NBA rule changes
a black and white
by Sam Smith
Chicago Tribune
April 17, 2001
The NBA made headlines last week
with its proposals to change rules, in
cluding allowing zone defenses.
The issue has been much debated
since then and, rather than wandering
into gray areas, some around the NBA
are saying this is a black and white
Too many black players, too many
white fans.
This is usually a subject too taboo
into which to dive directly, so those
who formulated the new rules appear
to have stepped around the edges.
They have talked about bringing mid
range shooting back to the game, to
curtail the one-on-one game, to in
crease overall team movement, to
lessen the need for dunks and three
pointers and to encourage playing a
team game.
Sounds like the recruiting brochure
for the Princeton basketball team.
But forget racism here. The NBA is
the most progressive U.S. sports
league, perhaps the most liberal sports
league in the world. African-Ameri
cans and other minorities getting jobs
or even ownership stakes haven't been
news in the NBA for years.
Women are top team executives.
Black coaches, team executives, own
ers and top league executives are com-
No league, in fact, has embraced its
black stars like the NBA. Julius Erving
was the face of the NBA almost 25
years ago, until Michael Jordan took
it over along with Magic Johnson and
Isiah Thomas. Jordan and Johnson are
now owners, Thomas is Indiana's
coach after running the Toronto Rap
tors.
Now, the NBA is saying, it's time
to watch the Bulls--not Jordan; the
Lakers--not Magic; the 76ers--not Dr.
J. Nothing against those guys, and bas
ketball thanks them for everything
they have done, but their era is past.
Now it's time to pass--the ball. And
move and cut and sell the team pic-
Bonds hits no. 500
and it's a game turner
by Paul Gutierrez
Los Angeles Times
March 18, 2001
Barry Bonds never speaks to the media before games.
So why should Tuesday have been any different?
Even though he was only one swing away from becom
ing only the 17th member of the 500-home run club, Bonds
still shooed reporters away from his private corner of the
San Francisco Giant clubhouse, a personal sanctuary that
features a leather recliner and accompanying television
set.
"Just looking for a stress-free environment," Bonds said
as he retreated to his stall
Nearly six hours later, though, at
9:55 p.m., the environment at Pac
Bell Park was anything but placid.
Not after Bonds, amid exploding
camera flashes and garish orange
rally rags being waved by the
record 41,059 in attendance,
blasted a 2-and-0 Terry Adams
slider 417 feet into McCovey Cove
in San Francisco Bay for his 500th
home run, a game-winning two-run
shot.
After jumping on home plate at
the end of his eighth-inning
celebratory trip around the bases,
Bonds was joined on the field by
family members and co-500-home
run club members Willie Mays,
who is also Bonds' godfather, and
Willie McCovey for a nine-minute
ceremony that delayed a 3-2 Giant
victory over the Los Angeles Dodg-
Bonds, in the final year of his contract, was talking then.
"First of all, I've got to thank my parents for having me,"
he told the crowd after the fireworks and water cannons
died down. "And I want to thank Willie Mays for being
here and Willie McCovey and most of all, thanks to all of
you. I love you and I'm proud to be in a San Francisco
Giant uniform."
At 36 years, 268 days, Bonds is the 11th-youngest mem
ber of the 500-home run club. He reached the milestone
in his 7,502nd at-bat, an average of one homer every 15.00
at-bats, the fifth-lowest home run-to-at-bat ratio among
members of the 500-homer club.
Bonds' blast was the ninth homer to reach the water
outside the right-field wall, the seventh by Bonds. He is
tures, not the 8-by-10 photo. Get ev
eryone in there and make it a true rain
bow coalition of basketball.
The problem for the NBA is the
stars--like Jordan, Erving and
Johnson--were beloved. They sold
tickets. They sold products. Sponsors
wanted to embrace them.
No one wants to embrace this
season's likely MVP, Philadelphia
guard Allen Iverson. Whether it's his
look, his dress, his musical tastes or
his attitude, Iverson hasn't translated
much into box office and sponsorship
appeal. Neither, really, has Iverson's
likely top challenger for the award,
Sacramento's Chris Webber. His ap
pearance isn't so radical, but his be
havior over the years has been.
Even the high school darling. Kobe
Bryant of the Lakers, has encountered
issues of attitude and selfishness this
season that make people recoil. Tim
Duncan of the Spurs appears to be a
wonderful young man, but he comes
off as compelling as an Al Gore
speech. Shaquille O'Neal remains a
brooding kind of giant unable to make
a public connection. Toronto's Vince
Carter appears to pose for a statue af
ter every basket he makes as he still
looks for his first playoff game vic
tory.
For several years, NBA spin doc
tors argued that the tattoos, baggy
pants, hip hop dialogue and hair styles
of this era of NBA stars was a genera
tional factor, that it was kids being
kids. And today's kids admired these
stars and the way they looked.
Not in my house, you don't! said
their parents.
Now, the NBA finally appears to be
giving up. And giving in.
The impact of the new rules will be
felt mostly by those stars, like Iverson,
Carter, Webber and O'Neal. Sure, they
still will be the dominant players in
the game because they are the most
talented. But the message from the
NBA is that it's time to see the team,
not the individuals.
It has been an issue that long has
been debated in the NBA and some
blame it for the recent decline in TV
ratings and attendance. The argument
has been that a reliance and promo
tion of individuals leads to an indi
vidual game, makes players selfish
because they benefit from individual
success over team accomplishment.
The opponents, however, note the
league's greatest success came when
the league was promoting individuals
such as Jordan, Johnson, Erving and
Thomas.
Some say there aren't stars today to
match their abilities. But that's a dif
ficult case to make with the varied
skills of players such as Webber,
Iverson, Carter and Bryant. Jordan
couldn't shoot nearly as well as Bryant
at a comparable age. Few big men ever
have been able to run the court and
handle the ball like Webber. No one,
even Jordan and Erving, could per
form in midair like Carter.
And Iverson's crossover probably
takes Tim Hardaway's breath away.
But the NBA appears finally frus
trated in its effort to sell these players
to the public.
When team, five-man basketball is
talked about in connection with the
effect of the proposed changes, it's a
statement that the NBA doesn't believe
it can embrace its top young stars any
longer.
Code words for zone breakers, such
as perimeter shooting, movement and
playing without the ball suggest an in
creased role for white players, who
generally are regarded as less athletic,
but more fundamentally sound. Crit
ics say that is merely because they
aren't good enough to compete, and it
would be hard to find better shooters
and more fundamentally sound play
ers than Sean Elliott and Terry Porter
of the Spurs, Ray Allen of the Bucks
and Reggie Miller of the Pacers.
But this is a black and white issue.
Individual versus team. The NBA is
saying it's finished with individual
basketball and wants to focus on
teams, whatever that suggests.
be seen
the only Giant to homer into McCovey Cove since Pac
Bell Park opened last season.
Bonds, who has homered five times in his last five
games, is a three-time National League most valuable
player and is the charter and lone member of the 500-
homer, 400-steal club. And with 28 more stolen bases, he
establishes the 500-500 fraternity.
The Sporting News named Bonds, who signed with the
Giants as a free agent on Dec. 8, 1992, the player of the
19905, an honor that irked Ken Griffey Jr. supporters.
But not Giant Manager Dusty Baker.
"When you've been the best player for a long time,"
Baker said, "you want to remain the best player."
Baker began his managerial
career in San Francisco the same
year Bonds arrived, in 1993.
"What's more remarkable than
the home runs is the home runs and
the stolen bases," Baker said.
"That's where he sets himself
apart. But his swing is still quick
as hell."
career ringless, Hall of Famer Or
lando Cepeda said Bonds can look back on his status as a
member of the 500 club.
"Maybe he'll take it for granted," said Cepeda, who
entered Cooperstown in 1999 after a 17-year career in
which he hit 379 home runs. "But some day he'll look
back and see that it's a great thing to do. It's amazing,
really, with the consistency, the durability, never getting
hurt.
"People don't let your forget."
Bonds, who has been on the disabled list only twice,
nearly hit No. 500 in the third inning, lofting a high fly
ball to the warning track in left-center field. Dodger left
fielder Gary Sheffield floated over, though, and caught
the ball at the 382-foot sign for the third out of the inning.
NATIONAL SPORTS
not
issue
Whether that is possible remains to
Despite all his accomplish
ments, Bonds has faltered in the
postseason
Since joining the Giants he has
batted only .207 in seven division
series games with no homers and
three runs batted in. With the Pitts
burgh Pirates, Bonds hit .191 with
one homer and three RBIs in 20
playoff games.
Bonds has never played in a
World Series.
But even if Bonds finishes his
For Capitals' Halpern,
postseason is personal
by Jason La Canfora
The Washington Post
April 19, 2001
On April 18, 1987, Jeff Halpern raced to his hotel
room in Arizona, where he was playing in yet an
other youth hockey tournament, and switched on the
seventh game of the Washington Capitals' first-round
playoff series with the New York Islanders. The
Halpern family, longtime season ticket holders, fig
ured they would catch the end of the game and go
out for dinner.
Instead they spent the next four hours glued to the
television - they had pizza delivered - and went to
bed frustrated when Pat LaFontaine ended the sev
enth-longest game in NHL history in the fourth over
time, giving the Islanders the series and the Capitals
another gut-wrenching playoff defeat.
"It was 11 at night their time - about 2 in the morn
ing here - when that game finally ended," said Mel
Halpern, Jeff's father. "I'll never forget my wife and
daughter and Jeff in that hotel room suffering through
that. It was gruesome."
No one in that room could have known that 14
years later to the day, on Mel's 57th birthday, Jeff
would send Capitals fans to bed with smiles on their
faces, scoring a huge overtime goal Wednesday night
in Pittsburgh to even Washington's first-round se
ries with the Penguins at two games each. The Capi
tals' win was their first in five postseason overtime
tries against Pittsburgh.
The Halpern family was again camped around the
TV set, this time in their Potomac, Md., home. While
Jeff was stomping his feet up and down on the ice,
thrusting his arms to the heavens and letting out a
huge yell, his parents, who will be at MCI Center
for Game 5 Saturday afternoon, were off their couch,
screaming right along with him.
"That's absolute joy on Jeff's face," Mel Halpern
said. "I couldn't ask for a better birthday gift than
that. The whole series is different now."
Halpern, 24, and his wingers - Steve Konowalchuk
and Ulf Dahlen - have formed the club's most con
sistent line the past two seasons despite limited re
sumes. Halpern, the first player born and raised lo
cally to make an impact in the NHL, was undrafted
out of Princeton and signed as a long-shot free agent
in 1999. Konowalchuk played much of his youth
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hockey in Salt Lake City, another area not known
for producing NHL players. Dahlen was waived out
of the NHL in 1997 and was playing in Sweden
when the Capitals took a chance on him two years
ago.
The overachieving forwards produced three of
Washington's four goals Wednesday, including two
power-play goals from Konowalchuk, while con
tinuing to render Penguins superstars Mario
Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr ineffective at even
strength; those players are primarily responsible for
Pittsburgh's 5-1 playoff series record against Wash
ington.
"Defensively, they've been outstanding," Coach
Ron Wilson said of Halpern's line.
In Game 4 they were dominant offensively as
well, back to their tenacious forechecking and board
work. That work ethic led to the game-winning goal
4:01 into overtime. Dahlen came up with the puck
in the corner and left it for Konowalchuk, who
fought off defenseman Marc Bergevin behind the
net. Halpern was sliding to the low slot at the time,
but Mel could not see his son; the TV cameras were
fixated on the action behind the goal.
Halpern had found an opening in the defense -
losing center Wayne Primeau in the play - and found
his favorite spot on the ice. He had taken just two
shots in this series - both early Wednesday night -
but Halpern made this one count, firing a one-timer
that skipped along the ice, beating goalie Johan
Hedberg's stick, slipping between his legs.
"I kind of shut my eyes and hoped it went in,"
Halpern said. "I had no idea where I was aiming
other than to shoot it hard on net."
Halpern, Konowalchuk and Dahlen know their
work is not done. It will take more defensive gems,
and more timely goals, for the Capitals to buck a
history of futility against the Penguins, a history
the Halperns have lived through.
"Any kid growing up playing hockey wants to
score an overtime goal in the playoffs," Jeff Halpern
said. "My limited (playoff) experience has been
against the Penguins and obviously there's a his
tory in Washington when the Penguins and Capi
tals play. It helps to do my part, but I don't want
this to be our one nice memory in this series; I want
this to be something we can build off of."
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