Word: nba
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...most disturbing aspect of this entire affair is not the attempt of the NBA to stifle free expression--the "core democratic values" the Times discusses have been under attack for as long as there have been democracies. Rather, we should be shocked that the NBA is so concerned with a patriotic observance in the first place. It's hard to believe that something so tangential to a basketball game would be the subject of NBA legislation...
...course not--such a rule makes perfect sense within the context of the NBA's meteoric rise in popularity over the last ten years. After all, attention to detail has been the hallmark of Commissioner David Stern's extended tenure...
What the Abdul-Rauf affair has taught us is that the national anthem is just one of the details, part of a carefully-designed package the NBA has been selling to sell-out crowds around the nation. Just like the mandatory post-game interviews and the locker room press access, standing at attention during the anthem is a facet of the public image Stern and his colleagues have carved out for the "Professional Basketball Player...
...when the NBA responds to Abdul-Rauf by arguing that the rule about the anthem does not contain the seeds of a religious or free speech objection--that it is just a rule like any other and must be followed accordingly--they should not be interpreted as making a narrow rhetorical point. To them, the issue is one of profits and image, of catering to the appetites of the public. When they say that standing is simply one of the many duties of NBA players, they mean it in the way that it's the duty of the actress...
...should upset us that the NBA looks towards the anthem as just an aspect of the entertainment. It should disturb us that the NBA is so concerned with image that the appearance of pride can be raised to the level of a duty integral to the professionalism of a professional athlete. Such concern for the superficial can only be seen as a denigration of the anthem itself--false observances of patriotism are far more damaging to our national pride and unity than any refusal to observe could possibly...