Surprised? no. Disappointed? of course. Since the Pacers-Pistons brawl at the Palace, the NBA and David Stern have diligently worked on nothing but making their product more appealing to families at the expense of passion. They created a dress code, so that we wouldn't know how these players really dress off the court, and how good velour jumpsuits looked on 6'6" black men; they made it illegal to complain about a foul, spike the ball, defend your teammates, and altogether give a shit. Thank you NBA for dirtying sports, and for trying to make generally tact-less gangsters into politicians--all in the name of appealing to middle-class families.
Please continue to give the players that often cannot be paid enough to care, more reasons to act like they don't. At least you don't monopolize the talent anymore; now you make them go to college for a year.
By the way, fuck the NBA for not hosting fan forums and raping competitive spirits around the world.
