In recent years, the U.S. professional sports leagues have begun to stress the importance of players behaving as good citizens. Athletes who engage in off-field misconduct receive suspensions. Athletes who utter wrongful words receive fines.
But, National Basketball Association players who wish to spend Christmas Day with their families are generally denied the opportunity to do so.
In the NBA, Christmas Day is an important day for games because television ratings are generally higher. Thus, once again this year, the NBA has scheduled a slate of five games scattered throughout Christmas Day -- all on national television (three on ESPN and two on ABC).
Meanwhile, the NFL has moved most of its games to Saturday this week to avoid the holiday, but the league has still left two teams playing on Christmas Eve (the Bengals and Texans) and six on Christmas Day.
It is hard to feel too bad for professional athletes who are required to work on Christmas Day. Even though Christmas Day is a national holiday in the United States, there are many Americans who need to work to save people's lives despite observing the holiday. These employees range from emergency room doctors and nurses, to policemen and firemen. In addition, NBA and NFL players are generally well-compensated for their jobs. Plus, they enjoy a long off-season to spend with their families.
Nevertheless, as long as sports league commissioners believe that their athletes are supposed to serve as family role models, they need to think seriously about what it symbolizes when their athletes (who are not saving lives by working) are away from their families on holiday time -- simply to maximize league revenues.
Winding down your NBA viewing this Christmas? You are not alone, but don't expect Stan Van Gundy to join in.
The Detroit Pistons coach years ago laid the ground work his disdain over playing on Christmas Day, a tradition he begrudgingly took part in from 2008 to 2011 during his tenure in Orlando.
Van Gundy and the Magic were fined in 2009 over his critical comments, for which he sarcastically said in 2010 the NBA should play 10 games on Christmas Day.
The NBA has five games lined up for today, none of which feature the Pistons, but that didn't stop a Minnesota reporter from asking Van Gundy about playing on Dec. 25.
His response, from earlier this month in Minneapolis:
"You're not going to try and get me in trouble again, are you? I know the league puts a lot of importance on those games. To me, regular season games are all one of 82. I know people don't want to hear that -- they think it's cliche -- but it's the truth, and I think most coaches would tell you that. You just can't afford -- we play so many games, you can't circle a date on the calendar as people say and all of that. I mean, there's just too many games. So no, I never looked at it as anything special. I know it's a big day for the league and everything else. There's nothing that goes together like Christmas and basketball."
Asked about the disruption it caused for players and coaches (the Magic played three of their four Christmas Day games in Orlando), Van Gundy responded:
"I'm going to try hard not to get in trouble here. I am. I'm not going to comment on that. Look, I know there's some of the players that really get excited about it. They like playing on Christmas Day. A lot of people are going to have their TVs on and watching it, and I won't be one of them. This year, I probably will be because we play Cleveland the next day."
"It cost me some money to speak on the value on Christmas Day. It's all great for the league and everything, and we all get paid -- players, coaches -- they all get paid big money to do it, whatever the sacrifice is. And what I said at the time, I do. I feel sorry for the people who are the ushers and the ticket takers and all of that, who now got to be away from their family and work Christmas Day, and they're not doing it for the amount of money that we're doing it for."
Christmas has already been celebrated at Dwyane Wade's house. His wife and kids unwrapped their presents on Wednesday night, since waiting until Sunday morning wasn't an option this year.
Dad's got to work. Again.
Wade will wake up on Christmas morning in San Antonio, instead of being with his family in Chicago. He's part of the NBA's lineup on Christmas for the 12th time in his 14 professional seasons - and even though it meant having a nontraditional holiday celebration, the Bulls guard still relishes being part of the league's showcase day.
''I won't lie to you and say it means as much as it did when I was young or when I got to be in my first Christmas game,'' Wade said. ''But it is still special. At the end of the day, no matter what's happened in my career, the NBA has put me on Christmas, let me play on Christmas, let me be part of Christmas. One day, I won't be playing. But for now, it's still so cool.''
The annual Christmas quintupleheader - highlighted by the NBA Finals rematch of Golden State visiting champion Cleveland - involves 10 teams, five arenas, hundreds of players and team employees, who-knows-how-many workers in those various buildings and will draw about 100,000 fans.
And no fewer than seven other teams will be traveling at some point on Christmas, because they play on Dec. 26.
''It's not a burden,'' Cavaliers guard James Jones said. ''You come to find out that it's a privilege because if you're playing on Christmas, that means you are on one of the good teams. You're one of the teams people want to see. You don't lose sight that our business, my business, is entertainment and there's no better time to play than when everyone is at home.''
It's a smorgasbord of basketball, starting with Boston visiting New York at noon and followed by Golden State at Cleveland, Chicago at San Antonio, Minnesota at Oklahoma City and the Clippers visiting the Lakers in the building they share in Los Angeles.
The league's schedule mandate is simple: There's usually a Finals rematch, and the other four games are about finding matchups of high-profile teams or players and hoping fans at home watch.
And they will. There's two NFL games on Christmas as well, but the NBA always is a huge TV draw on Dec. 25.
''It's the responsibility of being the best,'' Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd said. ''You're going to play on Christmas.''
LeBron James is playing on Christmas for the 11th time, Pau Gasol for the ninth time, and Chris Paul and Kevin Durant will be making their seventh appearances. Some of the league's next stars - Kristaps Porzingis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins - all will make Christmas debuts.
''Being able to play on Christmas is like a privilege,'' Wiggins said. ''Not a lot of people get to do that. Usually it's the best teams in the league or the most exciting teams, and for the NBA to think that we're one of the most exciting teams to play on Christmas, that says a lot for us.''
There's obvious inconvenience, but Boston's Jae Crowder said it gets canceled out by the opportunity.
Besides, it's a 40-minute flight from New York to Boston. That means he'll be home for Christmas night.
''This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal for me,'' Crowder said.
Knicks star Carmelo Anthony abhors day games. He makes an exception once a year. For him, the atmosphere on Dec. 25 at Madison Square Garden is as Christmasy as the North Pole.
''You can't beat playing in the Garden on Christmas,'' Anthony said. ''I mean, that's a dream come true for people and I know, I remember watching games in New York and that feeling. It's a different feel playing here on Christmas.''
Memphis coach David Fizdale wants that feeling again.
He spent the past eight seasons as an assistant in Miami, and the Heat were a Christmas fixture on the NBA schedule during his tenure. The rebuilding Heat weren't picked this year, nor were the Grizzlies - something Fizdale hopes to change soon.
''Our guys (in Miami) really got up for that Christmas game,'' Fizdale said. ''They all got their new Christmas shoes that they could wear that day, and the new Christmas uniforms. They knew everyone was watching that game. That was always a great game to watch and at some point, while I'm here, we're going to get ourselves on Christmas Day.''
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