Buck Harvey: Tex Schramm Comments On The NBA's Amageddon

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

                     [Buck Harvey]    
                     Word of Tex: Why the NBA
                     is so fragile                

                     Sally Struthers will           
                     soon appear, tears in
                     eyes, pleading with you
                     for canned goods so that
                     maybe one 7-footer will
                     have a happier
                     Christmas.

                     That's the way they sell
                     this month's glorified
                     layup line. They will
                     charge as much as $1,000
                     a ticket in Atlantic
                     City to help needy
                     players. "They make a
                     lot of money," explained
                     Patrick Ewing of his
                     impoverished brethren,
                     "and they also spend a
                     lot of money."

                     For just pennies a day .
                     . .

                     There was a time when
                     people knew how to sell,
                     and one of them was a
                     man named Tex Schramm.
                     He was Barnum and the
                     Dallas Cowboys were his
                     circus. So he has a
                     perspective on this kind
                     of entertainment, and
                     how sports often run in
                     cycles, which is why he
                     doesn't see this lockout
                     in terms of months.

                     Schramm sees it in terms
                     of Armageddon.

                     Schramm doesn't have the
                     audience he once did as
                     the GM of the Cowboys.
                     He's retired, splitting
                     his year between his
                     home in Dallas and his
                     boat in Florida. But
                     there was a time when he
                     invented the smallest
                     details (the accented
                     20-yard-line stripe) and
                     the biggest (the luxury
                     box).

                     Schramm advocated
                     instant replay, all
                     right. About 20 years
                     ago. Now he has
                     next-century ideas,
                     about a laser-lit
                     football contrasted
                     against a radar-like
                     screen, making it
                     instantly clear to a
                     replay ref just where
                     Vinny Testaverde is or
                     isn't.

                     "If we can drop a smart
                     bomb through a chimney,"
                     Schramm says, "we can
                     figure out a touchdown."

                     That was the vision
                     often ahead of everyone
                     else. Schramm searched
                     for the next gimmick to
                     keep his sport moving
                     faster, because he saw
                     so clearly the sports
                     that didn't.

                     That's his message now.
                     In 1940, the biggest
                     sports were baseball and
                     boxing. "Pro football
                     and pro basketball
                     weren't on the map,"
                     Schramm said Wednesday.
                     "Hockey was arena
                     football."

                     So he sees what changed
                     in his lifetime, then
                     comes to one conclusion.
                     "It's a bad mistake,"
                     Schramm said, "to say
                     it's going to be the
                     same 50 years from now."

                     Schramm wonders about
                     NASCAR, able to build
                     stadiums so huge they
                     can hold entire football
                     complexes inside. He
                     wonders about kids
                     growing up with computer
                     games, about skateboards
                     and surfing and
                     wrestling. "Look at the
                     next adults," he said.

                     Maybe that's what the
                     NBA did 20 years ago. It
                     crossed all demographic
                     lines, somehow getting
                     both suits and MTV to
                     buy into a
                     sneaker-driven market.
                     "They tapped into
                     something," said
                     Schramm, "and then they
                     got their sports hero,
                     their Babe Ruth in
                     Michael."

                     No sport grew faster in
                     this era, and it's still
                     growing internationally.
                     David Stern has been the
                     hoop version of Schramm,
                     zipping past other
                     sports with a feel for
                     tomorrow's fad. And if
                     the lockout ends this
                     month, the league will
                     have a chance to put
                     itself together.

                     But if the season is
                     lost? Baseball struggled
                     to regain its audience
                     after the strike, and
                     baseball had more than
                     100 years to fall back
                     on. The NBA has been
                     trendy for what? About
                     15 years?

                     So Schramm terms the
                     moment "dangerous." The
                     NBA cycled in, but it
                     could cycle out as
                     quickly as the latest
                     music. All it might take
                     is a drop-dead day. With
                     both sides arrogant and
                     neither understanding
                     how fragile the market
                     is. With the last draft
                     canceled and the next
                     one as disputed. With a
                     league in flames and a
                     few agents trying to
                     start their own. With
                     its Ruth gone and its
                     players unaware what a
                     minimum salary of
                     $272,500 means in
                     America. With men such
                     as Ewing trying to be
                     Barnum.

                     There was a time when
                     people knew how to sell.

                     Wednesday, December 9,
                     1998

                      © 1998 San Antonio Express-News