The more things change ...
TweetTHERE’s nothing like settling down for a catch-up morning cup of coffee with an old friend and having it interrupted by a somewhat irate text message.
Andrew (AJ) Johnstone is one of the greats of our basketball-writing/reporting industry, who also provided terrific insightful and knowledgeable coverage on television with the late, lamented multi-talented Clinton Grybas and who still is doing wonderful things for FIBA.
An NBL tragic like many of us, he would be the first media person any new Victorian club in the city’s basketball heartland in its south-east should reach out to for help in establishing a presence to rival Melbourne Tigers.
But enough about my morning coffee catch-up.
It appears I got under the skin of the NBL’s media manager Paul Cochrane for having the audacity to suggest some sort of player farewell video may have been appropriate for Rusty Hinder and maybe CJ Bruton and that the evening – with the exception of the buzz generated when an All Star Five selection (who shall remain nameless) ditched his trophy in the water after losing out in the MVP count – was a “fairly ordinary affair”.
Paul reacted by informing me all clubs were asked which players were retiring and only one club, Townsville, confirmed Hinder was hanging up the boots.
“We were assured CJ isn’t retiring,” he wrote.
No, CJ hasn’t said it. But his run at New Zealand assuredly is done and as a record six-time champion, maybe he deserved some degree of acknowledgement on an NBL awards night.
Guess not.
“Not sure it was appropriate to do a farewell video for a bloke who a) isn’t retiring and b) wasn’t going to be there,” Paul additionally explained.
(Too expensive to fly him in?)
“I think that would have been more of a ‘fairly ordinary affair’ kind of move.
(Sensing a little bit of affront there but maybe that’s just me being overly sensitive …)
“Personally I didn’t think we should be singling Hinder out for fanfare on a night designed to stay pacey.”
Well hell no! Pace is a priority!
Clearly I struck some kind of nerve but the truth is, Basketball Australia altogether ditched its WNBL awards night and the NBL awards night was the mildest in recent memory.
I was being generous in calling it “fairly ordinary” compared with the past few joint NBL-WNBL extravaganzas which have rocked the Crown in Melbourne.
Artists such as Samantha Jade or Guy Sebastian performing made it classy, and yet despite running through two leagues’ worth of awards, the pace never wavered.
Go figure.
Another basketball journo worth his weight in hockey pucks, Grantley Bernard, provided an Internet play-by-play, adding even more relevance to the big nights.
I’m guessing Paul and today’s NBL admin folk never attended a previous awards night to see how well it can be done and so have no reference point. They probably thought it was pretty good.
Sorry to ruin the party.
For hints on how to make it the memorable night it should be, check out Perth Wildcats’ awards night, or Melbourne Tigers’ event or Townsville Crocodiles’ gala evening.
People still are raving about the Crocs’ show, not to mention the annual Cairns Taipans Christmas/New Year MVP dinner. (Don’t wanna leave it to the last minute or anything...)
The Wildcats had 1,200-plus guests at their dinner, paying $200 a head.
I am sure Sydney Kings also had a doozy of an awards night.
The Adelaide 36ers’ event at Adelaide Entertainment Centre last week was sensational, with close to 500 guests revelling in the atmosphere.
The Sixers’ player revue was a hilarious highlight as well, though I would say the NBL awards night’s stand-up comedian was a high point.
But not having a trophy on hand for Referee of the Year Michael Aylen?
Fairly ordinary.
Don’t care if it was broken en route or had the wrong name on it or if Toni Caldwell or Andrew Filmer threw it into the water. Handing Aylen air was fairly ordinary.
(He did receive the trophy later so there is obviously some story accompanying the foul-up, but your national awards night should just get it right. It’s not as if Steve Carfino was going to blurt the winner’s name out early or anything).
Should CJ and Rusty have been acknowledged?
I think so.
Should media awards have been presented? Maybe the three watches given as prizes hadn’t arrived.
But lumping all electronic media into one category for one radio winner, thereby dismissing the efforts of Ten, One and Fox in the same breath, makes as much sense as it would to lump Best Story and Best Photograph in the same category.
You don’t do that. (We all already know a picture is worth a thousand words!)
So let’s not get too precious now.
As AJ says, the more things change, the more they stay the same.