A Letter To Commissioner Stern

By Brendon Rosenau
Love of Sports Correspondent

Dear Mr. Stern,

I am a basketball fan. I love the game of hoops.

Like millions of others, I spent many days and nights as a youth with a round ball and a basket. I imitated my favorite players. I recreated famous moments.

I drove the lane like Magic. I buried three after three like Larry. I even tried to shoot free throws with my eyes closed. I tried Derek Fisher’s buzzer beater and made it once.

I stuck with you through a lockout, the bench clearing brawls and while my favorite team was winning 20 games. I’ve even dealt with the asinine 9:00pm start times.

All the while I heard you, the great commissioner, talk about the fans. How much you appreciate us, that we are the NBA. I felt part of it.

Today, I am afraid. So, please Mr. Stern, I’m begging you. Please, please, give the game back to the fans.

I’m not talking about the “culture” of the game. Maybe there are a few too many legal problems, and maybe today’s players aren’t the role models parents want them to be, but that isn’t chasing me away. The chest bumping and the shirt grabbing aren’t for everyone, but that’s not the real problem, either.

The real problem is trust. The real issue is that now, whether right or wrong, I’m not sure if I believe the product you’re selling us.

Tim Donaghy may have made Jose Canseco look like he was telling on a kid for picking his nose with the bombshell he dropped.

We’re praying that you, the almighty Mr. Stern, will make this all better. There has to be an explanation for this. The feeling is like finding out Santa Claus is really not from the North Pole, but shares the same address as us. We’re shocked and angry, but most of all, we’re sad. We feel a little disrespected, like we have been lied to.

There’s no way NBA games have been fixed. Donaghy is just the bad guy in the movie. The evil villain who’ll get what he deserves in the end. The good guys will come through and expose the lies, right? Please, Mr. Stern, let me believe that again. Prove to me it’s true.

Please let me enjoy next season without wondering whether every foul call is really a foul, or whether it’s a directive from above. Officiating in the league has always been debated, like in all sports. We need to knock someone at the end of the night, and it can’t always be the home town team.

Tell me I’m overreacting. The Lakers really did beat the Kings in seven games back in 2002. The Lakers deserved to go to the line all 27 times in the fourth quarter, even though the Kings weren’t employing the “Hack-A-Shaq.”

Please, Mr. Stern, tell me that in 2005 and 2006, and in every year since, the best NBA team won the title. Refs aren’t fixing games. Your league doesn’t hold closed door meetings with officials to influence them. You aren’t extending a series just to make a few more bucks off the hardworking fans.

All I want to do is enjoy the game I love. I want to be in awe of the physical strength of LeBron, the flying of Dwight Howard and the intensity of K.G.

I want to be on the edge of my seat as I watch the team I grew up with go for a NBA title. I want to say at the end of the season that my team was the best, because they were. Not because it was a good marketing ploy.

I don’t want to look at each game wondering if I am seeing things as they are. There’s too much of that in everything else. Sports is my sanctuary.

I want to lose myself in the moment of the game and not have my mind wander to conspiracies. Was the lottery envelope frozen in ’85? Did the Celtics really get just the fifth pick in last year’s draft? Did the Bulls really win the chance to draft the hometown kid?

I know these are crazy, ridiculous notions. I apologize for taking your time. All I need is a straight answer. Tell me things are legit. I know you have more respect for the fans. We aren’t lost sheep blindly following the leader. We love the game and we love sports.

All we ask is that you show us some of that love back.

Sincerely,

Brendon Rosenau
The Love of Sports