I am an NBA fan. I am a young black American. So this is fitting. I have loved the NBA for years. I will never forget being 6 years old emulating the dunks that Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins performed during their 1988 Dunk Championship on my Fisher Price hoop set. My mother bought me my first pack of basketball cards when I was 8. Soon all my allowance money ($2/week my father was cheap so that was a lot) was going towards Top Deck and Fleer cards, and Beckett magazines. My high school and college years I would spend at the dining table with all my books opened watching NBA Games and ESPN over and over again like the highlights would change.
Most men who love the NBA know things go to a different level come playoff time. You trash talk with your friends and Twitter. Instead of staying home now you’re going to your boy’s house or to your favorite sports bar. Your emotions are very volatile during the NBA playoffs. One moment your jumping around and doing the running man and the next moment your throwing couch pillows and yelling at your team for lack of intensity. It’s truly a great time.
The women in our lives I don’t know if they fully understand it. My wife constantly says to me why am I so excited over a GAME. A GAME. I look back at her like Arnold Jackson “whatchu talkin’ bout Willis” this is basketball. This is how I’ve been my entire life. This is not just a game but part of ME. The fellas and I have discussed how basketball is different from football in that you only have Sunday games (come on now those Monday and Thursday night games are wack). But basketball is on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday evenings. The storylines and drama of basketball is much better than the NFL. Things get personal in the NBA. I mean is Carmelo going to hit KG in the mouth for talking about his wife next game. Kevin Durant basically said Dwyane Wade is old and decrepit and James Harden should replace him as one of the best. Kobe Bryant is supposedly a fading star plus his Achilles is old, dried up and snapped. Will he be what he once was?
NBA player’s you feel you get to know over time. You learn there personalities. There have been some eccentric personalities a la Dennis Rodman and those misunderstood like Allen Iverson. They aren’t hiding behind a helmet so you see there excitement and disappointment. I still remember Michael Jordan crying like a baby after winning his first championship. He finally silenced the critics. We have seen epic battles like Miami Heat vs New York Knicks and watched Jeff Van Gundy wrap himself around Alonzo Mourning’s leg. The brawl in The Palace of Auburn Hills. Robert Horry hitting clutch threes. The 2002 Sacremento Kings vs LA Lakers Game 6 was it fixed (I think so)?
The NBA provides the drama men need sort of like Scandal provides the drama that women enjoy (yeah I tune in weekly as well). Things happen in the NBA that keep us tuning in. I’m looking forward to another season.
@SireSpeaks
Recent Comments