I have a piece up at PJ Media previewing (sort of) the NBA playoffs. A sample:
The 82 game regular season Marathon has been run. But unlike old Pheidippides who, in 490 BCE, collapsed and died after racing 26 miles with the glad tidings of who made the NBA playoffs (a little tidbit of history not widely disseminated by the Athenians), NBA players from 16 teams are girding their loins and slapping on their armor, preparing for the wars to come.
Wars, indeed. Like the Spartans at Thermopylae, there is a hard slog ahead for the eventual survivor with victory the product of playing the game at an elevated level, ratcheting up the intensity so that each possession takes on an importance far beyond anything experienced during the regular season.
We have the Greeks to thank for all of this, of course. They may not have invented basketball, but they invented everything else that goes along with the NBA playoffs. Holding their Olympics once every four years meant that when they actually got to the time of the games, excitement was at a fever pitch. In short, if the Greeks didn’t invent the sports hype, who did? ESPN are pikers compared to to the Athenians in that regard.
I do so love writing about sports.
12:32 pm
Listened to two guys in sports bar arguing about recent choices for NBA league MVPs. One thinks they are merely seeking to drum up more white support for the league. I like to think it is meritocracy and the cream rises to the top. Should be no problem throughout life if certain groups are better at some things. I can’t figure why there should be any kind of quotas. If 80% of basketball players are black, how does that turn into 80% of coaches should be black? Asians are very bright and I certainly don’t begrudge them that. I don’t see things so much in black, white, yellow or fray, but rather cultural differences. If anyone, regardless of color, works their ass off and succeeds, that is a good thing.
Would like to hear any opinions about the story of NBA ref losing his cool and being removed through the playoffs. I thought they had unlimited influence on what they called and who they picked on or gave a pass regarding fouls on the court.
Off topic and spoiler alert from zap2it.com : was just reading that 24 will have love scene sometime in a new arc beginning with Monday’s episode. A Wash. lobbyist hooks up with Daniel’s asst., Kari Matchett. New actor is Michael Shanks from Stargate.
2:34 pm
I think the NBA needs to fix some things with the game in order to draw a new generation of kids into the game. There are way too many teams in the league with rosters of mediocre players, the season is way too long, and hardly even seems to matter as bottom of the barrel teams that wouldn’t have made it in the playoffs in years past are now in competition. Make regular season play mean something again by having something more at stake. Right now it’s like baseball, where games don’t really matter until sometime after the All Star Game. Cut down the games in the beginning rounds of the playoffs as well; best of 3’s or 5’s would be interesting.
8:02 am
Johnny
The number of games is simply all about the bucks.
Somebody’s got to contribute to help all those poor disadvantaged players with their yearly tribute to the IRS.