On the eve of the half way point in this year’s basketball season, let us all take a moment to reflect on the supreme American Sport—Basketball. The superiority of basketball is not held in its legendary teams, super star players, or even post season structure….the game of basketball is the finest sport because of its beauty of motion that celebrates the modern day Renascences athlete.
The Structure of the Game-
The game of basketball is executed as an organic system, with each individual member acting and reacting off the other participants. Each player adjusts to the transition between offensive and defensive motion and their role in the environment. To be great in basketball, you must be able to be performing your primary responsibility while always adjusting to the situation in front of you. The role of each player is contingent upon the corresponding actions and placement of their teammates. In a given situation, the primary scorer might help the team more with assists if they face a defense that double or triple teams.
Other sports delay action for wholesale changes in personnel, mirroring a paparazzi shift change on Brittany Spears suicide watch. The personnel changes are subject to the possession of the ball. Basketball operates more like a ballet with out a musical score, a fluid transition between offensive and defensive motion.
The Versatile Thinking Athlete-
Basketball is a game that showcases the utility of their 5 tool athlete (shoot, rebound, pass, dribble, and play defense), unlike sports that predicate themselves on player specialization as their central role in the organization- ex. Football (throw, catch, block, tackle, kick), Baseball (pitch, field, bat) or Track (run, jump, throw). If a player is out of shape (Shawn Kemp-The Fat Years) their actions are restricted and their overall game is ineffective. In other football or baseball, being overweight and out of shape doesn’t stop your contribution to the game, it just changes your role. Take Sam Madison (DT who needs oxygen from running off the field) or John Kruk (a 300+ pound First Baseman who you could time running to bags with a stop watch). Fat and out of shape players don’t make the cut in elite sports.
The Venue-
The beauty of going to a basketball game is that you don’t have to guess about the weather conditions during the game. There is a huge premium on the consistency of a sporting event and the ability to take the variable of extreme temperatures or inclement weather out of the pre-game planning. Sitting in the blistering heat of a mid-day baseball game in July or a wintry November NFL game is reason to enjoy HD TV in the comfort of your own house. Sports are a leisure activity that shouldn’t bestow hardship on its fan base. It’s completely unacceptable to come home from a sporting event with a cold from being in the rain—unless you were playing in the event.
TO BE CONTINUED.........
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3 comments:
Was this article written by a chick? Two of the main arguments made so far bring up the following points... 1) Basketball "is more like ballet". Huh? And that's a compliment to the sport? Ballet is something that men get dragged to, kicking and screaming, by their significant others. Sports is what guys watch to avoid going to the ballet. Sorry but that's not a good analogy. 2) Basketball is better because its played indoors so you don't have to be bothered by the weather. Huh? I'm sorry. Are you afraid you're hair will get messed up if its windy or your shirt will get wrinkly if it gets wet? Come on! That's precisely what makes football the best sport ever. Because weather doesn't stop the game. Rain, snow, wind, etc... football will go on. And its up to the teams involved to adapt to the conditions. Many of the most memorable football games in history are games in which inclement weather played a huge role. Late last century, football (college and pro) surpassed baseball as America's pasttime and alwasy will be. You may have given me the idea for my first blog. Anyway, basketball is lame. You only have to watch the last two minutes of any game. Neither college or pro gets exciting until playoff time because individual regular season games don't pack any punch (other than rivalry games), whereas EVERY regular season football game matters. And any sport where the 07-08 Duke team can be one of the best in the nation is a joke. You talk about preeminent athletes? Duke doesn't have any! They don't have any inside players, they have noone that could be a starter on the top 15 teams in the NBA. They have a bunch of nerdy white guys who didn't have any friends in high school so they spent 4 hours every day shooting baskets alone in their driveway and now they rain down 3's in college in order to compete with (and beat) teams with much stronger, faster, better athletes.
Okay... I think I'm done now. Or at least for awhile. I may return.
Buff- Nice of you to show up. First, I compared the grace of basketball to ballet. I can't accept your general bashing of the arts. An enriched life experience is a combination of athletics and arts (Your mostly right, so I'll move on).
Incliment weather sucks in ever situation. Sucks to be hot, sucks to be cold, sucks to be wet and sucks to watch a game that is impacted by the elements instead of the quality of play. I don't want to see a football game where the players hands are so cold they can't feel the ball. This isn't survival, it's sports.
The rest I will address later in part 2. I will close by saying "Duke Rules" and I'm sure you'll come around when the brackets hit the street.
So - There are rants, and there are incompetent pieces of gibberish. Tom's dissertation on the merits of basketball was Walton-esque (and that doesn't mean good). I am as big a proponent of the game as any you will meet, and even I found myself throwing up in my mouth at the cloying nature of his ill-placed analogies.
The true gibberish was Buff's response though: While I agree with his Ballet comments. I think there is a happy medium to the weather argument. Basketball is a winter sport - but it doesn't work outside in the snow, it HAS to be played indoors, because the ball wouldn't bounce, and you can't shoot with gloves on (even those fairy Roethlisberger lambskin ones). Football is every bit as captivating because of the sheer physicality of the game, and inclement weather plays a part in both strategy and execution.
Life certainly wouldn't be good if all sporting events were held outdoors - it would limit the ability of athletes to showcase their physical greatness, and conversely - the visceral enjoyment of outdoor sports such as football and baseball are compromised when played in a sterile environment under a roof.
Also – the game of basketball is one that unlike any other sport can be won because of quality coaching and solid fundamentals. Also, one player can carry a team and showcase what human excellence can truly represent. If you say the regular season doesn’t matter, and you only have to watch the last 2 minutes of any game – you don’t understand the impact of momentum and the mental chess match that is match-ups and strategy. In no other sport can an argument for the most valuable player be between a 6’ skinny Canadian that could barely bench press the bar, and a 6’ 8” muscular behemoth that can run 94’ faster than any PG and dunk with more authority than Shaq. Be open-minded. All sports play a needed role in our society and all are perfectly placed in the seasonal calendar.
Argue this Tom - when the NY Rangers play the last sporting event ever at Yankee Stadium - Jan. 1, 2009, a New Year's Day outdoor Hockey game - if it is a crisp, sunny 25 degree day... is there any other regular season sporting event you would rather attend? It will be the perfect harmony of a traditionally indoor game married to the historical nostalgia of an iconic venue in one of the most loyal sports cities in the world.
I bet you agree with me Buff - but if it happens to be 5 degrees with a wind-chill of -25, I don't give a crap about nostalgia, put a roof over my head, and move the game to MSG. As sports fans, we have to think with both our hearts and our heads.
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