The NBA has apparently cracked down on players' excessive complaining geared toward an officiating call they disagree with.
Amare Stoudemire was hit with a technical foul earlier this season for jumping up and down after a foul was called against him.
In Phoenix's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, a player simply shook his head and was vigorously T'd up.
I hate whiney players as much as the next fan, especially notorious ones like Sam Cassell or Chris Webber. But issuing technical fouls for mini-tantrums? God forbid any player in the NBA shows any emotion.
Part of what makes sports so great is experiencing the intensity and passion of the players on both sides of the ball.
At the college level, emotion is overflowing as players dive on the court for loose balls and make hard drives to the hoop.
That passion makes March Madness one of the most unpredictable and best postseason tournaments in all of sports.
The NBA should be looking to capture more of that raw emotion, not stomp it out completely.
Like hockey fans enjoy a good fight, basketball fans enjoy seeing their players get upset and show that they actually care about the outcome of a game.
A losing team with no heart is the quickest way to an empty arena. And of course the league wants no part of that.
But this issue is just one symptom of a much larger problem facing the league - NBA commissioner David Stern is on a regulatory tear, and he's gone way past crossing the line.
His little rules implemented to supposedly help improve the NBA's image are subsequently ruining the game. His intentions are good, but his execution is sucking the life out of professional basketball.
He started with the business casual dress code for inactive players attending games.
This move was actually understandable since the players are still technically going to work. And if most of us showed up to our jobs in jeans, a backward hat and T-shirt, we'd probably be fired.
But then last month Stern said he'd prefer all players did not carry firearms outside of their own homes. His statement came in the wake of Indiana Pacer Stephen Jackson's strip club incident in which he fired multiple shots in apparent self-defense.
So who is Stern to say what players can and cannot do in their free time? Every other citizen is allowed to bear arms provided they have a license. And NBA players shouldn't be an exception just because a few bad eggs have opened fire.
But Stern didn't stop there.
Now he wants uniform on-court dress rules, including eliminating unnecessary wear like arm sleeves (see Allen Iverson) and stockings (see Kobe Bryant).
Stern has gone as far as to say that wristbands should not be worn on biceps and that warm-up pants must be removed on the bench and not anywhere on the court or near the scorer's table.
Before you know it, Stern will have established a uniform way for players to tie their shoes or perhaps issue restrictions on hair-dos.
Iverson's arm sleeve and Kobe's tights are trademarks that help give players more identity and the league more personality. For Stern to take these away would be like stripping the "C" off a hockey captain's jersey or painting all Nascar cars the same color.
There haven't been any reported fan complaints about these accessories, so why is Stern trying to fix something that isn't broken?
It's time for someone to regulate the regulator. Stop this man before he has the NBA running like a maximum-security prison.
This is an up-tempo, pop-cultural, sweat-staining, slam-dunking sport, Stern - not Sunday school.
Reach the reporter at steven.bohner@asu.edu
