Damn You, Achilles
For five years give or take, I have been an increasingly obnoxious presence in the anti-Warriors brigade. It’s petty and uncalled for and if I were capable of feeling shame, I would probably occasionally feel it over the way I act over a stupid game.
The first team I remember hating was the Utah Jazz (because they beat the Kings in ‘99), then the Lakers, then the Mavericks (this one subsided entirely), then eventually the Warriors. I was actually one of the last Kings fans I remember to join the anti-Warrior bandwagon, but when I jumped on, I landed on it like one of these things from Mario…
I think that part of it comes from my inherent pettiness. I thoroughly enjoy hating teams as much as I enjoy loving them. When your team hasn’t even played in a playoff game since the Bush Administration, you need something that is going to carry you over from April until June, and it is either this or actually become enthralled with baseball.
Either way, hating teams is mostly fun for me. I get out of hand, I admit this, I say things I regret, I’ve been known at any time to establish my own moral superiority over my sports opinions, question other people’s value as human beings over sports, and make my friends and enemies over sports. Some of this is in sincere jest, other times I get out of hand, and I am trying (and largely failing) to get better at not letting my jokes seep into actual insults.
Anyways, this brings me back to Kevin Durant. Assuming everyone who is reading this knows me, they know my feelings on the subject of the Kevin Durant Warriors. Before the ink on his next chapter was barely dry, I was already calling him a coward, calling his team a team of cowards, and acting like a mindless fiend. It’s gotten so bad that I have probably told several dozen people that I know, both fans of basketball and not, that they were duranting after they did everything from skip out on a movie, let me die in a video game, or disagree with my opinion. I do this in jest, but I can see how it gets taken the wrong way.
Then, something like the injury last night happens, and it makes me feel bad. I may not like what KD did on the basketball court, and he may occasional bother me off of it as well, but I would never wish what he went through on anyone. All of these pearl-clutching thoughts from people both close to the situation and away from it claiming that people like me are somehow being disingenuous with our well-wishes and concern for KD need to chill out and realize that not everyone conflates their sports-related trash talk to the real world.
Do I love cheering against the Warriors? Yes. Do I like getting my jokes off at their expense? Hell yeah. Do I want these to jokes to be derailed by actual pain and misery that doesn’t involve wins and losses? Hell no.
Kevin Durant by all means seems like a decent person. I’ve seen plenty to imply that he is charitable, kind-hearted, and an overall good guy. I’ve crossed lines joking about him, but I’ve always tried to be on the right side of any issue that is bigger than basketball, whether it is injury-related, political, or something else.
As a DeMarcus Cousins fan, I know how how hard it is to see your favorite star go down with such an injury. The fact that Boogie is on the team with him is such a strange conflation of my brand, but seeing Boogie out here playing major roles in both the Warriors Finals victories gives me hope, and the fact that he is there for Kevin Durant makes me happy that they have each other.
I don’t know what I am trying to prove or say with this post. Just wanted to put some words out and send it into the void. All I know is that despite everything I have said about Kevin Durant, I know that he loves this game, and I know that he will fight back, and I look forward to either cheering against him on the Warriors, or cheering for him on another team (cough the Kings cough). The NBA is better when its best players are at the top of their game, competing late into the playoffs, and giving us reasons to cheer for or against them based strictly on basketball.
