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It's naivete to think there is no problems with the sport of basketball. Ball games reflect the ills of society. But it's also naivete to think the port is a unique hoodlum sport, the focus of sporting evil that most of the people who play it are criminals. In fact, if a sport is to be labelled as the "hoodlum sport", a better case be be made against the sport of football. The violence and sex crimes that football players engage in during the off season makes basketball players look like all-American choirboys. Yet I rarely hear football termed a "hoodlum sport". Maybe it's because too many football fanatics have watched too much Free To Be You And Me.

Basketball and football alike are just games. Most basketball and football players are not criminals.

All the major pro sports, golf included, have been "ghettoized" to a certain extent. That is, they have been refocused to emphasize violence (instead of skill), "bad boy" behavior (end zone struts, illegal physical contact, slam dunks, etc.), and other "street" attitudes. Even team colors have been modified (or carefully chosen, in the case of new teams) to have ghetto appeal. Sports stars are now famous due to their erratic and egotistical behavior instead of being admired for their modesty and probity.

Sure, there were always "bad boys" in the major sports — Mickey Mantle comes to mind here. But Mickey Mantle's boozing was never used as a marketing tool to win over the shanty Irish demo. It was hushed up as the mark of shame it was. And can you imagine a straight-arrow Catholic like Vince Lombardi being lionized in the press today? They'd probably have him up on hate crimes charges or something.

It's not strictly a color thing. Blacks have been in pro sports for over sixty years; things only went "ghetto" in the last twenty or so. No longer are truly admirable men such as Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Arthur Ashe, David Robinson, Gale Sayers, and their like celebrated as heroes and role models. Today it's the street scum, the "playaz", the bizarre transvestites, the guys that jump into the crowd with fists swinging — these are our heroes today, 'cause "dey bad and dey plays fo' real. Whut you got? You in my house! Gets out of mah kitchen!"

And of course these days you can never be sure if you're watching the man or the syringe out there on the field.

Yes, ball games do reflect the ills of society. Ty Cobb was in many ways typical of his fans in his attitudes and behaviors; Joltin' Joe and the rest were no saints. The difference is in the way these bad behaviors are presented. In the old days, a player's bad morals were hushed up, not celebrated; displays of anger on the field or court were seen as examples of poor sportsmanship, not lauded as being "in yo' face" as they are now. And, in the case of basketball, officials back then actually penalized players who broke the rules; today, a basketball superstar can practically run the length of the court with the ball in his hands, throwing elbows and punching people in the face en route to another jungle-style slam-dunk — and yet the referee never seems to notice. Because de fans woants dem some shtreet bawl, yo!

I was a huge sports fan in the 1970s. No more. For these and many other reasons, I no longer give a tinker's damn which group of ghetto thugs makes more meaningless baskets or scores more meaningless touchdowns. They could close the leagues down tomorrow, for all I care. Sports don't exist any more; what we have now is gang warfare with a ball.