Quality of Sportsmen (vs, money, support, society)

[shanv3]

Just want to bring this topic today after the Rockets prevailing over.

The last game I watched fully was game 6 Bulls Vs Jazz in 1998 where Bulls seal it . 83-83 in last minute. Stockton with a 3 pointer that would have sealed it for any team. And then there was MJ, he takes a 2 pointer in 10 seconds. And then snatches the title from another legend Malone and takes the coolest ever shot under pressure to seal it.

Whereas today we see players cant even take free throws and keeps missing even the passes.

Has the quality of sports and players gone down? even though we have improved technology, support staff, and money?

Is pride and swagger order of the day than quality? Add to it the controversies, fixing allegations etc.

This will apply not only to basketball, but also Tennis, Soccer, Cricket etc.

[wall st kid]

I think the quality of the PLAYERS has gone up, but the quality of the games has gone down for a few reasons.

1) The athletic talent of the players is what gets them paid, not the "way" they play the game nor if they're good teammates or not. So, if you are Carmelo Anthony and can shoot, it doesn't matter if you have guts, or want to play defense or want to make sacrifices for the team, if you can play great as an individual, you get paid and that's all these guys care about, it wasn't like that in 1960, team sports was emphasized, now, you don't have to be a team player and as long as you are great individually, fans and media won't call you out on it.

2) Because the talent and athleticism of the players is so good, its much more tiring to defend and when you get exhausted from defending, you don't look as good, there's only so much gas in the tank and when that tank gets empty the product isn't as pretty.

3) Society is "softer" and that carries over to sports, not to mention the players make so much money its hard to get motivated day in and day out.