The NBA's controversial plan to have coaches wear
microphones and place cameras in locker rooms has left the
league "with a public-relations fiasco from which there is
no easy escape," according to Bill Harris of the TORONTO
SUN. Harris: "It will take all of commissioner David
Stern's political acumen to come up with a compromise that
won't look like a retreat" (TORONTO SUN, 3/14). In L.A.,
Larry Stewart: "The NBA says it is only trying to enhance
telecasts. Stern has said that viewers should be able to
hear the same things that people seated courtside get to
hear" (L.A. TIMES, 3/14). In Philadelphia, Bill Lyon: "Like
most decisions made out of desperation and panic, this is a
foolish one, not clearly thought out, not carried to its
logical conclusion. ... The league has always been able to
understand that it is in business, so it needs to recognize
that this is bad for business" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
3/14). In N.Y., George Vecsey writes that the fines were a
"blatant overreaction" and Stern and NBA Deputy Commissioner
Russ Granik "should have anticipated the response" from
coaches (N.Y. TIMES, 3/14). Also in N.Y., Bob Raissman:
"Will anyone on the NBA Board of Governors have the onions
to stand up to Stern and tell him that going to war with the
coaches is not what the league needs now? Is the Electronic
Environment more important than the game?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
3/14). In Chicago, Ron Rapoport: "What strikes me about the
whole miking-the-coach controversy is that the plan was
instituted by league fiat with no discussion rather than in
consultation with the coaches after a study of whether it is
sensible" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/14). A SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
editorial states "there is no logical reason" why miking
coaches will "boost sagging television ratings." The
editorial: "Surely the league is entitled to come up with
dumb ideas; it just shouldn't implement them in the face of
such wide and justifiable opposition" (S.L. TRIBUNE, 3/14).
