NCAA: Basketball has fouled itself

One down, one to go.

Thankfully, another college basketball season – and soon professional one – has drawn to a close. Once a favorite sport, it is now too painful a process to watch and enjoy. Since rulebooks seem to be a relic of the past, the sport has no more validity than the World Wrestling Federation, which we all know, or should, is not sport but theater.

A rulebook is just not necessary any longer. Blatant and numerous double-dribble acts, palming the ball, turning the ball over, and traveling galore are not just tolerated but seemingly condoned. Any ESPN basketball highlight show – any – will include some easy-to-see missteps. You would think that the fratguys at ESPN, mostly wiseacres (a more family friendly choice) that they are, would salivate at the chance to bring these un-penalized errors to our attention. No, they choose instead to be co-conspirators, implying with their silence that we shouldn’t question why the exciting 847,931st thunderous dunk in NBA history came after a bungler goose-stepped a good three feet before making his plant. And these are the guys, remember, who made fun of your clothes in grade school, ones who think of "Animal House" as a documentary, life’s eternal sophomores.

One might easily discern how referees could leave some infractions uncalled, a bad angle here, some hesitation there; and in tone-setting early on that rough play will or will not be tolerated. Not calling the obvious, though, trivializes the game. It says rules aren’t important.

Disturbing, too, are these slew of non-calls across the gamut, unsettling for the many who played the game when the rulebook was actually used, to those who know that if a defender is behind you it is much easier to turn the ball over on the dribble to get by than it is to dribble by the rule. And when you’ve allowed a defender to pressure you into giving up the dribble, putting the ball back on the floor can take you out of that jam.

It is not fair to single out individuals, but let’s do it anyway. University of Tennessee point guard Tony Harris comes to mind. How many times would a player at his position bring the ball down court during a four-year career? Better yet, how many film clips can offer evidence that Harris did not commit an infraction during each of those trips?

Asking or interviewing the referees as to why the rules are not being followed would likely be a useless exercise. If they all seem to be guilty what could any one of them say in defense?

It’s surprising how many basketball fans, some who actually played the game, go on as if all is super-duper, that this is traditional basketball. Maybe all sports, not just basketball, are headed to the coliseum, where the winners get the job done by whatever works. Where there are no rules. It could be that some of us are just slow to realize.