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[jancys-blue-bayou]

Yeah so Stranger Things 3 was painfully bad

Yeah yeah big negative post about ST3 coming up. Just... holy shit, my expectations weren’t exactly high but jesus I didn’t think it’d be this bad. Wow. Mindboggling to think it was made by the same dudes who made season 1, it feels like a different show. Some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a long while, parts of season 3. This got very long because it was very bad so it’s under the cut. Starting with the few positives and then away we go...

Of course there were bright spots, I thought what we got of Jancy was generally good (just wish there had been more of it. Just like... more lines between them, a few moments could’ve gone on longer...like after the awesome hospital fight scene jesus just let them fucking desperately embrace and profess their love for each other, it was awesome how they relentlessly kept going at the monster to save the other but can we please just have a few more seconds for a comfort moment after?) I liked how they handled the fight btw, apart from the Oliver Twist comment yeah yeah heat of the moment but still felt OOC with that loa a blow. Nancy and Karen scene was nice and um... well Max and El bonding was nice. And um... Mr Clarke! And I kind of dig Murray.

My main issues with it:

- The product placement. Jesus Christ. Okay, ST has always been a show with noticeable product placement. But it’s gone from things like a Coke can prominently on display on a table in s1 (El crushing it with her mind) to literally having a straight up ad for Coca Cola in the middle of a tense scene. That’s the big offender that made me go wow you’re really doing this to yourselves huh, there are many others ofc (everything at the mall ofc, Slurpees being in hyperfocus for a bit, and a lengthy talk about Burger King. These smaller things one by one wasn’t the worst but all combined jesus it was too much, all added together and then bam the Coke commercial was wow... Congrats on the like 80 sponsorship deals and esp the new ST themed arcade hall by Coca Cola hope it was worth completely selling out for.

- Relatedly, the original fucking song. Holy christ talk about jumping the shark. That was the oddest, cringiest, weirdest shit I’ve seen in a long time. Gaten’s a great singer don’t get me wrong, but there’s a time and place for it and an original song stuffed into the middle of the tense climax of the season is not it Duffers. Just a blatant cash cow, hoping to bring in more money via the song.

- Robin. Sorry but holy cow what a Mary Sue. Hey here’s this super cool girl who’s cool™ and funny™ and super smart™ and NOT Nancy (like they seriously for real said in a scene, they actually for real had to pit Robin and Nancy against each other for no reason). And she conveniently has these specific skills needed for the plot (which she gets involved with for no real motivation other than having nothing better to do, lazy writing). Said skills were so over the top unrealistic it completely sucked me out of it. To start with, this random girl in small town Indiana in 1985 speaking French, Spanish and Italian um... does Hawkins High have the most amazing language department or what? Very un-american in that case... and okay then, her knowing those languages wouldn’t help jackshit with understanding Russian. Russian is a notoriously difficult language to learn and it is not related to the Romance languages at all, Robin knowing those languages and oh, having “a good ear” bc she’s in band (?!??! what?!) wouldn’t help her at all. Having the alphabets on the wall and listening to strange words in a foreign language she has no understanding of would never work. No way for her to understand what is she’s hearing, what letters are in the words just, nothing. It’s completely ridiculous. The good thing is she’s a lesbian, crushing Stobin that made me LOL. Btw, I don’t get what age they were writing her as? She’s still in school but later says she and Steve was in the same class, and she knows who Nancy is but Nancy, who is still in school, doesn’t know her even though presumably they’d be in the same year at little Hawkins High? Was it just sloppy writing or what?

- Too. Much. Plotting. What happened to “this season is about the characters” um there was just so much plot stuff and action sequences and barely any character driven moments at all. Those intimate moments that made s1 amazing. Generally regarding plots felt the Russian plot was messy and not well-written also what happened to the US government as the big bad? Unless they’re setting up a big Cold War thing for s4. And felt the zombie thing was wasted, could’ve been used differently like I’d have thought it’d be used like the MF spreading it’s influence over vaster areas and being harder to keep track of etc.

- Too little Will. Will’s whole thing with feeling left out etc was just dropped halfway through it felt very undercooked. His arc was just dropped wtf.

- NO BYERS FAMILY INTERACTIONS WTF. The sequence in the first episode when Jancy has overslept and Joyce wipes the lipstick off Jonathan was cute (but could’ve been even cuter I’d have preferred a short fluffy Jancy moment here just as they wake up before they realize they overslept, bc we didn’t get much pure fluff, and then it’d been awesome if Joyce would’ve just called Nancy into the house to mess with them). But like... that’s kind of it. For the Byers family. Talking to each other in the whole season. When they partnered Jancy with the kids many thought awesome we’ll get Byers bros talking and teaming up (and Nancy and Mike) but there was just nothing. Not even a family hug after the battle at the mall, just Joyce hugging Will, with all this tightknit little family has been through you telling me Jonathan wouldn’t join in?

- No Will and El bonding wtf? SUCH a wasted opportunity. They’ve built this unique awesome connection over s1 and s2 and now in s3 would finally be able to bond normally for real and... nothing.

- Turning Hopper back into an even bigger jerk than he was at the start of the show, neglecting all his character development. What was the point of the whole El and Hopper thing they devoted so much time to in s2 if Hopper’s back at it with the yelling and all now? And jeez his constant whining to Joyce about every man she interacts with holy christ that got annoying. Generally Hopper was such an annoying asshole this season I was so tired of him by the time he “died”.

- TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Jeez, I know I’m on about it all the time but jesus christ there is way way too many characters in this for 8 episodes which hurts the narrative and screentime for interesting characters is just... yeah.

- Speaking of screentime, did we really need that many identical generic fight scenes between Hopper and the Russian guy? Jesus Christ it’s so boring watching fight scenes like that, so repetitive (compare to the hospital fight scene which was dynamic and awesome). Also regarding screentime did we really need to devote so incredibly much of it to Steve and Robin being comedic relief while drugged? Yeah yeah mix light and dark and all that but jesus christ at that point in the narrative shit has hit the fan lean into the dark.

- Totally expected of course but still, the furthering of Steve Memeington. My god they actually had him literally call himself daddy... christ.

- The Billy and Karen/all the other middle age women remains gross and bad in a billion ways. Also completely pointless for the plot, they could’ve come up with any other way to get Billy to the factory. And what did it give Karen in development? Just the realization that yeah I’m tired of my husband but I’m not leaving my family and I’ll stick with him just ‘cause? Okay but did we need her almost sleeping with a kid a year older than her daughter for that? Icky. Also the editing of the scene where Billy hits her was so weird. Also that was weird as fuck.

- The ending. Okay christ my main gripe with this is because of a point above: No Byers family interaction at all! Joyce and Hopper talk briefly about her thinking about moving once or twice but she never talks about it with her kids... obviously she did in the timegap but we need to see that to build to the thing. Having no Byers interactions the whole season and then just oop we’re moving is so weird. I’m also not sure if Joyce’s motivation for moving (her bad memories of Hawkins) would be enough. For sure an argument for it, but an argument against is the one Hopper presents to her (and though he’s not around still there’s still a support system around them there, especially for her kids which she loves above all). Speaking of her loving her kids above all, she knows they love their friends/girlfriend/boyfriend to bits, have walked through fire with them and are each others support system as mentioned, would Joyce really just uproot them from that? There’s also some purely practical things that stuck out to me immediately: the timeskip for the epilogue makes it so they move when the schoolyear is already well under way and Jonathan has started senior year, feel bad for Jonathan there in a number of ways. Also, how the hell did Joyce manage to sell her house and what did it fetch? Her rundown house on the outskirts of a now infamous town with an incredibly bad rep? Even if the buyer bought it for the land the land doesn’t look special, just find it hard to believe she could get much for it. And where did they move? Where did she find a place? And work? Did she have something lined up or? I guess we’ll see.

- Oh and speaking of work, that was another thing that was just dropped, the mall killing downtown and the protests just fell out of the story. But, with what happened to the mall wouldn’t business come back to downtown (possibly reason for Joyce to want to stay if Melvald’s going out of business was another reason to move).

- Sorry but Mileven took way too much space.

- Again, no Jonathan and Will actual brothers bonding. But a whole lot of Steve and Dustin meme fanservice wank.

- Erica is just the sassy black girl trope non stop the whole season and nothing else and it’s so grating and... I was gonna say disappointing but I had no faith in the Duffers regarding this. Just because a bit character becomes a meme doesn’t mean they need to become a main. *cough* Steve *cough cough* Sorry.

- Last but not least, the woobiefication of Billy. Uggggghhhh. Disgusting. And having Max cry over him WTF?!?!?!?!?! staaaaaaahp.

[oldguardaudio]

NFL Fallout News -> Commissioner Roger Goodell, shame on all of you

No to NFL at HoaxAndChange.com

Kaepernick The NFL Millionaire at HoaxAndChange.com

NFL Players

Judge Jeanine Pirro: NFL players taking a knee, Commissioner Roger Goodell, shame on all of you

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NFL to Bring Advertisers, Fans Despite Trump, Says Bibb

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Political analysts, lawmakers weigh in on NFL protests

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[claystripemovieblog]

Box Office Report Card- 9/25/2017

Welcome to what I hope will be a running series for this blog: the Box Office Report Card (or BORC; someone please higher me a title writer). Many publications do a weekly box office report- this is one of them!

In all seriousness, this series will look at the global performance of films distributed by the seven major American film studios- Disney, Universal, Warner Bros, Fox, Sony, and Lionsgate- and see how each of them are doing in terms of overall profitability. For most cases, we’ll simply be using the formula of multiplying the most widely accepted production budget numbers by two to account for marketing and distribution costs and weighing them against the purported worldwide earnings provided by Box Office Mojo. Because of the complications and deliberate obscurity of Hollywood accounting practices, even more vague sponsorship finances, and the ever-changing size of both marketing/distribution costs and streaming/syndication/home sales, most of these numbers will actually mean next to nothing beyond giving a vague idea of how a film is doing. Isn’t that fun? Let’s get into it.

This week, two major releases helped to push this September towards being one of the most financially successful in recent box office history. But did either of these openings measure up to the studios expectations? And how is It doing?Let’s find out!

1. Universal: +$2,824,627,168 (Estimated Net Profit)

Top/Bottom Three Movies Ranked by Estimated Profit (Profit, Gross- Estimated Cost)

1. Despicable Me 3: +860,063,384, 1,020,063,384-160,000,000

2. Fate of the Furious: +738,764,765, 1,238,764,765-500,000,000

3. Fifty Shades Darker: +268,827,494, 378,827,494-110,000,000

...

-3. Raw: -3,963,684, 1,036,316-5,000,000

-2. The Book of Henry: -10,711,896, 4,288,104-15,000,000 

-1. The Zookeeper’s Wife: -11,412,769, 18,587,231-30,000,000

A quiet week for the quiet titan of this year’s movie business. The only release here in the states was the British period piece Victoria and Abdul (-2,492,557, 12,507,443-15,000,000) in four NYC/LA theaters through Comcast’s Focus Features label and won the week’s best per screen average. That’s not making a butt-ton of money in the long run, but it doesn’t matter- Universal/Comcast has released seven films that have seen estimated profits over $100,000,000 and no major flops.

2. Disney: +1,762,422,220

1. Beauty and the Beast: +942,937,952, 1,262,937,952-320,000,000

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: +463,416,141, 863,416,141-400,000,000

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: +334,191,988, 794,191,988-460,000,000

4. Cars 3: +12,000,557, 362,000,557-350,000,000

5. Born in China: +9,875,582, 24,875,582-15,000,000

Disney likewise had a quiet week, as their policy of sticking to their major IP films has led to a pretty extensive drought for their movie releases in the states since July that won’t be broken until Thor: Ragnarok arrives in November. Cars 3 has been doing fairly well in China since its release there a few weeks ago, helping to mitigate the fact that it remains the second lowest grossing Pixar film ever behind only The Good Dinosaur (-17,792,329, 332,207,671-350,000,000). Beyond that, Disney’s got three mega-hits and no significant disappointments, more than enough to keep it in its #2 spot until Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars can set it up to reclaim the #1 over the holidays.

3. Warner Bros: +$1,467,324,014

1. Wonder Woman: +522,390,490

2. It: +408,096,375

3. Annabelle: Creation: +295,204,430

...

-3. The House:  -45,815,496

-2. LEGO Ninjago:  -109,516,929

-1. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword:  -201,324,934

Despite claiming the #2 and #3 spots on this weekend’s Top 10, WB had a pretty mixed week. First, the positives: they made It (+408,096,375, 478,096,375-70,000,000). The Stephen King adaptation has become the most financially successful horror film in years, even if its numbers are being seriously propped up by inflation.* The mid-budgeted film’s longevity is remarkable and seems likely to continue throughout the Halloween season so long as other horror flicks don’t emerge to take a bite out of its space. Who’d have thunk that making a good, funny, well-acted film with great characters, a known IP, and some seasonally appropriate scares would result in box office dividends?

WB also released this week’s second-highest earning debut, the children’s animated film LEGO Ninjago (-109,516,929, 30,483,071-140,000,000). This marks the third theatrical Lego movie and the second to be released this year. This decision to release Ninjago so close to LEGO Batman (+151,950,384, 311,950,384-160,000,000) baffled me at the time of its announcement, and it baffles me even more now, as the new film earned less than half of its predecessor on its opening weekend. Oversaturation, mixed with a lack of a known IP beyond the LEGO brand and a generally busy box office weekend combined for a seriously lackluster opening and, in all likelihood, an overall disappointment and even maybe a serious flop. This film purports a $70,000,000 budget, meaning that it will have to gross ~$140,000,000 to even break even. Ninjago still is rolling out into a few markets over the next month and has the advantage of being the only major kids movie out for the next few weeks, but without a Chinese release on the table and with pretty mixed reviews overall, the prospects of a 6x multiplier seem pretty far out of reach.

Other than that, Wonder Woman, Dunkirk (+216,092,020, 516,092,020-300,000,000) and Annabelle: Creation (+260,811,680, 290,811,680-30,000,000)  raked in a few million this week, only adding to their incredibly successful runs.

4. Sony/Columbia: +$1,145,204,978

1. Spider-Man: Homecoming: +524,357,374, 874,357,374-350,000,000

2. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter: +232,242,626, 312,242,626-80,000,000

3. Baby Driver: +156,546,585, 224,546,585-68,000,000

...

-3. 13 Minutes: -9,563,482, 436,518-10,000,000

-2. The Dark Tower: -9,703,496, 110,296,504-120,000,000

-1. Life: -15,458,194, 100,541,806-116,000,000

Sony/Columbia continues to do pretty well, largely thanks to the exceptional Chinese performance of both Baby Driver and Spider-Man: Homecoming, which has been sufficient to launch the film to the position of highest grossing superhero film of the year despite being beat by both Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 here in the states.

5. Fox: +$728,109,584

1. Logan: +422,802,633, 616,802,633-194,000,000

2. The Boss Baby: +248,905,866, 498,905,866-250,000,000

3. War for the Planet of the Apes: +170,872,672, 470,872,672-300,000,000

...

-3. Snatched: -23,154,289, 60,845,711-84,000,000

-2. The Cure for Wellness: -53,440,443, 26,559,557-80,000,000

-1. Kingsman: The Golden Circle: -110,242,458, 97,757,542-208,000,000 

Fox had a very busy week, but also not necessarily a great one. The big story is their release of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which saw a release that was more or less the same as the original when accounting for inflation. That implies that the original Kingsman: The Secret Service (+252,351,546, 414,351,546-162,000,000) did not collect as many loyal franchise fans as Fox might have hoped, but that would be fine if this new one did not also cost about $20,000,000 more for production alone. Further bad news comes from the fact that the first film benefited from a proto-Deadpool style February opening with relatively little competition, allowing it to naturally grow from word-of-mouth. This film lacks the original’s critical reception and, well, originality (and I certainly had thoughts about it), and I don’t think it will see the same kind of multiplier (domestically, at least). It should still turn a profit, but here’s hoping it’s enough to get them to shake this franchise up in the future and maybe take more time on the next one.

The other story from Fox is the limited release of Battle of the Sexes (-9,484,550, 515,450-10,000,000), the Emma Stone/Steve Carell historical Oscar-vehicle-for-the-wide-audience, which is set to go wide over the next few weeks. That’ll be one to look out for.

6. Paramount: +$153,295,019

1. xXx: The Return of Xander Cage: +176,147,658, 346,147,658-170,000,000

2. Transformers 5: The Last Knight: +171,425,157, 605,425,157-434,000,000

3.  Baywatch: +39,856,751, 177,856,751-138,000,000

...

-3.  mother!: -34,040,202, 25,959,798-60,000,000

-2. Ghost in the Shell: -50,198,079, 169,801,921-220,000,000

-1. Monster Trucks: -185,506,085, 64,493,915-250,000,000

Not much to report from the saddest film studio in Hollywood beyond that they lost JJ Abrams again to Episode IX, meaning that he’ll go for nearly a decade since the last time he made the studio a blockbuster they so desperately need (that’d be Star Trek Into Darkness (+87,381,469, 467,381,469-380,000,000)). Mother! continues to underperform (or, rather, perform exceptionally well for a movie of its type with an illogically high budget). 

7. Lionsgate: $+85,414,287

1. John Wick: Chapter Two: +91,539,887, 171,539,887-80,000,000

2. The Hitman's Bodyguard: +84,764,016144,764,016-60,000,000

3. The Shack: 56,595,233, 96,595,233-40,000,000

...

-3. All Eyez On Me-35,123,14554,876,855-90,000,000

-2. Power Rangers-57,662,571142,337,429-200,000,000

-1. Rock Dog-99,169,45420,830,546-120,000,000 

It was a fairly subdued week for Lionsgate, but that’s not really a bad thing for the big daddy of “independent” studios. The Hitman’s Bodyguard and American Assassin (-27,592,584, 38,407,416-66,000,000) had respectable holdovers.

The Week Ahead

Next week is should be a little more subdued. The main releases are Universal’s Tom Cruise vehicle American Made and Sony’s horror remake Flatliners. American could go either way. On the one hand, Cruise remains one of the few bankable Hollywood stars, critics have been very favorable, and the concept of Wolf of Wall Street with Tom Cruise flying planes is great. On the other, Cruise’s record as a draw has been rather spotty of late, and I feel like this movie hasn’t been marketed all that well. Flatliners, on the other hand, is almost assured to be a dud, as it’s a Sony remake no one asked for that looks like its so bad that it isn’t even getting critic screenings.

* For reference, It’s current gross among horror movies has only been surpassed by The Sixth Sense (+592,806,292, 672,806,292-80,000,000) in 1999. Adjusting those numbers with consideration for modern buying power diminishes these results somewhat, as Shyamalan’s masterpiece would have grossed a full billion in today’s dollars, and neither comes close to the over two billion that would have been grossed by The Exorcist (+417,306,145, 441,306,145-24,000,000) and Jaws (+456,653,000, 470,653,000-14,000,000) had they been released forty years after they defined the horror genre for decades to come.

[justball4ever]

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Whether all states in the United States of America should implement a high school shot clock has forever been a highly debated topic.

I was recently urged to write this blog post after seeing yet another important high school basketball game come down to stalling the basketball for several minutes before shooting on the buzzer (twice).

The game I’m talking about was a 4 overtime game in Iowa between Ames High School and Hoover High School.

Here’s a quick summary of the overtime periods (4 minutes each):

OT 1 – Hoover holds the basketball near half-court for the entire 4 minutes and missed the only shot (a fade-away) of the first OT on the siren.

OT 2 – Hoover and Ames combine for a total of 3 field goal attempts in 4 minutes.

OT 3 and 4 – During the third and fourth overtimes there were more shots, but there was still a clear focus on slowing the basketball down.

This is the only (!) shot taken from the four-minute, first overtime. Ames and Hoover still tied at 25 and headed to a second overtime. http://pic.twitter.com/PHvzHT9ewj

— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) January 11, 2017

This is not a one-off scenario.

The ‘stalling’ strategy is a commonly used tactic by coaches in high school basketball across the country.

I think we can all agree that this is not the kind of basketball we want to see in the dying minutes of any game.

A shot clock is the inevitable solution to this problem.

Although my preference is clear, my goal with this article isn’t to pretend I know the solution to every question or to imply that there are no negatives to adding a shot clock.

There are.

And just like the positives, I’ve done my best to cover them in great detail.

Exclusive Download: Download the ‘Mandatory HS Shot Clock’ PDF so that you can share it with fellow coaches for free by clicking here.

  Important: Please Read…

I want to take this moment to make something perfectly clear from the start…

I do not blame any high school basketball coach for utilizing the stalling strategy to increase their team’s chances of victory.

In fact, I applaud the smart coaches who do this! The coaches of Hoover and Ames did exactly what I would have done in the same scenario.

You see, the job security of a high school coach relies on the numbers in the win and loss columns. As long as they’re playing within the rules of the league, a coach must do everything they can to put their team in the best position for success.

That’s their job.

Unfortunately, since high school basketball rules allow it, that often means stalling the basketball.

So, the real question is…

“Why are coaches allowed to use this strategy?”

And the answer is…

Because the NFHS allows it to happen.

It’s up to the National Federation of State High School Associations Basketball Rules Committee to put rules in place (a shot clock, preferably) that stops this strategy hurting high school basketball.

  History of the Shot Clock

Before we get into the pros, cons, and common rebuttals of implementing a shot clock in high school, here’s some history on what it is and why it was first introduced…

What is a shot clock?

To put it simply, the shot clock is a timer used to increase the pace of a basketball game.

Once a possession starts, the offensive team must attempt a shot within the set time limit displayed on the shot clock. The ball must be released from the player’s hand within this time and either touches the rim or enters the basket.

Failure to get a shot off within that time or hit the rim on a shot attempt on the shot-clock buzzer will result in a turnover.

Why was the shot clock first invented?

The shot clock was first introduced to the NBA in the 1954-1955 season because too many teams were getting a small lead and then stalling the basketball for the rest of the game.

The only way the trailing team could get the basketball back was to foul over and over again until the offensive team went to the free-throw line.

“That was the way the game was played — get a lead and put the ball in the icebox. Teams literally started sitting on the ball in the third quarter.” – Bob Cousy

Sounds fun, huh?

Naturally, this led to low game attendance, next to zero press coverage, and many incredibly boring games of basketball.

The NBA needed to do something to fix this — and fast.

Enter the basketball savior: Danny Biasone.

Danny Biasone, the owner of the Syracuse Nationals at the time, was the first person to truly push for a shot clock to be introduced to basketball.

He decided on the specific time of 24-seconds after analyzing the fast-paced NBA games he had enjoyed and noticing in these games that each team took approximately 60 shots each.

2,880 seconds (48 minutes) divided by 120 (total shots) = 24.

And with that, the 24-second shot clock was invented and introduced to the NBA.

—

As for the other levels of basketball…

The women’s college game was the next to bring the shot clock into their game in 1970 by implementing a 30-second shot clock which still remains today.

Next was men’s college basketball in 1985 with a 45-second shot clock that was later shortened to 35-seconds in 1993 and then shortened again in 2015 to 30-seconds.

The WNBA launched their league in 1996 with a 30-second shot clock and the decreased it to 24-seconds in 2006.

  My Recommendation: A 35-Second Shot Clock

Instead of waiting until the end of the article to give my recommendation, I’m going to give it to you at the start because I’ll refer to it numerous times throughout the article.

High school basketball should implement a 35-second shot clock.

For both girls and boys.

It’s simple, consistent, and is the perfect amount of time to accomplish what high school needs a shot clock for…

It’s long enough to complete any basketball offense as long as your team is playing smart, fundamental basketball; while it also removes the opportunity for teams to stall the basketball for several minutes at a time.

Am I opposed to the current 30-second shot clock that girls high school basketball have in place? Nope.

Would I be opposed to a 30-second shot clock or even a 45-second shot clock? Nope.

Let’s just introduce a consistent shot clock and then people can talk about adjustments that they want to make in the future.

  States Currently Using a Shot Clock

There are currently only 8 states using a shot clock in high school basketball.

California: Boys – 35 seconds. Girls – 30 seconds. New York: Boys – 35 seconds. Girls – 30 seconds. Washington: Boys – 35 seconds. Girls – 30 seconds. Massachusetts: Boys – 30 seconds. Girls – 30 seconds. Maryland: Boys – No shot clock. Girls – 30 seconds. Rhode Island: Boys 35 seconds. Girls – 30 seconds. North Dakota: Boys 35 seconds. Girls – 30 seconds. South Dakota: Boys 35 seconds. Girls – 35 seconds.

Unfortunately, by going against the NFHS’s ‘no shot clock’ rule, all of these states are ineligible to vote on the rules committee in the future.

Now, let’s discuss the 4 most important pros and cons of implemeting the shot clock.

  Pros of Implementing a Shot Clock

1. Stops Teams from Stalling

Imagine this scenario…

Two high school teams have been competing hard against each other for 3 and a half quarters. It’s an enthralling game with only 4 points the difference with 5-minutes remaining.

And then coach of the team with the 4 point lead stands up and shouts out, “Spread it out! No shots!”…

You then proceed to watch the final 5 minutes turn into 20 minutes of fouling and free throws.

This is a common finish to a current high school basketball game.

If you have a team that can slow the basketball down without turning it over and also make their free-throws, without a shot clock there is currently no benefit whatsoever for them to risk shooting the basketball and missing unless they get an open layup.

But wouldn’t you have loved to watch these two teams continue the exciting game and battle it out until the very end?

I would.

  2. Better Viewing Experience

No one wants to go and watch a basketball game where one team stalls the basketball for half of the game.

In fact, when it happens, it’s not uncommon to hear the spectators and parents of the team stalling the basketball yelling out to their team to ‘shoot it!’ or ‘play the game!’.

A fast-paced game will definitely increase the number of people that attend high school basketball games.

Here are just a few of the other benefits of making high school basketball a better viewing experience for those watching:

1. Players enjoy playing in front of bigger crowds. 2. It’s great for the community. 3. More money through entrance fees. 4. Increased sponsorship opportunities. 5. More young kids watching the game. 6. And more…

  3. Increased Player Development

This one seems obvious to me.

More playing basketball = better players.

No player on the court is going to improve if one team is holding the basketball up for several minutes at a time while every player on the court is standing in the same spot watching them.

By increasing the pace of the game with a shot clock, players will have more opportunities on offense and defense.

  4. Prepares Players for the Next Level

One of the most important roles of a high school coach is preparing their kids for the next level of basketball if they choose to pursue it.

There is a large benefit to allowing players to get accustomed to playing with a shot clock in high school.

By playing with a shot clock in high school, players will…

a. Experience the pressure of the shot clock winding down. b. Get in the habit of keeping an eye on the shot clock. c. Learn what to do in an end-of-clock scenario.

A high-school shot clock will prepare players for a college shot clock just as the college shot clock prepares players for basketball at the professional level.

  Cons of Implementing a Shot Clock

1. The Price of Installing a Shot Clock

Disclaimer: The prices are approximations based on my own research and talking to different coaches. Prices for each high school will be different depending on many factors.

The price of purchasing, installing, and operating a shot clock are not cheap.

Research suggests that it will cost approximately $2,000 – $4,000 for most schools to purchase the shot clocks and have them installed.

Depending on the current facilities in each high school gym, it’s not as simple as purchasing a shot clock and away they go…

There are installation costs that will vary greatly depending on the current setup. Some may need to purchase entire new scoreboards to make it happen which will be a remarkably more significant cost.

And the biggest question of all is…

“Where is the extra money going to come from?”

And to be honest, I don’t know.

I don’t know the budgets of each individual school and I’m not going to pretend like I have a simple solution for each individual school that has this problem.

What I do know is that the high schools in 8 states were able to make it happen.

I’m 100% sure many of their schools had similar financial concerns when the idea of the shot clock was first being talked about seriously.

But when it was made mandatory, they all found a way to pay for it.

This is a one-time cost for each school that will have a significantly positive impact on their school’s basketball program for years to come.

  2. A Shot Clock Will Lead to More Zone Defense

Many coaches in favor of a shot clock claim that it will without-a-doubt lead to improved defense.

I disagree.

In fact, I think there’s a chance that it might hurt overall defense with more teams falling back into a zone.

I’m not completely against zone defenses at the high school level like I am at the youth level, but I do believe it’s beneficial for teams to be playing a man defense most of the time.

One of the main reasons coaches sometimes stall the basketball is to drag the defense out of a zone and force them to compete man-to-man.

Once the shot clock is part of the game, the offense doesn’t have that option anymore.

  3. Who’s Going to Run the Shot Clock?

While some schools have a seemingly endless supply of volunteers willing to jump in and help whenever needed, not all schools have this luxury.

Many schools have a hard enough time getting people to fill positions on the scoreboard and helping out with setting up.

The thought of another position to fill would make them cringe.

Deciding who’s going to run the clock is one of the most important questions each high school must ask.

• Will it be a paid position? • Will it be a volunteer position? • Will they need to pay another referee to run it?

As for the knowledge part of running a shot clock, I don’t think it would be too much of an issue.

I’ve seen plenty of people get taught the basics on how to run a shot clock in 5 minutes and then immediately done a perfect job during a game.

Even a simple YouTube video like this one is perfectly capable of teaching beginners the shot clock basics.

  4. A Shot Clock Will Make it Harder for Underdog Teams to Compete

Stalling the basketball is a strategy that many high school coaches employ to compete against more skilled teams.

The theory is, the fewer the possessions in a game, the more chance the underdog team has of coming away with an upset victory.

When preparing for a next game, one of the most important things a coach must do is decide if they want it to be a high-possession game or a low-possession game.

If the coach thinks their team would have more of a chance in a low-possession game (usually meaning they’re playing a team more skilled than they are), then they’ll often slow the ball down and employ the spread offense at some stage during the game.

This often allows underdog teams to keep game competitive or at least prevent a large point differential.

By implementing a shot clock, these teams won’t have the option to slow the game down anymore.

  6 Most Common Arguments Against a Shot Clock

1. The “We don’t need one. Our games are always high scoring. It wouldn’t be a factor in our league anyway” argument.

This is literally the worst argument against shot clocks of all time.

Nothing makes me more frustrated when I read coaches trying to justify that there’s no need for a shot clock in their league by saying things like…

“The league has done the research and the shot clock wouldn’t come into play enough for the league to warrant it any further discussion.”

“There’s no need for a shot clock at this stage. Look at the high scores of all of our games.”

“I can’t even remember the last time our team kept possession of the basketball for 30 seconds without shooting or turning the ball over.”

Sure, the shot clock won’t come into play during most regular season high school games…

But do you know when it will?

During the most important games of the season!

When the season is on the line. Knockout tournaments. Playoff games. Championship games.

That’s when smart coaches start applying the stalling tactic to give their team the best possible chance to win.

Don’t allow the lack of a shot clock to ruin the most important game of the entire season.

  2. The “We surveyed the coaches of our league and they were split 50/50 on wanting to implement a shot clock” argument.

Asking the current coaches in each league often isn’t a great strategy for figuring out what’s best for the competition.

Want to know the obvious reason why?

Every coach is going to answer by analyzing their current team and asking themselves whether a shot clock is going to help their team or not.

If it wouldn’t benefit their team, they’ll vote against it.

If it would benefit their team, they’ll vote for it.

Naturally, most surveys completed by the coaches in a certain league return close to 50/50 on each side.

  3. The “The fundamentals of basketball at the high school level are already bad enough. Implementing a shot clock and forcing players to rush their shots will just make it worse” argument.

If your team can’t get off a quality shot within 35-seconds, there are far bigger problems on your team to worry about than the shot clock.

Sure, there are going to be times when your team gets close to the shot clock and need to force up a shot attempt; but that should not be often.

If your team is setting strong screens, cutting with purpose, staying aggressive, and moving the ball well, there’s no reason it should regularly take a high school team more than 35-seconds to get off a good shot.

  4. The “‘Why should we change our sport just to entertain the spectators? That’s not why we play. If they don’t like it they can leave” argument.

To this argument I’ll bring up the numerous benefits of improving the viewing experience stated earlier in the article:

1. Players enjoy playing in front of bigger crowds. 2. It’s great for the community. 3. More money through entrance fees. 4. Increased sponsorship opportunities. 5. More young kids watching the game. 6. And more…

But it’s not just the spectators that don’t want to watch a game that ends 10 – 6 at half time…

The kids don’t want to play in them either.

They’re bored, humiliated, and they’re not developing into better players while they’re standing around watching the point guard dribble at half-court.

  5. The “Barely anyone else has changed so why should we?” argument.

You’re right.

There have already been 8 states that have committed to improving high school basketball and there needs to be even more!

Who’s going to be next to step up?

  6. The ‘High school players don’t have the skills to get off a good shot with only 5 seconds left on the shot clock’ argument.

There are going to be some wild shots attempted at the end of the buzzer. That’s something we have to accept.

It’s the end result of an offense not having created a better shot opportunity in 35-seconds.

Players aren’t going to miraculously find the skills to perfectly navigate an end-of-shot-clock situation when they enter the college system.

Knowing what to do with the shot clock winding down is something that all high school players should practice and learn before they make the jump to college.

  Conclusion

No matter how in favor I am of introducing shot clocks to the high school game, I can appreciate the difficulties that a lot of schools face with funding and personnel.

With that said, the positives of a shot clock far outweigh the negatives.

This is something that we all should be pushing to happen as soon as possible.

There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a point in time when shot clocks are made compulsory in every state; it will be one of the most important and positive changes in high school basketball history.

The only question left to answer is:

How long do we have to wait?

—

Over to you…

Do you think high school basketball should add a shot clock to the game?

Leave a comment below. I’m excited to hear your opinion.

 Source: Ball4ever.com