It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. That’s an adage as old as sports. But what if you played the game to lose? Sound crazy? Unfortunately, in the world of professional sports of all places, that’s become more the norm than the exception. Tank Mode. The technical definition is–“a team that loses on purpose after determining they have nothing to play for in the current season, in order to help their chances of drafting the next savior of the franchise”. There are a couple of problems associated with that way of thinking. The first is that for every Lebron James, there is Andrea Bargnani, Kwame Brown, Greg Oden, or Anthony Bennett. Who you say? Exactly. And those were all #1 picks! The list of failed draft choices grows with each spot down the draft board. The NBA, for its part, has attempted to mute “tanking” games by instituting the ping pong ball lottery. Based on how you finish, you have a higher percentage chance of obtaining the #1 pick, but certainly no guarantee. In fact, this year was the first time in a while that the team with the worst record actually won the #1 pick. But this system hasn’t really been the deterrent that the league perhaps thought it would be. Teams played the percentages.
Football your thing? The NFL doesn’t have a lottery. They are all about parity. Worst record gets the #1 pick. Eric Fisher, Sam Bradford, Matthew Stafford, JaMarcus Russell, David Carr, Tim Couch and Courtney Brown. You might recognize a few names on this list, but none of them have ever made a Pro Bowl, much less turned a franchise around. In fact, 8 of the last 15 Number One picks HAVEN’T made a Pro Bowl. Which begs the question; without a guarantee of success in the draft, why tank?
Most teams will proclaim innocence like OJ Simpson trying on a dried bloody glove. We aren’t “trying” to lose. “We are just getting a look at our younger guys”. “_ _ needs a rest during a long season”. “The calf muscle pull is taking longer to heal than expected”. “We are shutting him down for the season”. The list of cliched excuses forms at the left and wraps around the building. It is as if professional sports teams completely missed Kevin Costner’s message in the immortal baseball movie Bull Durham. “Never @$%# with a winning streak.” Except they’ve replaced winning with losing. At what point did this become ok? Teams don’t charge less for losing. They don’t apologize for it to their fans. They simply explain that they have a long term plan. What is it? Be as bloody awful as possible in hope of securing a top draft pick that may or may not help the team improve, but not enough to keep said draft pick from leaving the franchise for greener pastures as soon as his rookie contract expires? Great plan guys. Speaking of fans….they might just be part of the problem. Many of them flock to message boards after each game happy to see their team “tank” another game. “Tank you very much!” they scream, as if part of some strange cult. Meanwhile, the purists shake their heads in disgust. Competitors long since taken from us roll over in their graves. What would Ernie Banks say??? The Hall of Fame baseball player for the Chicago Cubs famous for saying “let’s play two today!” out of his sheer love of the game, never won a World Series. In fact, he never even played in a playoff game! But he showed up every day, ready to play–ready to compete. I’m pretty sure he would have a few choice words for his manager if he tried to “rest” him during a lost season.
But don’t worry. I haven’t just identified the problem. I’ve got the solution, and it has nothing to do with ping pong balls. How about rewarding winning? I know. I know. That’s crazy. And the sheer financials of it all won’t allow for teams to endure decades of losing (even though some teams do anyway) without the hope of being saved. Fair enough. So here is what I propose. Give the #1 pick to the team with the best record that DOESN’T make the playoffs and work your way down. You’d see some epic battles then. Last day of the season and the Knicks and Lakers are playing to determine the 17th best record in the league with the #1 pick on the line! Think of the ratings. What if two teams are battling to get into the playoffs on the last day? Would they lose on purpose to get the number 1 pick?? Not to worry, I have that covered as well. Make the playoff shares for making the playoffs large enough that the number 1 pick would be a distant thought.
What about the poor worst team in the league? They would still get the #14 pick. Tim Hardaway, Thunder Dan Majerle, and Clyde Drexler were all #14 picks. Ok, so were Mateen Cleaves, Troy Murphy and Michael Dickerson. But hey, win some games then and you won’t have to worry about it. Tank you very much. Or tank you very little. Losing is NOT ok.