NBA Proves Stupidity of Zero Tolerance Policies

“Zero tolerance” policies abound in the 21st century. They sound tough, and they provide an illusory certainty that evil-doers will be punished. The NBA’s suspensions this week of San Antonio’s Robert “Cheap Shot” Horry along with Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns proved that zero tolerance policies are also stupid. Zero tolerance merely means that all offenses will be treated as stand-alone events with no context in determining punishments. The NBA may have handed San Antonio the series in what can only be called a travesty of justice.

Now, there are bad feelings between the two teams to begin with, and the Suns players have publicly said that the Spurs play dirty. Anyone who’s watched this season and last agrees. The Spurs are, in addition to gifted athletes, poor sports (the two are not mutually exclusive). Mr. Horry started the ugliness by knocking Steve Nash (THE Phoenix Sun) to the floor with a cheap shot, thrown elbow in the closing minutes of the fourth playoff game between the two. For good measure he took a swing at Raja Bell of the Suns. For this, Mr. Horry, a bench player averaging 6 points a game, received a two game suspension. So far, so good.

However, the NBA also suspended Messrs. Stoudemire and Diaw for (wait for it) “leaving the vicinity of the bench” during an “altercation.” They stood up and moved toward their compatriot, who was on the ground, and for that, both missed Wednesday’s Game 5. Mr. Stoudmire is a starter on any team, and Mr. Diaw would be a starter on most other teams. So by knocking another player to the ground, Mr. Horry took two of the opposition’s stars out of a pivotal game. His punishment looks like a reward in most sane circles.

Now, it’s no secret that the NBA has the worst officiating in professional sports (when did Kobe “Three Steps” Bryant last get called for traveling at the Staples Center in LA?). Nor is it a secret that Commissioner David Stern is terrified of violence breaking out at one of his games as it did in Detroit a bit ago, when players actually went up in the stands to pound on paying customers (who frankly needed pounding). So there is zero tolerance for acts that could lead to violence (which means Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan should have been tossed for leaving their benches earlier, but apparently there was no “altercation,” whatever the hell that means).

“Rules are rules” is piffle and muddy thinking, and zero tolerance merely condones not thinking at all. Consider a law that forbids a person from cutting another with a knife; zero tolerance for anyone doing so. Sort of does in the whole idea of surgery, doesn’t it? One can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theatre, but what if the place really is on fire? Getting a ticket from a motorcycle cop for speeding when one is rushing a pregnant woman to the emergency room is zero tolerance incarnate. The time to end zero tolerance policies is long over. It’s time to start thinking again.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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