Friday, December 1, 2006

An Angry Rant Against Bruce Bowen

Bruce Bowen has no place in professional basketball. There's been another round of commotion (as there is every season) about him being a dirty player, and it's happened again this year.
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/11/15/bowen.reputation/index.html
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Look, a lot of guys are dirty. Raja Bell is dirty. John Stockton was dirty. They both beat my beloved Lakers, and not only do they deserve their place in the game, I am fans of both players. I do realize teams need enforcers and that dirty play often works, but when your tactic is to intentionally injure opponents to "get in their head" you've crossed a pretty clear line. Most journalists seem to be on Bowen's side, so let me address the arguments typically presented on his behalf.
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1. He's not doing it intentionally, and you can't know that he is
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Fair enough, I'm not a mind reader. Maybe he just jumps sideways at defenders with his feet out because he thinks he is a talented sideways jumper. Maybe he thinks his feet will provide a softer cushion than the hardwood floor. Maybe he thinks 1+1 = jello. Maybe, just maybe, Bruce Bowen is that fucking stupid.
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If I EVER caused a guy to get hurt unintentionally, I would immediately think about what role I may have played there. These guys watch tape every day. If I saw that I had jumped sideways and extended my foot, I would think "wow, I need to stop doing that." Not to mention jumping sideways at a guy like that is an unnatural basketball movement. Other defenders don't jump at a guy in that fashion.
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2. The league didn't do anything about it
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I don't think this a particularly strong argument to begin with - after all, we can all see the footage and judge for ourselves. How the league office interprets things is generally of little value to me. I know when a foul is flagrant, I don't need to wait 5 days to hear the league called it a "Flagrant 2" so I can go to sleep at night. "Man, I don't know if that wasa flagrant foul or not - hopefully the league will say something so I can figure this out!"
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That being said, I can see why the league might have been hesitant to punish Bowen - it would kind of open up a can of worms and lead to excessive interpretation. In Bowen's case, the evidence is rock solid, but I can see this getting problematic once you establish precedent.
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3. Bowen is a really nice guy and he overcame a lot to make the NBA
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Yay. Wow. Wow, that is really, I mean just REALLY touching.
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4. People just hate him because he's good
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No other elite perimeter defender gets accused of this. Quinton Ross. Trenton Hassell. Ron Artest. Raja Bell. Shane Battier. I can go on and on, but I've never heard another guy get accused of this. Bowen gets accused of all the time. Similarly, I've never heard any of his accusers accuse anyone else of doing this either.
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As for not liking Bowen just because he's not on my team, I can't speak for everyone, but I'm quite sure that's not true in my case. I'm sure if Bowen were a Laker I'd root for him, but I'd still be disgusted with his methods. I never liked the way Vlade Divac and Derek Fisher flopped all over the place, and while I of course rooted for them, I always wished they could play effectively straight up.
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5. People just hate him because he's ugly
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Alright, got me there.
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6. The shooters actually kick out their legs, causing the problem
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Then why doesn't it happen with other defenders as well? I agree Carter has the stupid leg kick, but there's no way you can say that about Ray Allen, who has the best shooting form of anyone in the NBA.
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VIDEO EVIDENCE
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Here's Bowen kicking Ray Allen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLgHeeOZJFI
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Here's Bowen and Vince Carter (admittedly the most dubious of the evidence - but I'd like to point out that Carter had torched Bowen for 43 in 3 quarters and the Nets were up 5 - so it wasn't frustration on Carter's part, it was a genuine belief that Bowen wanted to hurt him):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI5pE2-bXkE
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Bruce Bowen on Steve Francis and Jamal Crawford:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drPQkEsM8uM
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Bruce Bowen karate kicking Wally Szczerbiak in the face:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAakQjpFibg
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I rest my case.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

wow. yeah, i've seen a couple of those clips before but now that you've put it into a consolidated (and persuasive) argument, I must say that it's pretty ridiculous (and kinda gutless). Sports is like economics though, you have to use incentives to make people behave the way you want them to, maybe Bowen has settled into a grey area where the league can't suspend him for these supposedly 'borderline' tactics.

By the way, I grew tolerant over time over Divac's flopping, I always laughed and say "well, he's old" haha, not a great defense, but I always thought it.