What really drives me crazy about the sports media is
when they forget that what we’re watching is competition that is fueled by
sometimes crazed adrenaline. For instance, let’s take a look at Metta World
Peace’s elbow to the back of James Harden’s head. In no way should what MWP did
be tolerated and I absolutely agree it was deserving of a flagrant 2. We have
the flagrant 2 rules for exactly this kind of situation and while we’re all disgusted
with what MWP did, I am baffled at our misunderstanding of why it happened.
If we expect athletes to play with passion and to be ultra-physical
we can’t also expect them to be machines. Things like this happen when you’re
passionate and playing a physical sport. Anyone who’s played sports can think
of times where things got a little out of hand just because of emotion and
adrenaline. So while the media is approaching this elbow from MWP as an indiscriminate
attack, it was really more of a reaction that MWP had in an adrenaline fueled
situation. We’ve all been in an emotional situation where we did something we
wouldn’t normally do, so it’s crazy to me how unwilling we are to empathize every
time a situation like this comes up.
That’s why I hope the NBA does not overreact in this situation.
Yes, we know MWP has a checkered past but we also know that he’s guilty of
being emotional, not maniacal. Yes, he elbowed James Harden flagrantly but you’re
crazy if you think that MWP wanted Harden KO’d. It was a physical game and it
seemed more like a, “get the eff off of me” elbow as opposed to the “I’m going
to cause you brain damage,” type of elbow. MWP expressed regret immediately
after the incident and has apologized to Oklahoma City and Harden.
So I plead NBA fans and media to empathize a little for
once and stop being holier than though for just a second. This is asking too
much though because we already have “journalists” like JA Adande coming out and
saying that MWP suspension should be based on how badly James Harden is hurt. I
see that he’s trying to make this about Harden, and not MWP, but that would
just be a silly way to hand out suspensions. Even at Bleacher Report we have a despicable
article criticizing MWP because he didn’t spell Harden’s name correctly in his
Twitter apology. (What a pointless thing to say right?) Even the “experts” on
ESPN’s 5on5 article all called this a malicious or vicious shot while calling
for long term suspensions.
It’s just so much easier to point blame than understand
what really happened in a situation I guess. Are we even going to address the fact
that Harden very much put his body into a crazed MWP in the first place? That
the players seem to think it was an overreaction and not a malicious shot. Is
this really any worse than Kevin Love stepping on Luis Scola’s face, which
granted him only a 3 game suspension early in the season?
I don’t know, it’s just sickening to me how quickly we
run to this, “Oh he’s a thug, ban him for life,” mentality. I understand that
MWP has been suspended several times and that he isn’t exactly well received by
NBA executives, but let’s not punish him excessively because of the severity of
Harden’s injury or just because he’s MWP. He knows he made a mistake and he’s
owned up for his mistake already.
The NBA also has to be very careful with the precedent
they set in this situation. If they decide to suspend MWP for longer than 1-5
games they will set a precedent for the next time something like this happens. I
just hope we see a suspension based on what really happened and not because of
this holier than though media outcry calling for outrageous 30 games-lifelong
bans for him. This was not a malicious assault so let’s not make the punishment
be for one.
Furthermore, sports are physical contests. Let’s stop
being so freaking shocked when someone crosses this fine line between what’s
acceptable violence and unacceptable violence. If you can’t handle the physical
violence that is associated with sports then turn off the TV. Stop holding
these players who we pay to be physical monsters so accountable when their
testosterone and adrenaline levels get a little out of hand. There is no
condoning what Metta World Peace did but we don’t have to pretend like we don’t
know how something like this could happen or portray this guy out to be some
kind of evil maniac.
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