Basketball On The Internet.

THERE’S an election tomorrow, but you knew that.

What you may not have known though is the official NBL website and most of the eight clubs’ websites are running prominent anti-Tony Abbott advertisements.

Now I’m not sure about the wisdom in that.

For a start, one thing I cannot wait for personally is for the election to be done so I can stop being assailed by the political opinions of my Facebook friends and the Twitter folk I follow.

No offence intended but I don’t give a flying fandango whether you support the Libs, Labor, Abbott or Rudd or if you loathe any/all of the above.

When I was young – ah, the smell of parchment and the new quill – we were taught you didn’t discuss three topics; politics, religion and, well, to be truly honest, I have forgotten the third one.

It made sense though because precious little can divide friends like politics, religion or the other one.

To me, those are personal issues. I don’t care if you are a born-again Christian, a card-carrying member of Family First, a reformed smoker, gay or a Port supporter.

All that matters to me is are you a decent human being with a positive value system? The elements that constitute you are important to you. Not to me.

Do you really care who I vote for?

So why should I care who you vote for?

In this age of social media, it is unavoidable all manner of people will wish to share their wisdom and insight on such things, so the days of NOT speaking about religion, politics (or the other thing) are dead.

I accept that, even though it annoys me because I don't want to know. But I would be a monumental hypocrite to scold people for expressing their opinion when it is exactly what I do here.

I just tire of seeing it because it forces me to form opinions about my friends that I would rather not.

But I digress, which still beats transgressing.

The point I am making is I challenge the wisdom of a sporting body and its constituent teams embracing any political affiliation.

I don’t care if it is anti-Rudd or anti-Abbott, I am anti-the ads.

What if Tony Abbott’s Liberal Party wins office tomorrow? When the NBL’s leadership requires Federal Government assistance in some form, how silly would it look?

That is why such advertising is fraught with peril.

I had a conversation with BA CEO Kristina Keneally a few weeks ago in Canberra about whether it was wise for her to tweet anti-NSW Government messages, given her position as the leader of a national sporting federation?

You can argue “freedom of speech” and as a journalist, I would applaud the argument.

Again, I just question the wisdom of biting a hand which you may want to feed you somewhere down the track.

As a former NSW Labor Premier, KK’s affiliations are no secret. But she remained steadfast tweeting anti-Liberal reactions to NSW Government decisions could not hurt basketball because that government could not and would not help our sport anyway.

Hmm. So the WA Government has never helped a basketball-related program? The ACT Government didn’t tangibly support the Boomers-Opals Oceania Series double in Canberra?

State governments do, occasionally, come to the party.

What I’m getting at is wouldn’t the NSW Government be a handy ally in securing an NBA game for Sydney somewhere down the track? Or is something like that not even on the radar to bolster basketball interest in Australia?

I guess that whole anti-Government tweeting deal is one issue on which KK and I will just agree to disagree. And that’s the joy of a democracy. We can.

For what it’s worth, political advertising for one party ahead of an election by a sporting body just doesn’t strike me as sound business practice.

As is often the case though, NBL Pty Ltd did not secure that advertising. It came with existing contracts. The sites inherited it.

My only political comment ahead of tomorrow is I hope the party which forms Government appreciates and supports our sport more tangibly than many of those that have gone before.

That’s all I want to say on politics or religion.

Hey wait. I just remembered the third thing we were taught not to talk about.

Sex.

How the hell did I forget that?

MY recent “Outside the Rectangle” piece drew a terrific response from Paul Vandenbergh, one of the few indigenous players to crack an NBL team when he did it at Canberra Cannons in 2001.

He wrote: “Love the article mate and couldn’t agree with you more.

Imparja TV is massive in regional and remote SA and it’s what I grew up watching in Ceduna. It is often the only channel viewed by people in these areas and a real market place for businesses.

There’s also NITV which I think is another great channel and opportunity for the NBL to explore.

Ricky Simpson and I have almost established the SA Aboriginal Basketball Academy and I’m very focussed on getting more Aboriginal kids to choose Basketball over Football in this State.

It’s crazy to think that apart from the great Michael Ah Matt, I’m the only Aboriginal person from SA to play professionally.

This needs to change and I know I wasn’t one of the best players growing up, it’s just that I was more focussed and determined than my cousins and friends.”

Back to you, NBL Pty Ltd.