I agree that there is lots of skill in basketball. I used to play it as a teenager as well, so I can appreciate the skill involved. All ball sports require lots of skill....even lawn bowls, and no-one needs skill to play any ball sport..

What my whinge is about is the obsession of the media - and the fans - with the dunk. It's what the media show lots and lots of on the NBL news, like it is some amazing thing.

Now, if you are shorter than 6 foot tall, then it is amazing.

Someone will pipe in now with; "but what about if you are 6 foot and 1/2 an inch?".

But my context is; the nightly news, NBL, extremely tall giants, lots of dunking footage. Yawn.

I'd almost throw in the "alley-oop" with that due to player height, but at least they are jumping and catching and slamming the ball into the hoop all at once. I think I'll have to pay that.

 

[topcropper]

I'm currently playing basketball at 42. Only took it up 2 years ago for the first time. I must say, it's fairly boreing to watch on TV, but I'm enjoying playing the game. I'm 5 foot 10", and pretty hopeless at the game too. It's good to play in the winter indoors to keep a bit active. We came second last in the last comp. We are a bunch of 40 year old farmers playing mostly teenagers and young blokes. Good fun.

I also play tennis all year round, and touch footy in the summer. Also ride dirtbikes and get in as much canoeing and kayaking as possible.



Last weekend was sport full on. 9 am Saturday was junior soccer. 11.30 am was netball. then off to watch the senior rugby in town. Sunday I was at a junior soccer carnival as coach of a 9 years team with number 2 daughter, while the wife was at a netball carnival with number 1 and 3 daughters.




See ya's.

 

[HappyCamper]

What my whinge is about is the obsession of the media - and the fans - with the dunk. It's what the media show lots and lots of on the NBL news, like it is some amazing thing.

Now, if you are shorter than 6 foot tall, then it is amazing.

The dunk, in isolation, is nothing amazing if you're 6'4 or so. It's the play leading up to the dunk that makes it exciting - the pinpoint pass, the fake to get the defender in the air or simply dunking over another defender. If you compare that to the 3 pointer, they're usually uncontested as the 3 point line is far less crowded than the areas close to the ring. There's far less guile to find an open player on the 3 point line than under the ring in a position to dunk.

 

[Marko Legija]

Watch the NBA, you have players 6'8" and taller who have the skills, agility, speed and athleticism of gary ablett jnr and chris judd. They're freaks.

I noticed back in the school days that when you took a basketball player and put them on soccer or footy field... they picked up the game pretty quick, but if you took a soccer or footy player and put them on a basketball court, they were too uncoordinated...

 

[Marko Legija]

WHen working in the US, I worked on some 30 million+ dollar men.
Mainly massage, and ankle/knee strapping. You'd be amazed at how pedestrian (ignorant) a lot of them are. Only in the US of A could guys so silly make such money......apart from maybe Mafia hitmen but suppose that takes skill to stay alive.

But when you compare the 100s of millions of dollars of revenue they bring in for their employers, their pay packets are well justified.

In michael jordan's last year in 98 he earnt 30mil, but as soon as he retired the chicago bulls revenue dropped by 150mil - 250mil. That 30mil paled into comparison of how much money he actually made for his boss.

Kobe bryant is now earning 30 million a year. His boss never hesitated giving him that much money because if he left, the organisation will lose 100's of millions. Simple.

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

I sponsor a kids basketball club.

I say the opposite should be true! The under 7's should have extra ways to score points.

1 point if they hit the back board.
2 points if they hit the hoop.
3 points if they put it through the hoop.
50 points if they score a 3-pointer!

It's fun watching these kids play. Very cute

 

[D.T.]

Sponsor in what way PT? Give them cash each season, buy their uniforms etc? Does your business logo end up on there?

Seems like a great way to give back to community.

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

I give them a bit of money every year and if I settle a loan for a club member or a referral from a member, I give the club some more money. I've also helped coach some of the teams (not that I know a thing about basketball).

They invite me to games and functions which are all a lot of fun. A lot of kids with nothing to do end up getting themselves into trouble as they get older. The club has players from 5 to 20 and by giving the kids a passion (and these kids are really basketball mad) it keeps them grounded and something to put their excess energy towards.

Clubs like this help turn out great kids and I think that needs to be supported.

 

[luckyone]

I would have to disagree about no skill for BASKETBALL or NASCAR have you or your husband ever been in Nascar one wrong move and your dead or if you have no skill you may kill someone else aswell.
Thinking you just drive fast and turn you can't drive that fast on a normal road you'll flip the car for sure.
I suggest taking a trip to the goldy and having a go at the V8 supercars then come back after you have tried this.

My brother races super sedans V8's in speedway has since he was about 16

I have seen first hand when you go flying around a corner called death mans corner when my brother first started and flipped the car 4 times with his head bouncing each time.

If you think driving a nascar is so simple go do it they pay big bucks.

driving a nascar is more then just driving you have to know when anything goes wrong

with your car make split second decisions to avoid accidents etc etc.

He has won Several MVP titles for basketball also so he's 6" 4 that's really not that tall these days, since he has a skill at basketball and has won plenty of trophies to prove it, Should he not be allowed to play becuase of his height? This is totally ludicrious

Congrats to your cousin for getting into the kings

Um, V8's (which we both love) and Nascar are NOT the same thing. V8's at least have a series of turns in them. Nascar is only really in America.

 

[james_w]

Um, V8's (which we both love) and Nascar are NOT the same thing. V8's at least have a series of turns in them. Nascar is only really in America.

lol my point was it takes skill not where it is any type of automotive sport takes skill from your answer I take it you have never been in a nascar or on a nascar track it's easy to say it takes no skill when you have not tried it yourself.

http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2010/preview/preview/06/23/cup_lou_preview.nascar/index.html

now if you bother watching that and actaully take notice if you were a nascar driver with no skill at least 3 cars would of hit the wall.

I am sure you have seen v8 supercars since you both love V8's

now can you tell me why it takes skill to drive a v8 super car but no skill to drive a nascar as far as I am aware niether drive themselves.

and yeah I have been to both live I have also seen the horendeous crashes involved with both sports.

 

[kero]

mmmm... how come there's no mentioning of badminton and netball?

 

[BayView]

To be fair and show you guys that I'm not just B-ball phobic;

Another of my gripes along the same lines as the "NBL giant dropping the ball into a hoop - this is no skill" mentality, is in the sport I love the most; golf.

For some stupid reason only known to the telecasters, they insist on showing lots of shots of Tour players "tapping in for a par" from 2 feet away and even less like it is a great feat of skill, or an important part of the process of informing us of a player's score. They'll do a "cross" to the 15th green to show someone doing it, and then cross to the 13th for another one and so on. Mind numbing.

Now, theses guys hit literally thousands of these length puts every week in practice, and they rarely miss from this distance. It is a total doddle for them, so why show it. No wonder people find golf on tv boring to watch, and to tap in from 2 feet requires very little skill in the context of the game for any level of player actually.

I don't get it; I don't need to see the guy actually get his par as part of the score updates. A simple announcement would suffice while they show some more spectacular stuff.

Now, if they were to show someone holing a bunker shot, or a chip shot, or a 5 iron from 170m for a par...now yer talking.

And don't get me started on the amount of ads during the telecasts......

Thank god for tivo

 

[D.T.]

I think the skill in golf is moreso getting the ball to the point where they can putt a simple birdie / par. And it's similar in basketball I guess.

Most people, including myself, who are say 6'2 or taller with a decent amount of athletism can 'dunk', but getting key way real estate when there's 5 guys just as tall in there is another matter. Assuming the pass to you wasn't intercepted, or your team's shotclock isn't up, or you haven't been in the key way for 3 seconds. or a defender doesn't read your play.