Very few of you know my history, and while it is not a well kept secret, at one point in my life, actually over half of it until 1988 was spent in the world of professional sports. That’s right. I was a jock and a sports marketing executive. In junior high I played varsity soccer and club volleyball, plus box lacrosse in a league.
The saying for box lacrosse was “you gotta be mean to play box lacrosse.” I wasn’t mean, I was just good at it as I had some of the best trainers, coaches and players in the sport, including a few who are truely legends of the game in Canada.
After the demise of the Philadelphia Wings in 1976 who I worked for, and played for the Junior Wings, I was asked to work for the Philadelphia Flyers to promote youth hockey. Along the way I also became commissioner of the Delaware Valley Hockey League and the Mid Atlantic Women’s Hockey League before rising to the post of USA Hockey Registrar at the age of 20. My peers then were all twice my age or older, so I learned a lot before most others. I’m not bragging. I was fortunate to have the opportunity.
As commissioner of sports leagues at age 18 or so, I was deciding the fate of players, coaches and parents of youth hockey players when the rules would be broken. Fortunately I had the good luck of having three very good mentors. The late Sy Roseman and Ken Gesner, along with longtime boss Aaron Siegel. All taught me different aspects of fairness, logic and obviously what’s the best way to handle something.
Gesner, who was really like a second dad to me in many ways, as was Sy, had the uncanny ability to sense when a problem was brewing and cut it off at the knees in youth sports. I learned from him and in the DVHL I applied the same approach, leading the organization for many years and enabling it, and hockey to grow in the Philadelphia area, which was why I was working for the Flyers in the first place.
That’s why I am so disgusted with the entire situation that occurred in a recent NBA game involving the Pacers and Pistons and the fans. I’m not a sports fan like I was when I was younger. The games have changed, and the players and fans are becoming thugs.
While the fan throwing the beer is clearly wrong, and the players who are paid to compete and entertain are also at fault, call it contibutory participation, my years in sports management in the Snider Empire, which is now part of Comcast-Specator taught me many things about player and crowd control.
First, I learned that athletes of character are what the Flyers were built on. Many a player with more skills was passed over in favor of personal traits leading off with character. Sure the Broad Street Bullies were tough and loved a fair fight in the 70s, but they did it as part of the game. They also respected the sport and their fans, sans an incident or two involving situations much akin to this one in Detroit on Friday. Second and more importantly from Aaron and his staff at the Spectrum I learned the secret of crowd control was strong and visible security and ushering. Always being vigilant and always having security anticipate before the crowds got involved.
What happened in Detroit is not uncommon. The was indeed an anomoly, which if not addressed now by David Stern will likely manifest itself over and over again.
Here’s my educated guess as to what transpired and why…After a certain point in the event, usually the ushers leave. Their job is to get people to the seats when the doors open and when the game is in progress. Usually the ushers are sent home by the last quarter in a basketball game, leaving the Security Gurards to help get the crowd out. If you watch in the video you will see an absence of ushers as well security between the floor and the stands. This is the management of the building’s decision and in this case, the team is owned by the same group that manages and operates the Palace of Auburn Hills.
It’s called greed. And that’s the real reason this happened. To create a more profitable business, owners, due to rising salaries, have to find ways to cut costs. In this case it took a black eye on basketball for all that to clearly manifest itself and show what greed by the players, agents and owners caused. Ayn Rand wrote “greed is good.” She also wrote that Anti Greed is bad. Anti Greed is a form of greed that is control based. That’s why I left sports. Because Anti-Greed was becoming obvious to me and the NBA were the leading proponents of it. That was back in 1988 after I went to work the Denver Nuggests where I learned first hand how the NBA did things, how David Stern ran things and why they were different than the way Ed Snider, a true objectivist in thought and business had guided the Flyers and in turn how I was taught.
David Stern has not had a situation this severe since the Michael Jordan gambling saga of years past, and unlike then when he reportedly had to ask MJ to step away for a few years before the truth came out, this one is front and center.
When Stern doles out the punishment, I hope the players get the lightest sentence. The owners of the Pistons, the managers of the facility and the head of security need to be brought to him and suspended too. For it was their efforts or lack of that likely also contibuted to the fiasco. The sale of beer may have been stopped earlier in the game, or maybe it wasn’t. That’s only a part of it.
Fans go to game to have a good time, but their safety has to be assured by the venue, not the NBA, but as the Commissioner Stern has to extend his reach beyond the court, or the criminal and civil courts will.
I’m not a Stern fan, but its time he publicly lives up to his last name and issues a Stern decision that is more than a Stern warning. The owners of the Piston are viewed as powerful in the league. He has to rise above all that or the game will have a black mark it doesn’t need.