Why You Should Be Watching the NBA
Pro B-Ball Is the Best Show In Town
Hello? Are you here? It’s the headline, isn’t it? Pretty slick, don’t you agree? That’s a blogger’s headline. This post is really going to be a tepid discussion of my sports viewing habits. I haven’t even devoted enough thought to the topic to make a listicle, but by saying, “Why YOU should be watching the NBA,” I move this common dreck into the realm of self-help, life-hacks, and advice. The headline extends to you the tantalizing possibility that perhaps your life could be improved by reading this post. The truth is that the post is about me, and nobody ever improved their life by doing what I do.
I also think the headline captures the oppositional. People who dislike the NBA might click the headline to hate read, sure in knowledge that at the end of the article they will still not watch pro basketball even after reading 700 words about why they should.
The sub-head is also standard blogging dreck. It targets the “FOMO” people who are insecure about the fact that they might be watching the wrong sport. Like maybe all that work to figure out the English Premier League wasn’t really worth it (neither was the $115 for a Chelsea shirt), especially since they have been watching the NBA the whole time.
And here we are. A normal headline follows:
Why I Am Enjoying the NBA
I’m not sure why, but I was bored on the weekend of the NBA All-Star game and ended up watching the skills competition. As a kid I was a Knicks fan. The last time I really cared about the Knicks they had Bill Cartwright. I once watched Bernard King score 50 points in a losing effort. My Knick fandom had dwindled to a lifetime obsession with Walt Frazier and the fact that I sub-vocalize the phrase “he was a Knick” whenever I see Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers. My fandom was rekindled when I saw that Kristaps Porzingis, a 7' 3" center/forward from Latvia, was in the hunt for the skills competition crown. I found my self rooting for him. When he won, it was exciting.
I watched the 3 point competition the same day. It was great fun to watch, in part because the announcing crew was FUNNY. I can’t find a list of announcers anywhere on the Internet. I’m almost sure Dominique Wilkins was one of them. I don’t think they were the normal Turner crew of Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Since I had such fun watching these two events, I decided to start watching some Celtics games.
I can’t really remember the last time I watched regular season NBA games. Could I have laid off since the Michael Jordan era? That seems odd and improbable. I know I watched the playoffs last year, but when I started watching this season it seemed like I was watching a totally different game.
The current NBA game is SO GOOD. The players are amazing. The three-point shot has opened up the play in a beautiful way. It’s mesmerizing just watching a team move the ball. Every team has players who routinely make the most improbable shots. Some of the passes seem impossible. They swing the ball vast distances as if it is nothing. The outside game has made drives to the basket these concentrated moments of astounding athleticism, usually in the face of energetic defense. Every couple of minutes someone does something breathtaking on the floor.
I expanded my repertoire of what I would watch. I started watching any game that had Golden State, Houston, the San Antonio Spurs, OKC, or the Memphis Grizzlies. I found guys to like on every team I watched. The current crop of NBA players are remarkably charismatic.
Pro-Basketball is the best game in town. I will watch any sport. I have a subscription to MLB.tv. I like to watch hockey, football, boxing, etc. I used to think that college basketball was more fun to watch than the NBA. I watched the Duke-UNC semi-final in the ACC tournament this year, and since then I feel like I have watched a dozen pro games that were better entertainment.
Lots of things suck in life. The NBA isn’t one of them.
