Because Rules
Science. Rules. Basketball. And Tom Brady. This one is all over the place, folks.
At the end of January I wrote Science is Hard. But the Truth Always Wins. It was an article about mandates disguised as an article about Tom Brady. Really though, it was about a lot of things. Mandates, the legal system, science and a once in a generation athlete. A once in a generation athlete who has had a mind boggling level of success in a sport that is designed for organizational parity through a salary cap and a draft structure that rewards failure. Success that has been so constant, many believed some sort of cheating scheme had to explain the success to some degree. Science be damned.
In hindsight, the most likely scenario from Deflategate was that no cheating scheme actually happened. Still, Brady wins. No matter where he is. Now, just a few weeks after announcing his retirement, he’s already back. I mean, even Jordan missed some games during both of his first two retirements. Tommy Touchdown isn’t even going to miss training camp.
I’m not going to speculate why he’s coming back. There are A LOT of theories online. Those theories range from “his wife made him retire even though he wanted keep playing” to “he was holding the NFL hostage to end scientifically dubious COVID protocols.” Again, I’m not going to speculate. But I will admit the timing of the unretirement announcement is interesting given the NFL’s suspension of COVID protocols last week.
The intersection of sports, art, and life has always been really fascinating to me. We can learn so much from watching and studying professional athletes. I think that’s probably why many wish to assign some sort of greater purpose for Brady’s decision to come back. High profile success and failure often serve as teachable moments. Allen Iverson and Antoine Walker both provide valuable personal finance examples that should not be followed by athletes who earn a lot of money at an early age. I might be wrong, and let me know in the comments if I am, but Simone Biles was probably a pioneer in that she left her sport in the biggest moment possible to address her mental well being.
Enes Kantar Freedom has shown us that being too loud about certain things can potentially blackball you from playing the game you love. The key for athletes is not becoming more trouble than they’re worth in the game. And we’ve seen a similar story in the NFL with Colin Kaepernick. Both men were/are talented enough to play in their leagues. But leagues and employers always have a net value to balance when rostering any player. This is no different than any small business. If I run a burger joint and one of my cooks is belittling coworkers, there’s a cost there that requires some action. The cook might need to go.
Is Enes Kanter Freedom worth the trouble to the Boston Celtics? For Boston, is 3.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game worth losing the entire Chinese television market? The sad reality is probably not. The Celtics are in business to make money from basketball operations. The Celtics are not in business to make political statements that are too detrimental to the bottom line.
There are no solutions. Only tradeoffs.
Thomas Sowell
The Renegade
The organization generally has control in these types of situations. The players that make the most money have the most to lose generally speaking. It behooves superstars to play the game on and off the court. Usually, players who are upper echelon level talents keep their mouths shut about things that can create political problems for themselves and the league. But every now and then there is a renegade. This weekend, Kyrie Irving said it all without needing to say anything.
Kyrie Irving watched his Nets teammates play… from his courtside seats as a “fan.” New York City still has an employer mandate for vaccines. But the city just lifted its indoor vaccination rules. This means Kyrie can sit close to and interact with his teammates in New York but he still can’t actually play in New York.
Now keep in mind, Kyrie can and has been playing in road games. This is a New York City thing, not an NBA thing. The only variable that matters is the rule. Not the virus. Not the science. Just the rule. What is happening with Kyrie Irving is absolutely absurd. Everybody knows it except, apparently, New York’s mayor.
But at this point now, it feels like somebody’s trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority. But everybody out here is looking for attention, and that’s what I feel the mayor wants right now is some attention. He’ll figure it out soon. He better.
Kevin Durant
Ultimately, players like Kyrie Irving don’t have much power in this specific situation because its a government decision, not a business decision. If it were up to the NBA, The Nets, and Kyrie, he’d be playing every game. But it isn’t up to them. It’s up to an elected official. And that elected official can’t make such a public exception for Irving without undermining whatever it is he’s trying to accomplish with this policy.
I can't have my city closed down again. It would send the wrong message just to have an exception for one player when we're telling countless number of New York City employees, 'If you don't follow the rules, you won't be able to be employed.'
NYC Mayor Eric Adams
But again, this is not about science or a virus. Kyrie Irving is clearly not infecting his teammates with COVID. This is about New York’s rules. And it certainly appears as though Mayor Eric Adams would rather protect the rules than have an honest conversation about if the rules are necessary. Because an honest conversation about if the rules are necessary might lead to a question that looks and sounds like this one:
If Kyrie Irving is healthy enough to live and work for his employer without the shot, is it possible the same is true for the rest of the city?
