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What a great two weeks huh? With the exception of a couple gaffes here and there and the unnecessary tragedy of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Olympics went well for many sports.
While keeping up throughout the games, I would take time to see what else was going on in professional sports here in the states. After scouring the internet and reading some newspapers, I couldn’t help but notice how uninterested I have become with the NBA.
I like basketball. Playing it is fun and I can’t keep my eyes away from March Madness, but I tried watching an NBA game the other night and it lost me. On that particular night I watched the Atlanta Hawks vs. Dallas Mavericks game. It went into overtime and had a nice finish by Dallas to pull out the win.
Boring. The whole game was boring. And I think the Olympics made me see this.
I was a big fan of Curling this year, having never watch it before. I loved the precision and skill needed to throw a heavy stone into a circle 50 feet away from you on ice, curling it around other stones put in play by other players. It was exciting. Teammates yelling at each other (giving directions, not cursing) on how much sweeping needs to be done to smooth the ice to make the stone gain speed. After a good shot, occasionally the other team would smile at the curler as to say ‘That was nice!’ It was a refreshing new sport (to me) that had been around for years, already establishing a cordial atmosphere between players and had high intensity.
Then I watched the NBA. Utter annoyance.
It seems to me the requirement for being a basketball player in the NBA is to ‘be tall, sink big shots, and be able to bitch at the ref.’ The game has become monotonous in format and the has lost its sportsmanship.
Listen, just because LeBron James goes up and pats Kobe Bryant (The Rapist, allegedly, as Russ Weakland would put it) on the butt and says ‘Good game’ doesn’t constitute sportsmanship (and I HATE when analysts label it as such). That same LeBron walked off the court and didn’t shake hands after being knocked out in the playoffs.
Sportsmanship is something shown throughout the whole game, not only to other players and fans, but to referees as well. It seems every time someone gets a foul or is fouled, there’s a look. A look of ‘it wasn’t me’ or ‘are you serious?’ Then pouting and pleading to the coach ensues until the coach starts screaming at the refs to ’stick up for his player.’ If he fouled someone, take the foul. You’re an adult so act like one.
Maybe it’s because of the referees are having too many controversial calls or maybe the NBA has given players too much of a voice, but which it may be, it leads to me not wanting to watch.
I wish the Olympics happened all year long…
Written by Chuck Nelson. Inspired by teenage girls at a sleep-over, watching ‘The Princess Diaries’ while listening to a mash up Britney Spears ‘I’m not a Girl’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ talking about Scott Thompson, ‘the cute boy in their math class’; being more tolerable than an NBA player.
