tgd@clyde.UUCP (Tom Dennehy) (03/26/84)
I read an interesting Letter to the Editor in the Sports section
of the NYTimes on Sunday, March 25th. The author proposed
eliminating the clock from college basketball. Not the shot
clock, the GAME clock.
The alternative presented was playing a best 2 of 3 games to a
fixed score, as is done on your average playground. The
"winning" score would be 20 or 25, so that the "match" would last
(more or less) as long as a typical game now and that (more or
less) the same number of points would be scored.
Think of it. No four corner. No stalling from the opening jump.
No deliberate hacking to get the ball back "with time running
out".
Comments?
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Tom Dennehy AT&T BL Whippany, NJ {whuxb|clyde}!tgddavid@tekig.UUCP (David Hayes) (03/28/84)
Eliminate the game clock?? Everyone likes to watch as much action as possible in most any sport, but then most sports also allow certain freedom of play that may not excite the TV audience. Basketball is about as action packed a sport there is today, and I believe those athletes to be some of the best in the world. Maybe folks would rather just have a dunk contest instead of a game? The use of stalling, fouling, timeouts, etc., to control the game is an art, and should be appreciated. If you have ever played organized ball, and tried to stall, then you know it is more difficult than trying to score. Fouling to stop the clock forces the other team to earn their points at the charity stripe, if they miss, then a weakness has been exploited to benefit the fouling team. It is all strategy and timing. Another unrelated point: As far as the sometimes lackluster NBA, if you had 82 games two and three a week, it might end up kinda like a job after awhile. But then maybe you missed the 76er Boston game on Sunday.... I can see Akeem the Dream in the Coliseum.....Portland.... dave
ab3@stat-l (Darth Wombat) (04/03/84)
No, not for me. I'm not at all impressed by +100 point games, and I find the most exciting play in basketball to be the stall/four-corner. Any bunch of yo-yos can run and gun, and if both teams hit, run up mucho points; it takes finesse and *nerves* to hold a basketball for ten minutes. I vote for the three-point play (dunks are great, but long shots are artistic) and for the elimination of the shot clock. The most exciting basketball game I ever saw was won 8-4. Brilliant coaching on the part of the winners, who were playing with a five man team (period) due to flu and were grossly outsized.