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Jameer Nelson became the latest victim of the NBA’s anti-testicles stance this week after breaking out the Cassell in celebration of a game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter during Wednesday’s wild Chicago-Orlando game. Wednesdays are always crowded with games， and they carry the potential for absolute NBA madness. This Wednesday featured the Bulls-Magic triple-overtime thriller； Nick Young throwing punches at multiple Suns； Mark Cuban cursing out officials on live television after an insane Clippers comeback/Dallas collapse； an inexplicable Heat blowout loss in Washington； Greg Oden’s feel-good comeback； and close games all over the place. Going to an NBA game on a Wednesday night is stressful； you never know what you’re going to miss on television.
贾马尔·尼尔森成为了NBA“反三俗”立场的最新一个受害者，在本周那场公牛和魔术的疯狂大战中，尼尔森在第四节最后投中扳平比分的三分球后，做出了卡塞尔“巨蛋”舞那样的庆祝动作。每周三都是大的比赛日，这些比赛总会在NBA掀起疯狂的浪潮。在本周三，先是有公牛、魔术的疯狂三加时；又有尼克·杨和众多太阳球员的群架；接着在快船疯狂反击/小牛全线溃败的比赛中，马克·库班在电视直播上大爆粗口；热火莫名其妙地被奇才完爆；不过格雷格·奥登的复出感觉却很不错；最后，到处都上演着紧咬比分的比赛。周三去现场看NBA比赛其实压力山大，因为你永远不知道自己会错过电视上的什么内容。
But Wednesdays are also exhilarating when things break right， as they did that night. The league felt just a bit … out of control. A little more edgy， a little less sterile. Televised sports are so manufactured， manicured down to a second-by-second level， that any accidental break from protocol feels like a victory over Big Brother③ in some small way.
不过当情况朝着正确的方向发展时，周三还会是令人激动兴奋的一天，就像那天晚上一样。联盟感觉到……局势有点失去控制了。火气有点大，比赛场面变得有趣起来。电视转播的体育比赛已经成为彻底的认为操控的赛事，甚至精确到了每一秒。这就是为什么任何超过常规的小插曲发生时，我们在某种程度上都会有一种挣脱了“老大哥”舒服的胜利感。
The Big Balls dance taps into that. I completely get why the league fines players for it， and its stance has been pretty
consistent for the last decade or so. “It’s an obscene and inappropriate gesture，” a league spokesman told Grantland this week.“There are better ways to celebrate.” Indeed， the league looks past lots of other celebrations that do not involve the mimicked grasping of grapefruit-sized balls — Antoine Walker’s wiggle-jiggle， the Knicks tapping three fingers against their heads upon made 3-pointers， Blake Griffin’s stone-faced post-dunk stares， the jersey pop， and all sorts of jigs and dances and jumps for joy.
“巨蛋”舞正好属于这个范畴。我完全理解联盟因此处罚球员的做法，而且联盟在过去十来年里一直保持着相同的立场。“这是下流且不合适的行为。”本周一联盟发言人Grantland这样解释道，“想庆祝的话，还有更好的方式。”没错，除了模仿端着个葡萄柚大小的球那样的动作，联盟确实允许其他很多庆祝动作——安东尼·沃克的扭臀舞、命中三分后尼克斯球员用手指敲三下自己的脑袋、布雷克·格里芬扣篮后的面无表情、展示球衣，还有球员各种开心的舞步。
And Big Balls doesn’t even garner the most serious fines. The Big Balls generally gets you $15，000. That was the penalty in the last six months or so for several Big Ball enthusiasts — Nelson， Marco Belinelli， Andray Blatche， and Caron Butler. （Credit to Blatche for being the only guy among this group fined for doing the dance while on the freaking bench， and in celebration of a teammate’s shot. Creative and Blatche-y！） “巨蛋”舞甚至不会引来最重的罚款，跳一次“巨蛋”舞大约会带来15000美元的罚款。对于几个“巨蛋”舞狂热爱好者来说，这就是他们过去六个月总共的损失，比如尼尔森、马科·贝里奈利、安德烈·布拉齐和卡隆·巴特勒。（必须要赞一下布拉齐，他是这些人中唯一一个因为在板凳席上跳舞而被罚款的人，他只是为了庆祝队友的进球。无限创意布拉齐啊！）
More obviously obscene gestures get stiffer fines. The NBA docked Kevin Durant$25，000 for making a “menacing” throatslashing gesture after a clutch bucket last season， and the middle finger will generally cost you $25，000 — even if you’re trying to hide the bird as part of a face-scratching session（Reggie Evans）， or even by sucking blood off of it （Glen Davis， of course）. Paul Pierce’s alleged gang-sign hand gesture during a 2008 playoff game got him $25，000， and the good old Jail Blazers④ outdid the league by straightup suspending Zach Randolph after Z-Bo flipped off fans in 2006.
一些明显更不好的动作受到了更重的处罚。上赛季杜兰特在命中一次关键投篮后做出了割喉手势，联盟为此罚了25000美元。如果竖中指的话，你也会损失25000美元——即便你在挠脸时（雷吉·埃文斯）已经试着把中指收起来了，或者你只是想用手指堵住鼻血（必须是格伦·戴维斯啊）。保罗·皮尔斯2008年季后赛期间因为一个据称是黑帮动作的手势受到了25000美元的罚款。而曾经的“监狱开拓者”甚至比联盟还狠，2006年扎克·兰多夫对球迷竖中指后，他们直接给了队内禁赛。
A couple of Big Ball aficionados （Eddie House， Josh Smith） earned the larger $25，000 fine for reasons that are unclear， though in House’s case， the league appears to have come down more harshly because he Balled Out in consecutive games. I mean， come on， Eddie. You don’t want to cheapen the thing by overdoing it.
还有其他几个“巨蛋”舞爱好者因为不明原因受到了更重的25000美元的罚款，比如埃迪·奥斯和约什·史密斯。不过在豪斯的问题上，联盟的处罚力度显得更大，因为他连续几场比赛都做出了那个动作。我想说的是，拜托啊埃迪。别玩过了，否则这动作就变得廉价了。
The league would probably justify the fine discrepancy by arguing that everyone understands the lewdness of the middle finger and the violence underlying the throat-slashing thing. Those are universal symbols. Perhaps there are fans who would see the Cassell dance and not immediately understand what was going on.
联盟大概会以所有人都知道竖中指的下流意味和割喉的暴力内涵，来为自己处罚的差异性做出解释。那些手势的意思地球人都知道。也许有一些看到卡塞尔做出庆祝动作的球迷不会立刻理解其中的意思。
But something else bugs me a little about this： The Big Balls fine is in line with fines the league doles out for some instances of fighting and/or dangerous flagrant fouls， and larger than what any player has lost for flopping. A player has to reach his fourth flopping violation before facing a $15，000 fine under the league’s flopping regulations， now in their second season. The first offense is a warning， the second gets you a $5，000 fine， and the third carries a $10，000 penalty. No player has even reached the $10，000 fine yet. Not even James Harden or J.J. Barea！ 但这事还有些小问题困扰着我：联盟对“巨蛋”舞的处罚标准等同于斗殴和一些恶意犯规，并且高于假摔的处罚。根据联盟已经实行到第二年的假摔规则，一名球员只有第四次违反假摔规则了才会收到15000美元的处罚。第一次违反假摔规则的只会收到警告，第二次会收到5000美元处罚，第三次则是10000美元。甚至还没有球员达到10000美元这个标准，甚至连詹姆斯·哈登和JJ·巴里亚都没有！
This feeds into the belief， not uncommon around the league， that the NBA cares more about public perception than about substantive issues affecting the game. I don’t personally believe that criticism is fair. There are loads of people at the league office who care deeply about the nitty-gritty stuff that affects game play— rules changes， length of games， the quality of officiating， flopping， and the overall aesthetics of the game experience. Adam Silver， the soon-to-be-commissioner， is one of them. But there exists the notion that the NBA only pipes up about these things when people like Jeff Van Gundy complain about them， or when a game-deciding call is so egregiously bad （OH ED MALLOY！！！！！） that it becomes a story large enough the NBA must issue an apology. The league emphasizes delay-of-game rules and illegal screens right up until it doesn’t anymore— or so goes the line of thought. And there is probably some truth to that.
这其实迎合了在联盟内部流行的一种观念，也就是，NBA关心的是联盟的公众形象，而不在意一些实质问题给比赛带来的影响。我个人并不认为这种批评是合理的。联盟办公室里有很多人都非常关心那些影响比赛的各种小细节——规则的改变、比赛的长度、裁判执法的质量、假摔、以及对比赛整体的感受。即将成为联盟总裁的亚当·肖华就是其中一员。但也有种说法，说联盟只有在诸如杰夫·范甘迪这样的人开始抱怨、或者出现极端糟糕的决定比赛胜负的判罚时（说的救赎你啊埃德·马洛伊！）才会关注那些问题，通常那时候麻烦已经大到联盟必须公开道歉的程度。联盟强化了延迟比赛的处罚规则和非法挡拆规则，直到这些问题不再成为问题——或者他们认为不再有问题了。也许在这其中也有些合理的成分。
But the league has an interest in preventing the NBA from becoming some foulmouthed， taunt-heavy， WWE-style universe. That would get tiresome and dilute the quality of the product. Surface perception， as shallow as it might seem， matters to any business. That’s why every corporation has a PR department. The league says it gets complaints about the Cassell thing， and that kind of fan reaction matters. Any business would take that kind of thing into account. There is a legitimate slippery slope argument here： If the NBA lets the Big Ball practitioners skate， what other celebrations might spread around the NBA？ Would players start mooning opposing benches？ The league has actually drawn a line， albeit a blurry one， in allowing harmless celebrations and punishing those carrying just about any unpleasant gesture.
不过联盟也想避免让NBA变成到处口水战、恶俗玩笑横行的像WWE摔跤联盟的联赛。这会让比赛变得无趣，降低联盟输出产品的质量。表面现象尽管很肤浅，但对任何商业行为都是非常重要的。这也是每一家公司都有公关部门的原因。联盟表示，他们接到了针对卡塞尔动作的抱怨申诉，而球迷的这种反应相当重要。任何一个公司都会关注这种反应。在这个问题上存在合理的担忧：如果NBA允许做出“巨蛋”舞动作的人逃过惩罚，那么联盟又会出现什么样的动作？球员会不会朝对方板凳席露屁股示威？联盟其实是在划出界限，尽管这条界限并不清晰，但它允许无害的庆祝动作，而且制止那些包含令人不快的手势出现。 Who are these people complaining， and how do they do it？ Do they tweet at the NBA’s official account？ Do they dig up Rod Thorn’s email address， sit down， and compose an email with the subject line “Balls”？ Or are they like Greenberg， that Ben Stiller character， writing hand-written complaint notes they send via the actual postal service？
到底是哪些人在抱怨，他们又是怎么做到的？他们会在推特上提醒NBA的官方账号？他们会找出罗德·索恩的电子信箱，然后写一封主题里有“蛋”这个字眼的邮件？还是说他们就像本·斯蒂勒扮演的角色格林伯格那样，手写一封表达不满的信件，通过真正的邮局邮寄？
Anyway： There is something off， to me at least， in penalizing a feel-good dance more harshly than an act — flopping — that has a direct impact on game play. There are important distinctions between the two， of course. Flopping happens organically， in a spurof-the-moment sense， and often as the result of real contact within the flow of the game. The Big Balls thing happens outside the game flow， and though it is in some cases an in-themoment bout of exuberance， there is some premeditated individual showiness to it. A player could plausibly argue a flop was at least somewhat accidental. “I slipped， I swear！” You can’t argue some power possessed your body and instructed it to do the Big Balls dance— unless Sam Cassell is a deity with those kind of powers and we just don’t know it.
总之，在我看来，对一个球员自我感觉良好的庆祝动作的处罚严于一个对比赛能产生直接影响的动作——比如假摔，至少是有点问题的。这两者之间显然有着非常重要的区别。假摔是原发性的，是一瞬间的事，而且也经常是比赛中真的出现身体接触后才会发生的。而“巨蛋”舞则出现在比赛之外，尽管有时候确实会在比赛进行中出现这种动作，但这些动作通常都有个人计划好了的表演成分。某种程度上，球员可以将假摔辩解为事故。“我滑倒了，我发誓！”你却不能争辩说自己的身份被超能力控制了，这种超能力让你跳出了“巨蛋”舞——除非卡塞尔真的是神仙一个，拥有我们无法理解的超能力。
But if you’re serious about eradicating the flop， if you think it is a stain on the game， then it should probably carry a steeper penalty than a stupid dance. And that， to me， is the difference between the Cassell and all the other fined gestures — flipping off the fans， the throat-slash， etc. The Cassell is jubilant， and happy， and not really directed at anyone in particular. It is a celebration， well-earned. It is non-threatening， and most of all， a ton of freaking fun. And sports are fun！ It’s just a synonym for “I have huge guts，” after all. Maybe players should just grab their stomachs and shake them？
如果你真的想铲除假摔，如果你真的认为假摔是对篮球的玷污，那么对假摔的惩罚就该重于那些愚蠢的庆祝动作。对我来说，这也是卡塞尔和其他被处罚的庆祝动作之间的区别——比如冲球迷竖中指、割喉等等。卡塞尔的“巨蛋”舞是欢乐而开心的，它没有针对任何人。这是一种庆祝，是球员辛苦挣来的庆祝。这个动作没有任何威胁意味，而且最重要的是，这个动作其实特别欢乐。而体育本来就是充满欢乐的！说白了这就是“我就是牛X”的代名词。也许球员该抓住自己的肚子，然后晃晃？
Update： “It is done in fun，” says Ron Klempner， acting executive director of the National Basketball Players Association told me. “Some may view it in bad taste， or misinterpret it， but I think this kind of discipline is disproportionate.” The union has appealed Cassell-related fines in the past， Klempner says. 更新：“这本来就是因为开心而做的。”球员工会执行主席罗恩·克莱普纳告诉我，“有些人可能觉得没品位，或者误解这个动作，但我觉得这种处罚太过了、”克莱普纳说，工会过去曾经就“巨蛋”舞的处罚做出过上诉。
I’m open to the possibility that I’m wrong on this — that there is a silent majority of fans who find this behavior abhorrent and gross， and feel like tuning out of the NBA for a bit when they see it. Maybe they don’t want their kids seeing a grown man cup a pair of grapefruits. Maybe kids， and maybe especially little girls， shouldn’t see a grown man cup a pair of grapefruits. Maybe parents shouldn’t have to answer awkward questions about what that player just did. But penalizing the Cassell seems a little bit like over-policing， carrying the same whiff of paternalism as the dress code and other such regulations.
我并不排除自己在这个问题上出错的可能——球迷中沉默的大多数认为这种行为既令人讨厌又三俗，而且当NBA比赛中出现这个动作时，他们会换台看别的节目。也许他们不想让自己的孩子看到一个成年人做出端葡萄柚的样子。也许孩子，尤其是小女孩，不应该看到成年人做出端葡萄柚样的动作。也许家长没必要回答球员刚刚干了什么的尴尬问题。但处罚“巨蛋”舞的行为，总给人一种过度执法的感觉，给人一种类似着装令和类似规定的家长式统治的感觉。
But that’s just me. What do you think？
但这只是我的看法。你怎么看呢？
贾马尔·尼尔森成为了NBA“反三俗”立场的最新一个受害者，在本周那场公牛和魔术的疯狂大战中，尼尔森在第四节最后投中扳平比分的三分球后，做出了卡塞尔“巨蛋”舞那样的庆祝动作。每周三都是大的比赛日，这些比赛总会在NBA掀起疯狂的浪潮。在本周三，先是有公牛、魔术的疯狂三加时；又有尼克·杨和众多太阳球员的群架；接着在快船疯狂反击/小牛全线溃败的比赛中，马克·库班在电视直播上大爆粗口；热火莫名其妙地被奇才完爆；不过格雷格·奥登的复出感觉却很不错；最后，到处都上演着紧咬比分的比赛。周三去现场看NBA比赛其实压力山大，因为你永远不知道自己会错过电视上的什么内容。
But Wednesdays are also exhilarating when things break right， as they did that night. The league felt just a bit … out of control. A little more edgy， a little less sterile. Televised sports are so manufactured， manicured down to a second-by-second level， that any accidental break from protocol feels like a victory over Big Brother③ in some small way.
不过当情况朝着正确的方向发展时，周三还会是令人激动兴奋的一天，就像那天晚上一样。联盟感觉到……局势有点失去控制了。火气有点大，比赛场面变得有趣起来。电视转播的体育比赛已经成为彻底的认为操控的赛事，甚至精确到了每一秒。这就是为什么任何超过常规的小插曲发生时，我们在某种程度上都会有一种挣脱了“老大哥”舒服的胜利感。
The Big Balls dance taps into that. I completely get why the league fines players for it， and its stance has been pretty
consistent for the last decade or so. “It’s an obscene and inappropriate gesture，” a league spokesman told Grantland this week.“There are better ways to celebrate.” Indeed， the league looks past lots of other celebrations that do not involve the mimicked grasping of grapefruit-sized balls — Antoine Walker’s wiggle-jiggle， the Knicks tapping three fingers against their heads upon made 3-pointers， Blake Griffin’s stone-faced post-dunk stares， the jersey pop， and all sorts of jigs and dances and jumps for joy.
“巨蛋”舞正好属于这个范畴。我完全理解联盟因此处罚球员的做法，而且联盟在过去十来年里一直保持着相同的立场。“这是下流且不合适的行为。”本周一联盟发言人Grantland这样解释道，“想庆祝的话，还有更好的方式。”没错，除了模仿端着个葡萄柚大小的球那样的动作，联盟确实允许其他很多庆祝动作——安东尼·沃克的扭臀舞、命中三分后尼克斯球员用手指敲三下自己的脑袋、布雷克·格里芬扣篮后的面无表情、展示球衣，还有球员各种开心的舞步。
And Big Balls doesn’t even garner the most serious fines. The Big Balls generally gets you $15，000. That was the penalty in the last six months or so for several Big Ball enthusiasts — Nelson， Marco Belinelli， Andray Blatche， and Caron Butler. （Credit to Blatche for being the only guy among this group fined for doing the dance while on the freaking bench， and in celebration of a teammate’s shot. Creative and Blatche-y！） “巨蛋”舞甚至不会引来最重的罚款，跳一次“巨蛋”舞大约会带来15000美元的罚款。对于几个“巨蛋”舞狂热爱好者来说，这就是他们过去六个月总共的损失，比如尼尔森、马科·贝里奈利、安德烈·布拉齐和卡隆·巴特勒。（必须要赞一下布拉齐，他是这些人中唯一一个因为在板凳席上跳舞而被罚款的人，他只是为了庆祝队友的进球。无限创意布拉齐啊！）
More obviously obscene gestures get stiffer fines. The NBA docked Kevin Durant$25，000 for making a “menacing” throatslashing gesture after a clutch bucket last season， and the middle finger will generally cost you $25，000 — even if you’re trying to hide the bird as part of a face-scratching session（Reggie Evans）， or even by sucking blood off of it （Glen Davis， of course）. Paul Pierce’s alleged gang-sign hand gesture during a 2008 playoff game got him $25，000， and the good old Jail Blazers④ outdid the league by straightup suspending Zach Randolph after Z-Bo flipped off fans in 2006.
一些明显更不好的动作受到了更重的处罚。上赛季杜兰特在命中一次关键投篮后做出了割喉手势，联盟为此罚了25000美元。如果竖中指的话，你也会损失25000美元——即便你在挠脸时（雷吉·埃文斯）已经试着把中指收起来了，或者你只是想用手指堵住鼻血（必须是格伦·戴维斯啊）。保罗·皮尔斯2008年季后赛期间因为一个据称是黑帮动作的手势受到了25000美元的罚款。而曾经的“监狱开拓者”甚至比联盟还狠，2006年扎克·兰多夫对球迷竖中指后，他们直接给了队内禁赛。
A couple of Big Ball aficionados （Eddie House， Josh Smith） earned the larger $25，000 fine for reasons that are unclear， though in House’s case， the league appears to have come down more harshly because he Balled Out in consecutive games. I mean， come on， Eddie. You don’t want to cheapen the thing by overdoing it.
还有其他几个“巨蛋”舞爱好者因为不明原因受到了更重的25000美元的罚款，比如埃迪·奥斯和约什·史密斯。不过在豪斯的问题上，联盟的处罚力度显得更大，因为他连续几场比赛都做出了那个动作。我想说的是，拜托啊埃迪。别玩过了，否则这动作就变得廉价了。
The league would probably justify the fine discrepancy by arguing that everyone understands the lewdness of the middle finger and the violence underlying the throat-slashing thing. Those are universal symbols. Perhaps there are fans who would see the Cassell dance and not immediately understand what was going on.
联盟大概会以所有人都知道竖中指的下流意味和割喉的暴力内涵，来为自己处罚的差异性做出解释。那些手势的意思地球人都知道。也许有一些看到卡塞尔做出庆祝动作的球迷不会立刻理解其中的意思。
But something else bugs me a little about this： The Big Balls fine is in line with fines the league doles out for some instances of fighting and/or dangerous flagrant fouls， and larger than what any player has lost for flopping. A player has to reach his fourth flopping violation before facing a $15，000 fine under the league’s flopping regulations， now in their second season. The first offense is a warning， the second gets you a $5，000 fine， and the third carries a $10，000 penalty. No player has even reached the $10，000 fine yet. Not even James Harden or J.J. Barea！ 但这事还有些小问题困扰着我：联盟对“巨蛋”舞的处罚标准等同于斗殴和一些恶意犯规，并且高于假摔的处罚。根据联盟已经实行到第二年的假摔规则，一名球员只有第四次违反假摔规则了才会收到15000美元的处罚。第一次违反假摔规则的只会收到警告，第二次会收到5000美元处罚，第三次则是10000美元。甚至还没有球员达到10000美元这个标准，甚至连詹姆斯·哈登和JJ·巴里亚都没有！
This feeds into the belief， not uncommon around the league， that the NBA cares more about public perception than about substantive issues affecting the game. I don’t personally believe that criticism is fair. There are loads of people at the league office who care deeply about the nitty-gritty stuff that affects game play— rules changes， length of games， the quality of officiating， flopping， and the overall aesthetics of the game experience. Adam Silver， the soon-to-be-commissioner， is one of them. But there exists the notion that the NBA only pipes up about these things when people like Jeff Van Gundy complain about them， or when a game-deciding call is so egregiously bad （OH ED MALLOY！！！！！） that it becomes a story large enough the NBA must issue an apology. The league emphasizes delay-of-game rules and illegal screens right up until it doesn’t anymore— or so goes the line of thought. And there is probably some truth to that.
这其实迎合了在联盟内部流行的一种观念，也就是，NBA关心的是联盟的公众形象，而不在意一些实质问题给比赛带来的影响。我个人并不认为这种批评是合理的。联盟办公室里有很多人都非常关心那些影响比赛的各种小细节——规则的改变、比赛的长度、裁判执法的质量、假摔、以及对比赛整体的感受。即将成为联盟总裁的亚当·肖华就是其中一员。但也有种说法，说联盟只有在诸如杰夫·范甘迪这样的人开始抱怨、或者出现极端糟糕的决定比赛胜负的判罚时（说的救赎你啊埃德·马洛伊！）才会关注那些问题，通常那时候麻烦已经大到联盟必须公开道歉的程度。联盟强化了延迟比赛的处罚规则和非法挡拆规则，直到这些问题不再成为问题——或者他们认为不再有问题了。也许在这其中也有些合理的成分。
But the league has an interest in preventing the NBA from becoming some foulmouthed， taunt-heavy， WWE-style universe. That would get tiresome and dilute the quality of the product. Surface perception， as shallow as it might seem， matters to any business. That’s why every corporation has a PR department. The league says it gets complaints about the Cassell thing， and that kind of fan reaction matters. Any business would take that kind of thing into account. There is a legitimate slippery slope argument here： If the NBA lets the Big Ball practitioners skate， what other celebrations might spread around the NBA？ Would players start mooning opposing benches？ The league has actually drawn a line， albeit a blurry one， in allowing harmless celebrations and punishing those carrying just about any unpleasant gesture.
不过联盟也想避免让NBA变成到处口水战、恶俗玩笑横行的像WWE摔跤联盟的联赛。这会让比赛变得无趣，降低联盟输出产品的质量。表面现象尽管很肤浅，但对任何商业行为都是非常重要的。这也是每一家公司都有公关部门的原因。联盟表示，他们接到了针对卡塞尔动作的抱怨申诉，而球迷的这种反应相当重要。任何一个公司都会关注这种反应。在这个问题上存在合理的担忧：如果NBA允许做出“巨蛋”舞动作的人逃过惩罚，那么联盟又会出现什么样的动作？球员会不会朝对方板凳席露屁股示威？联盟其实是在划出界限，尽管这条界限并不清晰，但它允许无害的庆祝动作，而且制止那些包含令人不快的手势出现。 Who are these people complaining， and how do they do it？ Do they tweet at the NBA’s official account？ Do they dig up Rod Thorn’s email address， sit down， and compose an email with the subject line “Balls”？ Or are they like Greenberg， that Ben Stiller character， writing hand-written complaint notes they send via the actual postal service？
到底是哪些人在抱怨，他们又是怎么做到的？他们会在推特上提醒NBA的官方账号？他们会找出罗德·索恩的电子信箱，然后写一封主题里有“蛋”这个字眼的邮件？还是说他们就像本·斯蒂勒扮演的角色格林伯格那样，手写一封表达不满的信件，通过真正的邮局邮寄？
Anyway： There is something off， to me at least， in penalizing a feel-good dance more harshly than an act — flopping — that has a direct impact on game play. There are important distinctions between the two， of course. Flopping happens organically， in a spurof-the-moment sense， and often as the result of real contact within the flow of the game. The Big Balls thing happens outside the game flow， and though it is in some cases an in-themoment bout of exuberance， there is some premeditated individual showiness to it. A player could plausibly argue a flop was at least somewhat accidental. “I slipped， I swear！” You can’t argue some power possessed your body and instructed it to do the Big Balls dance— unless Sam Cassell is a deity with those kind of powers and we just don’t know it.
总之，在我看来，对一个球员自我感觉良好的庆祝动作的处罚严于一个对比赛能产生直接影响的动作——比如假摔，至少是有点问题的。这两者之间显然有着非常重要的区别。假摔是原发性的，是一瞬间的事，而且也经常是比赛中真的出现身体接触后才会发生的。而“巨蛋”舞则出现在比赛之外，尽管有时候确实会在比赛进行中出现这种动作，但这些动作通常都有个人计划好了的表演成分。某种程度上，球员可以将假摔辩解为事故。“我滑倒了，我发誓！”你却不能争辩说自己的身份被超能力控制了，这种超能力让你跳出了“巨蛋”舞——除非卡塞尔真的是神仙一个，拥有我们无法理解的超能力。
But if you’re serious about eradicating the flop， if you think it is a stain on the game， then it should probably carry a steeper penalty than a stupid dance. And that， to me， is the difference between the Cassell and all the other fined gestures — flipping off the fans， the throat-slash， etc. The Cassell is jubilant， and happy， and not really directed at anyone in particular. It is a celebration， well-earned. It is non-threatening， and most of all， a ton of freaking fun. And sports are fun！ It’s just a synonym for “I have huge guts，” after all. Maybe players should just grab their stomachs and shake them？
如果你真的想铲除假摔，如果你真的认为假摔是对篮球的玷污，那么对假摔的惩罚就该重于那些愚蠢的庆祝动作。对我来说，这也是卡塞尔和其他被处罚的庆祝动作之间的区别——比如冲球迷竖中指、割喉等等。卡塞尔的“巨蛋”舞是欢乐而开心的，它没有针对任何人。这是一种庆祝，是球员辛苦挣来的庆祝。这个动作没有任何威胁意味，而且最重要的是，这个动作其实特别欢乐。而体育本来就是充满欢乐的！说白了这就是“我就是牛X”的代名词。也许球员该抓住自己的肚子，然后晃晃？
Update： “It is done in fun，” says Ron Klempner， acting executive director of the National Basketball Players Association told me. “Some may view it in bad taste， or misinterpret it， but I think this kind of discipline is disproportionate.” The union has appealed Cassell-related fines in the past， Klempner says. 更新：“这本来就是因为开心而做的。”球员工会执行主席罗恩·克莱普纳告诉我，“有些人可能觉得没品位，或者误解这个动作，但我觉得这种处罚太过了、”克莱普纳说，工会过去曾经就“巨蛋”舞的处罚做出过上诉。
I’m open to the possibility that I’m wrong on this — that there is a silent majority of fans who find this behavior abhorrent and gross， and feel like tuning out of the NBA for a bit when they see it. Maybe they don’t want their kids seeing a grown man cup a pair of grapefruits. Maybe kids， and maybe especially little girls， shouldn’t see a grown man cup a pair of grapefruits. Maybe parents shouldn’t have to answer awkward questions about what that player just did. But penalizing the Cassell seems a little bit like over-policing， carrying the same whiff of paternalism as the dress code and other such regulations.
我并不排除自己在这个问题上出错的可能——球迷中沉默的大多数认为这种行为既令人讨厌又三俗，而且当NBA比赛中出现这个动作时，他们会换台看别的节目。也许他们不想让自己的孩子看到一个成年人做出端葡萄柚的样子。也许孩子，尤其是小女孩，不应该看到成年人做出端葡萄柚样的动作。也许家长没必要回答球员刚刚干了什么的尴尬问题。但处罚“巨蛋”舞的行为，总给人一种过度执法的感觉，给人一种类似着装令和类似规定的家长式统治的感觉。
But that’s just me. What do you think？
但这只是我的看法。你怎么看呢？