The problem with the NBA’s meme culture
So, I got on Twitter recently.
At first I didn’t really understand it. When I initially created my account (@ReaganDGriffin… shameless plug), I did so under the impression that Twitter, NBA Twitter in particular, would serve as an escape, a place to put all of the random and interesting basketball tidbits that haphazardly pop into my brain throughout the course of a day. For a hoops fan like me, whose mind is constantly running at a hundred miles an hour, this was a potential godsend. Finally, finally, here was a platform to purge my ideas, hypotheses and convictions.
This conception, however, was a swing and a miss. The Twitterverse, much to my surprise, turned out to be so much more than a mere collection of opinions. There were highlights, statistics, and jokes, in addition to the exchange of ideas which I sought. It was a haven, and the deeper I found myself engulfed in the world of Twitter, the more entranced I became with it. NBA Twitter, I quickly learned, had the power to captivate, crack up, infuriate and even inspire.
But with great power comes great responsibility — and unfortunately, in my brief observation of the operations of NBA Twitter, and the NBA meme culture in general, basketball fans are currently disregarding the accountability that comes in tandem with their influential capabilities.
This reared its ugly head as recently as last Thursday, when the league released the first 2020 NBA All-Star fan polling results, which accounts for fifty percent of the vote to determine the starters for the game in mid-February. At first glance, the returns appeared normal… LeBron James, of course… Giannis Antetokounmpo, naturally… Luka Dončić, makes sense… Alex Caru- wait, what?
Yes, the Bald Mamba made an appearance, placing eighth out of all Western Conference guards. Furthermore, he was joined by the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and Tacko Fall, who received a combined total of over 320,000 votes. For comparison’s sake, the trio of Brandon Ingram, Domantas Sabonis, and Bam Adebayo, all of whom are having phenomenal breakout seasons, received a grand total of just under 290,000 votes.
Now, I like a good joke as much as the next guy. I’m all for TD Garden chanting “We Want Tacko” and the Lakers’ bench going buck wild every time Alex Caruso adds another body to his poster list. When @OceanHeadB_ tweets “All I gotta say is Brian Scalabrine is the goat and he better than MJ,” he likely does so with his tongue deep into his cheek. However, when you start talking about messing with not just individuals’ legacies, but the sanctity of the All-Star game as we know it, that is where I as a basketball fan am forced to draw the free throw line in the sand. Most, if not all of the 501 players in the NBA, work extremely hard to perfect their craft. Obviously bias cannot be negated, especially when dealing with fans, but it should be those who separate themselves with their skill, not inherent hilarity, that are honored when it comes to highlighting achievement.
There is zero justification for the fact that Dwight Howard is outpacing Rudy Gobert in All-Star votes.
Before you “Okay, boomer” me, consider this: It’s no secret that the NBA has suffered a ratings drop during this season. Many believe that this has to do with the Morey/China incident or player injuries, however, some hypothesize that the dip has everything to do with television networks not addressing the things the fans want to hear about. In too many instances, instead of examining the dominance of the LeBron/Anthony Davis pick and role, or breaking down the true impact of the Mavericks’ depth, ESPN and TNT elect to discuss topics like LeBron’s hairline or the awkward twelve minutes that Boban Marjanovic played on a given night.
But I don’t blame the networks. As entertainment outlets, their job is to identify and disseminate content that their audience wants to see. What we as an NBA audience have indicated to the television producers is that the content we desire is not basketball related. We’ve insinuated that our preference is to be entertained, rather than taught. It is a difficult pill to swallow, but that is the issue at hand here. And we will continue to slide down this slippery slope, unless something changes.
NBA meme culture has to slow down. It is taking up far too great a slice of the pie that is basketball content. What began as lighthearted fun has spiraled into a substantial and toxic aspect of the consumption of NBA basketball. This isn’t to say that we all must become devout basketball analysts, or our sport will die, as there will always be a place for the laughs, the jokes, the memes: that sort of culture is part of why the NBA is able to attract so many fans in the first place. However, when we begin to conflate this humor with the things that actually matter, the All-Star game voting for instance, we only begin to tarnish the game which we love. Let’s be sure to, as hoops fans, always place the emphasis on the basketball, first and foremost.
Ok, that’s my piece. Back to Twitter.
