Athletes fly a lot. A very lot. So much so that they could probably befriend a few birds.
Not all sports are created equal in this regard. NFL players typically fly once a week if it’s a road game, and then one return flight home. If Goodell succeeds, his players would have to fly once more a year (not a huge deal, but the injuries possibly incurred thereafter present real problems), but they might have to fly to London, which is a bigger deal, because jet lag will become an even larger factor (a phenomenon I’ll mention a bit later).
Baseball players travel a lot, sure; they play 162 games, after all. But those games are divided into series, which keeps players in a given city for at least a few days while the series progresses.
But NBA players fall into the “mix” category of the two previous configurations of professional team travel. They travel every day, sometimes play on successive nights, But what do these constant cross-country treks do to players? Their teams? Their play? Their psychology?
From home
Teams feel comfortable here. They know the quickest route to the arena; they know their pre-game routin ...
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Article written by nathan spicer
NBA Players Must Deal with the Fright of Flight
December 18th, 2009 by nathan spicer Leave a reply »
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