Commentary: I tried to watch a fight, but an NBA game broke out

OK, I give up. When did I miss the memo that the NBA is now considered part of the fake wrestling goon squad? How come every time I want to watch an NBA game, I keep getting either bad imitations of overweight fading athletes, or Victor Wembanyama trying to stare down an innocent ballboy? But worst of all, when did the NBA decide that it's nothing but good business to waste their timeouts by allowing their players, whenever there is a stoppage in play, to try to start fights with one another? James Naismith must be spinning in his grave. The NBA has suddenly, and without warning, decided that the best way to draw the biggest crowds is to let two or more players try to start a schoolboy brawl. You know. Just for the fun of it — theirs, not ours. Who wants to watch two 6-foot-10 bullies trying to start a fight that can be carried over to the next commercial, commercial free? Nobody. That's who! I mean, who doesn't like starting TV fights on a professional basketball court, just for the fun of it! Better yet, once one of the two leftovers from West Side Story finally waves the white flag, the rest of us can get on with our lives. Who doesn't want a piece of that? That's where we are right now, in the suddenly rambunctious NBA. Some of the greatest basketball players in the world have decided that there is nothing wrong with starting a fight in the middle of an important game, and then blaming it on the other team. It's sheer genius! This is a totally new experience for sports-loving America, and the sports-loving crowd, one in which the ticket buyers get to taunt the players, and then taunt anyone else on the court who looks like a prized candidate for further taunting. If you haven't yet witnessed one of these two-bit hoops operas, shame on you! Isn't this what sports is all about? Taunting those who deserve it, then moving on to other mindless recreations. But what stands out the most is what stands out the least, which is this: THERE IS NO POINT TO IT! That's right. It's a waste of everyone's time — including the game officials, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A. Smith, who never saw something he couldn't, intellectually, talk to death. I mean, who doesn't want to watch a couple of hours of innocent taunting? Isn't that the whole purpose of sports? ... or, at least, 60 percent of it? You're darn right! Nobody, and by "nobody" I mean "me," seems to know how this curious, yet current trend began, but somehow it did. Most of us, and by that I mean almost all of us, but not quite, (that guy over there looks a little suspicious) don't really care much when something we don't care about happens. I mean, would you? Your honor, I rest my case. In the meantime, all we can do is sit at home in front of our televisions and try to make sure we don't turn them on, because you never know when you know who might be in the middle of a rant. So here we are, innocent bystanders in a maddening crowd, and if all that wasn't enough, is sure seems like it should be. For my money, the biggest eyesore in the world of sports today is when total nobodies decide to create something, and then the whole thing blows up in their face. Sort of what I am doing right now. But the leaders in the clubhouse, when it comes to leaders in the clubhouse, are those who came up with this idea that it would be a good idea if totally random fights broke out periodically on the floors of NBA games. The best part of this suggestion, is that there is no need for anyone to do anything, because, like it or not, people are already doing it. In the current climate of such pointlessness, we now have spawned yet another garden variety of garden variety-ness. But don't believe me. Believe what you see on your TV, when, for no reason whatsoever, fights are starting to break out between opponents. Specifically, in the current NBA games. Players are constantly bumping into each other during the games, which helps accelerate the chaos. Fights, or at least loud arguments. are breaking out in the NBA like never before. Go ahead, turn on a game, and if it's an NBA game, chances are you won't have to wait very long for a fight to break out, because no matter who the two teams are, both of them hate the other one. Worse yet, both teams don't mind contributing to the madness. You know, just for fun. Contact Jim Ingraham at (440) 329-7135 or jingraham4@gmail.com.