In Praise of Unsportsmanlike Conduct

(Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)
 

It's never a good move to suggest that more players should behave like DeMarcus Cousins.  The Kings big man is volatile at best; mentally unstable at worst.  But, in this case, I'm suggesting that more NBA players follow the mercurial Cousins's lead.

What I'm referring to is this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
29O9OK43W9c[/youtube]

and this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
1hB4PsjHqDM[/youtube]

Horribly unsportsmanlike, right?  Typcial Cousins – hostile, volatile, juvenile.  And yet, I'm all for it.  Perhaps his behaviour is a little extreme (but he is DeMarcus Cousins, after all, what do you expect?!), but the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that perhaps it is necessary.

We're in the midst of The Love Era in the NBA.  Every player is best friends with each other.  They share agents.  They share advertisers.  They share advice.  They share offseason workouts.  The beginning and ending of every NBA game is like a family reunion, all hugs and kisses and hand slaps.  Players love their opponents.  There's nothing wrong with respecting, and even liking, your opponent, but loving them can be dangerous.

We've all probably been in a situation where we go up against a loved one or close friend in a sporting event, whether it be pickup ball or something with higher stakes attached to it.  And, despite your best intentions, you just don't go as hard against this person as you do against someone who you don't have this emotional attachment to.  This isn't to say that NBA players don't go hard when they are going up against a comrade of theirs.  But, consciously or not, they surely don't have the same 'win-at-all-costs, eye-of-the-tiger' drive that they would have otherwise.  

Which makes the fact that Cousins wants to escalate the Kings vs Clippers war a breath of fresh air.  There's nothing wrong with wishing an opponent luck before a game and congratulating him for his efforts after it, so in that sense Cousins's actions are wrong.  But, at the same time, we want – we need – our athletes to have some passion for the task at hand and show some aggression versus their opponents.  While, ironically, the actual participants in an athletic event will never mirror the same intensity level (and, in some cases, hatred) towards their opponents that fans of the respective teams have, any step in that direction is welcome.  And, in this case, I have to recommend players following Cousins's lead, as scary as that sounds.