As 2006 enters its final week, the sports world is saying goodbye to The Year of the Ball Controversy.

All over the athletic landscape, players were going ball-istic.

Take the NBA.

When the league announced before this season that it was switching to a synthetic basketball, it touted the new model's improved grip, durability and consistency.

Only one problem.

Nobody ever asked the players what they thought.


Love that leather
Commissioner David Stern, in a rare admission that he had screwed up, finally relented to weeks of loud complaints and announced this month the NBA would return to the old, but much loved, leather basketballs on Jan.1.

Stern is hardly the first sports executive to underestimate the angry reaction from athletes when someone starts messing with the most important tool of their trade: the ball. Players can be remarkably sensitive to even the slightest alteration — real or perceived — to the piece of equipment most intrinsic to their livelihood......