Jerry Sloan Resignation Only Affirms Everything That Is Wrong With Sports

If you've followed the NBA at all this season, you probably have heard the rumblings coming out of Utah that star point guard, Deron Williams, is not happy this season playing for the Jazz, and that he has butted heads numerous times this year with head coach Jerry Sloan.

As a Knicks fan, this delighted me. Not that I'm the type of person who finds joy in the misfortune of others, but with free agency looming for Williams in 2012, his displeasure with his current team and coach could cause the outstanding point guard to take his services else where, say, New York, for example.

Sure these player/coach feuds usually end in favor of the player, especially if that player is a superstar, but this is the Utah Jazz, and there hasn't been a head coaching change there since Ronald Reagan was president. 

Then, yesterday afternoon, Jerry Sloan resigned after 23 years as head coach of the Utah Jazz, and honestly, my first thoughts were that my visions of D-Will lobbing passes to Amar'e for thunderous slams would never come to fruition.

Then I got over it by telling myself that Chris Paul is better anyway.

Then, after reading a terrific article this morning by one of my favorite sport columnists, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, that somewhat downplayed the role Deron Williams has played in the midseason resignation of a Hall of Famer, I was a bit saddened.

Yesterday was truly a sad day for not only basketball, but sports in general. See, Jerry Sloan was the last man standing from the days of old, when players played, and coaches coached, period.

Not that player/coach confrontations are anything new; in fact, Sloan himself has been known to clash with numerous players throughout his coaching career, from Deron Williams and Al Jefferson, to Carlos Boozer and even the great Karl Malone.

What is new, and quite disturbing for that matter, is the fact that for whatever reason, be it the enormity of player contracts, the increased pressure to win or the urgency that goes along with living in this age of Twitter, TMZ and instant information, star players have more and more say in the directions that their franchises take, using the threat of a looming free agency as leverage.

Maybe the game has passed an old-school guy like Jerry Sloan by. Sure, Sloan expecting his players to conform to his system, rather than adjusting his system to fit his roster, is not only stubborn, but probably would have gotten most other coaches fired by now. Jerry Sloan is not blameless in the erosion of his relationship with this year's Jazz team, but contrary to many sentiments out there, neither is Deron Williams.

Like it or not, the truth is that if Deron Williams fell in line with his head coach, rather than continuously butting heads with him, voicing his displeasure with the system, and letting rumors leak out (true or not) that he would leave Utah in 2012 if Sloan was still coach, not only would Jerry Sloan still be the head coach of the Jazz, but the team would probably be winning more this season—the one desire that both Sloan and Williams have in common.

The situation in Utah is much like that Dr. Seuss story The Zax. That's the short tale of the two "Zax" that are too stubborn to move out of the way so the other one could pass, and as a result, the two stay there, standing face to face, as the world evolves around them. It's a premise that even children can understand. Stubbornness halts progress.

So it is very surprising to me that the overwhelming tone of this whole situation is more "the game of professional basketball has passed Jerry Sloan by," and less "Deron Williams is a spoiled, entitled star athlete who forced his coach out."

The truth is somewhere between the two, but why does it seem that Deron Williams is getting a pass that other athletes in similar situations have not?

Is it because Williams is a pass-first point guard, and not a shooting guard who would rather average 35 points per game than trust his teammates like Kobe Bryant? Does Williams get a pass because he doesn't rock cornrows and tattoos, platinum chains and sideways baseball caps while complaining about practice like Allen Iverson?

Could it simply be that these incidents have become so common in professional sports that we finally have become desensitized to them enough that, not only do we expect this sort of behavior from the athletes we watch, but we are really beginning to believe that the coaches and managers are solely to blame?

And how long will it be before this type of behavior trickles down to the high school sports level, or even worse, CYO and community sports level? It's not as far-fetched of a thought as one may think. After all, how many of us as children designed our batting stances after our favorite players, went up for layups with our tongue hanging out, or tucked our right arm behind our head while fully extending our left arm before flipping the football out of our hands after a touchdown?

I know I did, and have watched my children do it as well. I've seen everything from my 14-year-old daughter try no-look passes on the basketball court that she has seen Steve Nash make to my son, at six years old, ask an umpire for time, remove his catchers mask, and run to the pitcher's mound to discuss strategy while covering his mouth with his mitt. It was a coach pitch league, and the pitcher was me.

Those are the cute examples of children emulating the athletes they idolize, but how long until these young athletes begin to emulate their favorite athlete's off-field antics as well?

Indeed, yesterday was a sad day for basketball. Unfortunately, it seems like we won't realize that until some highly coveted high school player threatens to transfer to a private school if his coach remains at the helm of the team.