Basketball On The Internet.

LAST week I went to a rock concert and a basketball game broke out. It was quite the relief!

The Blitz was certainly a blitz of loud, obnoxious and intrusive music blaring virtually nonstop.

Must have truly thrilled the couple of hundred NBL fans who made it along when the Townsville Cup and Cowboys were drawing more love from the locals.

But can you imagine that even? Attending an NRL match where they're blaring music throughout?

Or at an AFL game?

Hell no. They value the integrity of the product too much.

Now we all know you can't stop the music at NBL games - that's for sure.

We're so busy trying to offer the ultimate "entertainment package" that we have some club ownerships hellbent convinced that somehow music is integral in the fan experience.

And you know what? It can be.

That is, of course, when the music is used to enhance what we are watching - and hearing - on the basketball court.

Seriously now, are we STILL so locked into the 80s drive to find a new audience that we're obliged to blast the ears off the fanbase?

Have we made so little progress in 30 years?

The 20-somethings convincing managements they know best and constructing blaring playlists including Nutbush City Limits and Funky Cold Medina relentlessly overbearing on-court action - and at the Blitz, even on-court interviews!! - need to actually go overseas somewhere and watch a game.

The NBA, which provides arguably the best "entertainment package" doesn't blow out the brains of its customers.

The NCAA certainly doesn't.

I wrote last week of my concerns that we were advancing at a rate of knots in Year One of this genuinely NEW NBL, but staying stuck in a mindset of louder-is-better, prompting this reaction from former Townsville Crocodiles and Australia's Gold Medal-winning FIBA U23 World Championship coach Ian Stacker.

"I was surprised when I did a presentation a couple of years ago to the NBL CEOs forming the new management group on game presentation (among other things) that none had ever attended a game outside Australia," he wrote.

"They thought music was played throughout NBA and NCAA games!!

"It's the opposite, only played in breaks in play.

"FIBA bans music during play.

"Only Australia thinks it's a good idea. Imagine if AFL tried drowning out the crowd with music during play? Stupid."

Couldn't agree more. Stupid.

But then we do tend to do stupid things.

Look at Basketball Australia's decision to "copy the NBA" and black-out the crowd at Rod Laver Arena for the Boomers-Tall Blacks match last month.

Good Lord. There were 15,000-plus at that game! We had a monster crowd for once.

Let's see them!

Again, you understand the thinking but both BA and the NBL needs someone prepared to occasionally simply say: "the Emperor has no clothes", a la the old children's tale.

Right now, the NBL is on the threshold of a remarkable and somewhat magnificent identity switch from basket case to No.1 place.

Yes, every club needs a great game-night package but blaring music for the better part of two hours will NOT thrill new fans. And old fans will similarly be aggrieved.

By all means, play music where it is warranted, where it can build drama and certainly during breaks and especially (obviously) when there's an on-court show which requires it.

But let's not all get stuck with the same game-night. What works in Perth, even the dancers dissing an opposition time-out, won't work in Adelaide.

What works in Auckland may not translate to Townsville. Sydney's show may not thrill in Cairns.

The point is, every market is different and local guidance in how to put together a winning package is essential.

One thing we all should agree on though is this. The product on the floor has certainly not looked better at any time this century.

Childress, Warrick, Jawai, Thornton, Starks, Ogilvy, Penney, Lisch, Ere, Goulding, Khazzouh ... the list of talent goes on and on.

Let's get to enjoy them and hear them too. And the coaches. And the refs. And the banter. Let's put the DJ wannabes out to a long overdue pasture.

The WNBL and FIBA don't need music for the action to be enjoyed. Nor does the NBL.

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