(Photo credit: NBL.com.au)
The 2008-09 National Basketball League season has passed with nary a mention on this site — the most recent entry being a review of Game 1 of the Finals. This fact has not gone unnoticed by me. In fact it has bothered me somewhat, raising the question in my mind as to why I lacked sufficient passion to blurt out at least a cursory summary of the Finals series.
Soul-searching complete, I’ve arrived at a summary of reasons as to what has diminished my previously huge passion for our league downunder in recent times:
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The temporary nature and winds of change in the air have made it hard to take the 2008-09 season as seriously as in the past. The collapse of teams and the back-of-the-mind knowledge that the league would be turned upside down at season end, almost make you think, “well, let’s just wait and see what is going to happen next year, once it’s all sorted out.” Now, I’m almost certain that most semi-passionate fans have been lost by the league for this very same reason. Would it have been better to have just taken the year off? Perhaps.
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From my current base in the rainy UK it is much easier to follow the NBA than it is to follow the NBL. Whilst improvements were made to the official site‘s live scores system and the ability to listen to some games online via radio broadcast was a welcome addition, it’s just not the same as being able to WATCH a game. The advent of the NBA’s International Broadband League Pass (ilp.nba.com for those unaware) made it much easier to feel a part of the NBA. I’m blissfully unaware of the cost structure involved with setting up a similar package for the NBL in order to air games online, but if it’s possible to do it at a reasonable fee to fans, please do it. It pulls in punters like nothing else — particularly in this everything-is-online age.
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The Finals series being an all-Melbourne affair would have been absolute dynamite for those in “the world’s most liveable city”, but not so envigorating for those that are fans of a team like the Sydney Kings that no longer exist (though I hope they are to return soon).
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On that point, the loss of my home team, one I have been passionate about for going on two decades was an absolute passion killer. It was like wearing socks to bed on your wedding night — in other words, it didn’t kill the passion completely, but it sure put a damp rag over it.
All of that off my chest, it is now time to redress the situation; both for the sake of my own catching up on the season that was and for the sake of documenting 2008-09 for posterity on the site. After all, this past year was potentially the most monumentous in the history of Australian basketball. We’ve seen financial collapses, countless suggestions of improvements that can be made to the league, a complete restructure of Basketball Australia, not to mention a darn good, no… great Finals series.
Over the next week A Stern Warning will take a look at all of the aspects of 2008-09 — a season review, if you will (if you won’t then I will). We’ll look at the individual award winners, the champions, the wooden spooners, those that will be back next year and those that won’t. Ultimately this will lead into the off-season of uncertainty with developments on the NewNBL (or whatever it is going to be called).
This post will be updated with links to all of the respective articles that come out of this NBL season review.
