The Spineless Zone
Basketball is a great American sport. June 6, 1946 was one of the greatest days in sports history. On that glorious day in American history, the National Basketball Association was created (NBA). Less than seven months later the NBA outlawed zone defense (NBA). Those great men decided that professional athletes should have to guard each other, instead of guarding an area. During my basketball experiences, there was nothing more frustrating than a team with less skill pulling back into a zone defense. Zone defense is a slap in the face to me and the work I put in to become a good defender. As an athlete I wanted to prove that I could compete with the best, one man against another man. All basketball players should feel this way, especially professional basketball players. Zone defense is for cowards and has weakened professional basketball. Now, the glory days are gone, there is no such thing as an illegal defense, slashers are limited, and isolation is scarce.
After zone defense was banned there was a 54 year period of nothing but old fashioned man defense. I can remember watching clips of Magic Johnson, Pistol Pete, and Michael Jordan using their athleticism to maneuver their way around defender and penetrate into the lane. There is footage of Magic Johnson driving through the lane while wrapping the ball around his body, faking a pass to a teammate and executing a flawless finger-roll. In today’s game there would probably be a large center waiting on him and blocking his lay-up. The three-second area was the place where action took place. Skillful dribbling or cutting without the ball could get you to the promise land of points. The pizzazz of yesterday’s game has dissipated and an ugly cloud of zone defense...
... middle of paper ...
...on. I hated playing zone defense, being told to guard an area on the floor felt like cheating. I was told to wait for the offensive player to come to instead of meeting him head on in combat. The game was now who can make the most long range shots. I did not run for countless hour, sweat gallons, and bleed to prepare myself for eight minute quarters of H-O-R-S-E. Therefore, I am with Bomani Jones when he says, “Zone is for cowards.”
Works Cited
Allowing zone is indefensible for the NBA. The Washington Times. 2001. Web. 10 December 2013. www.washingtontimes.com
NBA rules history. National Basketball Association. 2008. Web. 10 December 2013. www.nba.com
Winderman, Ira. NBA ‘Change the Game’: Ban zone defense again. Sun-Sentinel. 2011 Web. 11 December 2013. http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_basketball_heat/2011/10/nba-change-the-game-ban-zone-defense-again.html
Due to vast improvements throughout history, human rights has allowed people to freely speak their ideas and beliefs. Also, the transition from a modernized society to a more virtual society has allowed people to express their ideas more freely and have access to news from all over the world. Thus, people are entitled to their opinion,ideas, and beliefs. However, all expressed ideas have counter arguments for example in religion people might share different views based on their beliefs but they still have the security of their right to maintain their beliefs freely. Since society has took a dip in the virtual side of living, division due to power has strengthened through the use of social media. This has lead society into a dystopia, where control by a higher power is enabled. More over, associations such as the National Basketball Association have the power to enforce regulations on their players to maintain power and rule. For example, in recent years the NBA as enforced a strict dress code where players can no longer wear their desired choice of clothing but instead dress formal when entering and when leaving the stadium. Thus, from this action a dystopian environment is created, players no longer can express themselves freely and if they do they will be punished. Such regulations have caused higher authority over people inhibiting them from freely expressing ideas and beliefs which is completely wrong. People, especially players who are so highly valued, should be allowed the right to freely express themselves on interviews or even when dressing . This is because those who are allowed to freely express themselves are much more comfortable and happier.
they were losing their games they had a tight defence and were ranked fifth in the NBA in
Ethical Rules on Sport’s Justice. Dallas: East Dallas Times, page 21. 2008. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Print: Harry, Patrick Hayes.
...ticle is about the NBA change rules around the league. This source is credible because the NBA is a premier men’s professional basketball league in the United States.
Women have been playing basketball for over a century before the Women's National Basketball Association came into existence. It was here at Smith College where many women got their first taste of the game. Women were described as having a "masculine performance style... rough and vicious play... worse than in men" (Hult 86). This aggressive playing style had to be modified because the violence and rough-housing that was going on were becoming intolerable. Eventually the Official Women's Basketball Rules were modified in that there was no dribbling allowed on the court at all, players were not allowed to make physical contact with each other and women were not allowed to grab the ball out of another women's hands.
Basketball is defined as a game where two teams of five play each on a rectangular court, usually indoors (Basketball/Sport). Basketball was invented by James Naismith on December 1, 1891 (Basketball/Sport). The object of basketball is to shoot the basketball through the opposing team’s basket and to out-score them by end of the regulation time limit. If the score is tied at this time, the game will go into overtime until one team wins. While reading about basketball, I found it interesting that when the sport was invented they would nail baskets to balconies with no backboards. This made it easy for spectators (in the balcony) to help their team by either swatting the
Many of us know of the fun game of basketball, the object of the game is to basically run up and down the court and shoot the ball, and block the other team when they try to score. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. According to Bran Faurschou’s article, “ NBA Hoops Online” Basketball was invented in 1891 by, Dr. James Naismith. He was a physical education instructor. Back then the game of basketball was a little bit different, It was the same concept but it was different. When Dr. James was working as the physical education instructor at the YMCA training school, he came up with the game of basketball as an activity for his
Basketball was created as a sport in 1891 by James Naismith, and it quickly became popular among both men and women. It initially started with the same rules for each gender, but according to Patricia Cain in her article, “Women, Race, and Sports: Life Before Title IX,” the rules quickly changed for women. Cain (2001) states that, “Almost immediately, however, some educators began changing the rules of basket...
The game of basketball is a highly recognized and widely known sport. Basketball was first heard of in the winter of 1891 when a man by the name of James Naismith was told to instruct a physical education class at the Young Men’s Christian Association in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith was instructed to put together a game for young men to enjoy while they were at the YMCA. While trying to come up with a brilliant and fun game for these young men, Naismith reminisced back on his childhood in Canada. He remembered a game his friends and him had played all the time: “Duck on a Rock”, which involved trying to knock a large rock off a boulder by throwing smaller rocks at it. Naismith also remembered watching a game of rugby going on in the gymnasium. The game of Rugby involved tossing a ball into a box. After a very short time of trying to make up a game for these young men, Naismith came up with a brilliant idea. Little did he know the game that he came up with just so happened to be one of he most renowned sports in American history. Naismith’s idea pertained to nailing up raised boxes so that players could attempt to throw a ball in the basket. When there were no boxes too be found, he used peach baskets. Supposedly, Naismith came up with all the rules for this game in no more than “about an hour”, according to Alexander Wolff. Shortly after Naismith had invented the game of basketball, graduates of the YMCA traveled internationally which is the main reason as to why this sport is so widely known. The impact basketball has made on the lives of many Americans is incredible in the sense that it has given people the ability to ...
Weaknesses Poor management of player relations. Deteriorating brand image of certain players. Little to no control of the players off the court. The goal of creating a fair playing field among big and small market teams has led to too many regulations. Few superstar talents to draw fan attention/loyalty.
Played indoors/outdoors by two opposing teams of five players each.Basketball was created in 1891 by Dr. James naismith.The space is a rectangular, indoor court. Today basketball is the most popular sports in United States and Europe. To win the game, the team must throw a 30-inch ball through a 60-inch hoop more times than your opponent does. Basketball focuses on dribbling, passing, rebounding, shooting. It consist of four basic passes, chest pass, two-hand bounce pass, two-hand overhead pass and the baseball pass. There is also three different kind of fakes, the backdoor, reverse, and self-block. The duration of the match is 40 minute, the match consist of 4 quarters. The positions in basketball are, Point guard, Shooting guard, Power forward, Small forward and Center.
Sports are often identified to have positive influences on many individuals. The sports industry is growing worldwide, especially the basketball industry, which is regarded in second place behind football. The global prevalence of basketball is unquestionable, especially among the young. Basketball is a dynamic team sport that involves a pattern of alternating, active, and skilled movement activities. There are compound demands that require a mixture of individual skills, team plays, strategies, and motivational aspects.
in the league agrees to the rules set by the NBA from the beginning. The rules
The change that had the biggest impact on how basketball is played was the introduction of the three-point line. The three-point line started out as an experiment in college basketball in 1980 and was later adopted as a concrete part of the game later on that year. High school, college, and pro basketball leagues adopted the three-point line and how the game is played has been forever changed by the addition of the three-point line.
The 1933 season was the official start of the rule that basketball had to be advanced past half court within 10 seconds. This rule helped speed up the game because it did not allow teams to stall the movement of the ball. Then in 1938, there was also a rule change that allowed the defense to take the ball out of the basket and move it down the court. This stopped the offensive team from taking the ball and repeditatley shooting it in the hoop to make the score an outrageous number. With this new rule, basketball became more enjoyable to the spectators because of the battle between the teams and not just one team always