Longing for the Jordan Rules

In watching some playoff basketball last night (specifically Cavs-Wizards) I saw Brendan Haywood get ejected for a flagrant foul. Now, don't get me wrong, the foul was hard and certainly shouldn't have happened. The foul was Haywood standing flat-footed reaching up and shoving Lebron James with both hands and making no play on the ball. The play resulted in Lebron going hard to the deck. Watching the play, it isn't hard to see why the officials automatically made the flagrant call; no play on the ball, foul could result in serious injury, etc. The resulting flight is shown below.

However, the play wasn't worthy of ejection. I'm a Cavs fan as much as any other Clevelander, but it is getting a bit ridiculous. I'm not saying the NBA doesn't have some vested interest in protecting their star players from Charles-Oakley-related-injuries. They certainly gain nothing, for example, having Arenas-less or Yao-less teams makes the playoffs just like they would make nothing from a Lebron-less Cavs team. However, the foul was not as bad as some in the past that resulted in the same level penatly. See: Bell, Raja.I'm not saying that what Haywood did should be allowed. No play on the ball and possibility to injure should have more severe penalties than a personal foul. However, I have to say, there's no way that Haywood would have been tossed had he fouled Delonte West, Boobie Gibson, or any other Cav. Reggie Miller made a point of saying that during the broadcast (amidst mostly awful commentary) that it was a hard foul but that it didn't warrant ejection.

Later on Miller admitted he played in an NBA. One where Charles Oakley and Dennis Rodman had their roles. The sissification happening in the NBA is sickening. It seems as though it won't be long before we see every player playing defense like this when an all star makes a move*:



Forcing defenders to play like that, especially against superstars, will allow today's superstars to be greater and play longer than their predecessors. If every so often when Lebron or Kobe gets inside you can't make sure to get them hard, they'll do it, and score every time down the floor. If from time to time they are forced to pay the piper, well, then we'll be back to the good old days. Until then, I'll be reminiscing and hoping to see some plays like this ensue without four technicals, two ejections, and three flagrants when Lebron heads hoop-ward. Just some movement to make me believe today's great players are truly great and not just the result of being babied with weak and phantom foul calls and decent free throw shooting:

*Good news for Kyle Korver: when he's done with basketball, more work awaits him: a pussy that big has to find work, right?