I'm Here For The Competition

When Jemele Hill and Michael Smith were hosting the 6pm ET “SportsCenter”, a clip was highlighted in their promos of Hill saying basketball purists didn’t like Kevin Durant going to the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2016. I don’t know who basketball purists are. I don’t know what basketball purity is. Maybe it’s going back to all-white teams. Maybe no free agency. Maybe no billionaire owners (Hi column #2!!!). Hill knew there were underlying feelings making people angry, but the way she conveyed them was poor.

People who wanted to see great competition were frustrated. People who wanted see the most competitive basketball were frustrated because the OKC Thunder with Kevin Durant played an incredibly competitive, slugfest of a Western Conference Finals that went to seven games and might be one of the greatest NBA playoff series in history. (It was a decade ago. Do I really know that for sure? In retrospect, it felt that way and if someone asked me whether it really was an all-time great series, I’d say yes…and I wouldn’t doubt it.)

I do not fault Durant for leaving OKC. I’m just upset at him for taking away the chance to see at least another series like that. Durant had every right to go to the Warriors. On the flip side, I as a fan can demand professional sports rid itself of forces tearing down its competitive fabric.

The two biggest threats to professional sports competition are billionaire owners and gambling. Since billionaire owners like preferential treatment, I’ll start with them.

There are 122 major men’s professional sports teams in the United States. Those 122 teams are owned by billionaires, a bunch of Green Bay Packer fans (publicly owned), and Vivek Ranadivé (not a billionaire. Did I write not a billionaire? I definitely meant not a billionaire) Those teams operate at the sole whims of the majority controlling owner. If that person is an incompetent (**cough cough”** Vivek), your team will most likely be bad. You have no recourse for removing the owner from the team other than a supermajority of owners, in most leagues, voting to remove them. As a result, there is a superficial advantage enjoyed by teams with competitive, smart, and, which Vivek Ranadivé certainly isn’t, super wealthy owners. Those franchises enjoy multi-decade runs of chasing the playoffs and having the chance to win titles. Teams stuck with bad owners (Vivek, again) fumble around in mediocrity never enjoying any sustained success.

Added to the problem is the wealth of owners exists on a long spectrum. Steve Ballmer is at the top, with more money than the GDP of several countries. The Waltons are pretty far up there. Matt Ishbia has a few billion. As a result, a team like the Dodgers dominates because they have a wealthy competent owner in Mark Walter, who invests in every level of the organization. At the bottom of the spectrum is the definitely not my guy, Vivek Ranadivé, Majority Owner of the Sacramento Kings. Somehow he’s managed to tear down the team just about every year without completely bottoming out, and is now fielding what might be the most depressing collection of NBA players who do not fit together and will struggle to win.

The competitiveness of the NBA is lesser for his extreme stupidity and horrible decision-making, the same way it is because of Steve Ballmer’s bottomless khaki dress-pant pockets.

Gambling is a different beast. The insatiable desire of professional sports to gobble up as much revenue as possible is why it’s back. Gambling on sports directly affects the integrity of the competition. And the scope of that problem is massive. In the days of the Black Sox, the effect on the integrity of the game was clear. Players were willing to throw games because they felt like they deserved more money. Players were paid a tiny fraction of what they are comparatively paid today. While that’s less of a threat today, the majority of players make low 7 figures which can evaporate quickly given your individual set of circumstances. Beyond the players, the risks are everywhere.

The officials, the clock operator, the coaches, the medical staff. The developmental call-up. Think of any of the hundreds of people who interface with the game or players in some way: they are a threat to being on the take and ruining the integrity of the game. Gambling serves no purpose for the sake of the sport. It creates revenue, but for whom? DraftKings? Professional sports leagues can afford to drop a few sponsorships in the name of upholding the integrity of the sports they administer.

All I’m asking for is to see the most competitive representation of sports devoid of superficial advantage or intent to undermine the integrity of what I care most about: competition.