The three major sports leagues in America (MLB, NFL, & NBA... I'm leaving the NHL out) are all scrutinized for different reasons. Most sports fans complain that Major League Baseball and the National Football League are typically too leniant in their rules and diciplinary measures. There was a congressional probe on steriod use in Baseball as the league has just recently made anabolic steriods illegal (they still do not test for Human Growth Hormone). There has been a similar trend in the NFL in the past season as steroid abusers are merely suspended 4 games. The gripes on the NBA, however, are quite different. The NBA brass is chastised for, if anything, being too harsh. Despite the constant barrage of steroid stories and media scrutiny, the MLB and NFL commissioners are less visable in the public than the commissioner of the NBA, David Stern. This is because David Stern has tried very hard to "clean up" a league that is often viewed as "thuggish" and dilinquent while efficiently communicating his mission and goals to league owners, players, as well as fans.
David Stern does an excellent job of communicating. Unlike his counterparts who rule over other professional sports, when a player, coach, or owner breaks a rule or must be punished, he does so quickly and fiercely. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been fined over $2 million since purchasing the team in 2000. Each time Cuban has wandered on the the court or complained about officiating, he has been slapped with a substantial fine within 48 hours. For exapmle, in the 2006 NBA playoffs, Cuban told reporters that he wouldn't hire the NBA's head of officials "to manage a Dairy Queen," and was quickly fined $500,000 by the leauge within the day (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2440355).
Possibly more important than Stern's constant fines and suspensions to clean up the league in its current state is his "State of the League" address he makes at every all-star game. Stern is trying to strike the roots of basketball to return integrity to the game. He is upset with how high school basketball players are being developed. Many so called "basketball schools" place basketball before schoolwork and hand out diplomas that are not earned. Therefore, Stern successfully pushed to force players to attend at least one year of college before entering the NBA draft. "How do you expect to take a kid and drop him into a cauldron if he hasn't been prepared for boiling," Stern said in his latest State of the League address. "Could you have done more to prepare him for the heat than you've done?" (http://www.streetbasketballassociation.net/content/Commentary/comm_sternaddress.html).
David Stern has dealt with a difficult problem head on and has effectively communicated his vision. Unlike the commissioners in other sports, Stern does not beat around the bush when faced with adversity. He, and the league, deliver a strong and unified message.
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