Has Michael Wilbon Jumped the Shark?

The lede from Michael Wilbon's column on the NBA Playoffs in this morning's Washington Post:

If you want to see great basketball without the pretense, without the self-righteousness that has become an inescapable part of March Madness worship, then settle in for the next eight weeks and watch the NBA playoffs.

Wow. Couldn't Wilbon have thought of any other way to pimp the upcoming NBA postseason than by taking an unnecessary cheap spot against the NCAA Tournament? The dig reeks of desperation and a lack of ideas; the words of a man whose been mailing in his columns for the past two years. Wilbon has always said that, despite his ever-growing TV responsibilities, he wants to keep his job as a Post columnist because that's where the credibility lies. It's a valid point, but if Wilbon wants to keep his reputation as a top-notch journalist he actually has to, you know, write like a top-notch journalist.
Wilbon's growing-enmity towards the NCAA Tournament is likely borne out of his hatred for the NCAA itself. In print, on radio and on television, he's always railing about the inadequacies, ineptness and hypocrisy of the organization. I couldn't agree more. But that doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the NCAA Tournament, still the most pure major sporting event in the country. Sure it's sponsored to death and controlled by television. On court, however, the game is played with an intensity and passion unmatched in the pro ranks. When's the last time you saw NBA bench players lock arms in the waning seconds of a game or witnessed a star sitting dumbstruck on the court after a loss?
As for the NBA lacking pretense and self-righteousness; have you seen those commercials?

And if Wilbon thinks greed and hypocrisy only exists at the college level, he must not have seen that NBA owners yesterday voted overwhelmingly to approve the Sonics move from Seattle to Oklahoma City.
Why Wilbon thinks he has to bash the NCAA now that he has a plumb studio job for ABC/ESPN is beyond me. Does ripping down college ball elevate the pros? I don't get it. He's been doing it for months; on the Tony Kornheiser Show in March he actually made the argument that he prefers pro basketball because "the referees are professionals", unlike in college. He must mean those refs who work with gamblers to fix games, get suspended for throwing out star players because of grudges and let LeBron take 73 steps without dribbling every time down the court.
I wish this was a new thing for Wilbon, but over the past two years he's done little-to-no actual analysis of any sport and instead depends on his opinion accrued from watching games at home on TV or from the studio. It's interesting; he and Kornheiser rail on bloggers all the time, but that's essentially what Wilbon has become. He's just a guy spouting off his opinions. The only difference is, Wilbon has access. But at what cost?
He's gotten so much access to NBA stars that he's now deathly afraid of criticizing anyone who has ever played in, or worked for, the league. Maybe Wilbon does think David Stern is wrong on the Sonics issue; but mentioning that while holding down a seven-figure salary from the network that broadcasts the league's games isn't a smart move.
I can't say I blame Wilbon for this; the TV life has to be easier, and more fulfilling, than the newspaper life. I just wish he'd stop acting like he's a print journalist first and a TV analyst second.