Whiney NBA players want their ball back
This year the NBA replaced their traditional leather basketball with a more sophisticated microfiber composite ball. The big, overpaid babies that NBA players are, they cried until David Stern gave them the old leather ball back.
Aww, they got boo-boos on their hands. Animal rights fact (I know how some people can't stand animal rights for some reason, but I love going there any way): It takes an entire cow to make 4 leather basketballs. Tough guys like LeBron and Shaq care more about the occasional cut on their hands than they do about improving their stats and the lives of cows.
Heck, if the new ball improves free throw shooting percentage, Shaq should be begging to keep it.
"Although testing performed by (manufacturer) Spalding and the NBA demonstrated that the new composite basketball was more consistent than leather, and statistically there has been an improvement in shooting, scoring, and ball-related turnovers, the most important statistic is the view of our players," Stern added.
The players' view on the new ball has been overwhelmingly negative, with big names like LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal publicly criticising it.
The players said the ball bounced differently and cut their hands in some cases. It was the first ball change in the league for 35 years and the players union filed two unfair labor practice charges against the league on December 1, one of them citing the lack of player input about the new ball.
Aww, they got boo-boos on their hands. Animal rights fact (I know how some people can't stand animal rights for some reason, but I love going there any way): It takes an entire cow to make 4 leather basketballs. Tough guys like LeBron and Shaq care more about the occasional cut on their hands than they do about improving their stats and the lives of cows.
Heck, if the new ball improves free throw shooting percentage, Shaq should be begging to keep it.
Stopping using leather balls in basketball won't save a single cow. The leather that is used is a by product from the meat industry.
Posted by Bearman | 8:11 AM
Bearman,
It may be a by-product of the meat industry, but your conclusion that switching balls will save no cows doesn't make sense to me.
There is a high demand for leather products. What happens if all of the meat by-product leather is used for boots and jackets? Wouldn't they have to kill more cows, take the meat and preserve it, then make the leather balls from that (that was a gross over-simplification, but I am sure you get what I am saying).
Do you have any documentation for this fact?
Posted by Andrew Warner | 10:37 AM
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/nba/stories/101806dnsponbaball.33d4071.html
At the end of the article it states
"Toughy (head of Spaulding) says, "Not a single cow will live because we changed to a composite ball." The company acquired leather from meat producers that had already removed the skin.
Now you could say I don't have documented factual proof (and I am sure you don't believe any head of a corporation) but then again you don't have any that says more cows would live without leather basketballs.
Posted by Bearman | 12:21 PM