The NBA D-League is Stupid

From ESPN.com:

OREM, Utah — An NBA Development League team will refund the ticket prices to the thousands of fans who went to a Utah Flash game and expected Michael Jordan to play in a charity exhibition at halftime.

A Jordan lookalike instead was introduced to face former Utah Jazz guard Bryon Russell in a promotional fiasco that will cost Flash owner Brandt Andersen.

Andersen said he made a legitimate offer, albeit a long shot, to get Jordan to the Flash’s home opener, but took it too far by sending the Jordan lookalike around town Monday and building a buzz that the event really was going to happen.

“We’re the first ones to say it was not in good taste in the end,” Andersen said Tuesday night. “It just kind of blew up in our faces. We just didn’t execute it well.”

A Jordan lookalike? That’s plain pathetic. Also, Mark Madsen is the assistant coach of the Flash. Bad bad bad.

Why do these leagues exist? And don’t tell me that the Utah Flash is going to spit out some major leaguers anytime soon. Lee Cummard, Bennet Davis, and Orien Greene, hoo boy, I’m salivating now, lemme tell you. I’ve long thought that if I was one of these marginal dudes from Loyola Marymount who didn’t get drafted but still has enough skills to kinda sorta still play ball, I’d do it in the Philipines, or Greece, or Israel, or Turkey, or WHEREVER. Don’t go to Utah! Don’t go to Gary, Indiana! Don’t play for Mark Madsen and settle for medium-hot groupies who Tiger Woods has already tosses to the wolves. Go to another country where your paltry salary suddenly swells like Gary Coleman’s weiner when he sees Soleil Moon Frye, live on the beach, become a national hero, play for like six years, learn another language, make some friends, let go of the insane idea that you’re going to play in The League (where you’ll be a practice scrub, at best, and Carmelo won’t even learn your name, he’ll just toss his sweaty headbands at your blank, uncomprehending face), and call it a day. You’re good at basketball. Don’t let it trap you into playing in a league that uses lookalikes to trick people into watching you play. That’s sad.

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