SPORTS GROUCH

Can we call sports a meritocracy when a few teams are dominant?

Does it ruin the game for fans, players and everyone else when one team is so good that no one else can seem to touch them?

That’s what non-Golden State Warrior fans are asking after the team destroyed the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals last week to take another (ho-hum) NBA championship.

Should college and pro officials try to dumb down the rules to make it harder to assemble, coach and field dominant teams like this?

These are some of the questions non-Alabama fans ask each year during the college football season.

These are some of the questions pro baseball fans asked during the heydays of the New York Yankees.

These are some of the questions pro football fans asked during championship seasons of teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots.

These are some of the questions they asked when the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers won multiple championships.

They had to be asking it when John Wooden’s UCLA teams were winning 10 NCAA basketball titles.

The Warriors seem so good even a team led by LeBron James, the greatest player of his generation, could not win one game. They swept the Cavaliers as if they were a high school basketball team. It was embarrassing.

It will probably drive James to seek another team with better support. What’s remarkable is that he got them into the finals against teams with better coaches and players.

The NBA has tried dumbing down tactics that did not work such as the salary cap. Money drives the NBA just like every pro and college sports teams.

If you don’t believe me, look at what Alabama pays Nick Saban and his coaches. Then look at the final results.

For starters, the NBA should get rid of the salary cap. It has not leveled the playing field for its teams.

Let the market decide who makes what. Most pro athletes are millionaires despite salary caps.

What about teams in smaller markets that can’t compete with the ticket and TV money big city teams can command?

Think about where Golden State plays basketball.

Oakland has 420,000 residents. That’s half the size of Charlotte, NC.

Is that a major market?

Got an opinion? Write to ChonicleSports@yahoo.com