I've been back home in Kentucky this week, and haven't had much quality time with sports. Luckily, today was different. First, the Hawks were on NBC. This is a huge deal, as generally there's no shot in hell of getting to watch any hockey from south of the Mason-Dixon. My family got to witness the stress of a shootout, and was confused as hell as to what I was hollering about the whole time.
Then, less fortunately, the NBA All-Star game was on.
I'll be the first to honestly admit, I didn't watch the entire thing. I caught part of the first quarter while out to dinner with my father. The game looked slow as hell and I didn't have much interest in rushing home to see the rest (has anyone besides me noticed that I've already used "as hell" as a simile twice in this post? Not to mention, the use of the verb "hollering"? Kentucky has a serious affect on my accent).
I turned on the end of the game, about halfway through the fourth quarter. I assumed, seeing that there was four point difference, that I'd get to catch a few minutes of good basketball. Needless to say I was disappointed.
Never before in my life has one solitary moment reaffirmed a core belief of mine.
I grew up in a household that turned their noses up at professional sports. Granted, this probably would have been a much different experience if we'd lived anywhere near an actual pro team, but, regardless. I remember watching pieces of pro football or basketball games with my dad, and him pointing out how college kids just had more "heart".
This firm, passed-down belief dimmed a bit when I moved to to multi-team city. Having teams to cheer for, combined with huge accusations that most college kids get paid anyway, balanced my loyalties a little bit- until tonight.
Come on. There were two freakin' minutes left with four freakin' points separating winner from loser, and these guys were meandering down the court like it was a goddamned field of daises. I've seen more intensity in the peewee church basketball leagues my little sister used to cheerlead for. It made me long for the 90's gangster rap scene where being from the East or West actually meant something.
I understand that no one wants to get injured before heading back to their home team. Really, I get that. But from the bits that I saw, this game was just pathetic.
It was so disappointing to see multimillionaire players who were obviously not giving even 50% to this game, wander up and down the court. Kobe Bryant easily scored nearly 40 points and had the MVP trophy tossed to him with open arms. Not that this was even a real accomplishment: there was absolutely no defense played - not that that's much different from most NBA games. Even the offense was pathetic to watch. Literally no emotional expression was shown when a player would miss a shot.
For lack of better terms, these guys just clearly did not give a shit.
I've never been so convincingly reminded why my heart - and spending money - will always stay with college teams. NBA All-Star players can collect their checks, hop on their private jets, and head back to their home teams. If they don't give a shit about this game, neither does this fan.
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The point of the All-Star Game is that it's fun. It's not supposed to be a knock-out drag-out fight. You want to see professional basketball players giving it their all? Watch Game 7 of the last NBA Finals. Lakers vs. Celtics. Kobe, Pau, and D-Fish vs. Allen, Pierce, and Garnett. Now, THAT was some basketball.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I've given college basketball a shot, and you know what I've found? Players who stand around when they don't have the ball. It was like watching a team full of LeBron James's. When NBA players don't have the ball, they're moving and jockeying for better position on the court.
And you want to talk about defense? NO ONE can block Kobe's turnaround fadeaway jumper, and NO ONE can stop Blake Griffin from getting to the hoop if he wants to get there. Defense in the NBA isn't as easy as defense in NCAA is.