The NBA - A Very Emotional Experience (For Players)

'Damn dude, like you barely even made it to the playoffs.' -Inception

It's been a long time since I watched any other sport but basketball.  A few years ago I went through a spell where I was watching a considerable amount of FIFA.  And when you talk about emotion, there's nothing in the world like when the home team scores a goal during a big soccer match.  Well, shit ain't really like that in the US where no one gives a fuk about soccer, but I digress.

What I'm trying to say is that, I know players and fans get emotional at sporting events, even on the playground or at the local gym.  And these days, post-lockdown(?), it almost seems as if NBA arenas are more invigorated than ever.  But what I want to talk about is the NBA players, who truly have developed into an emotional lot.

For instance, I was peeping last night's play-in game and saw Patrick Beverly jump on the table after the T-wolves beat the Clippers.  I can't remember who it was who first did the table jump, but I believe it might have been MJ or Kobe.  And in both of those cases, if I also remember correctly it was like after winning the championship and shit.  It wasn't like 'oh, we just barely made it to the playoffs, aaahhhhh!!!'.  But in Patrick's defense, the game was against the old team that didn't value him or whatever.  And later, I saw that Anthony Edwards jumped on the table also.  But in his defense, he's still basically a teenager.

And that's something that needs to be said about today's NBA.  Sometimes you can watch a game, and like every single call a ref makes, the player who has been assessed a foul would throw a sissyfit.  Sometimes, you see them sissyfitting because a foul wasn't called.  And besides making the sissyfitter look immature, the worst thing about it is that you can't throw a tantrum and focus on the game at the same time.  So a lot of times when a player is complaining about a no call, by the time he recollects himself the other team may already be on the other side of the floor with the ball.

And what I meant to get at concerning Anthony Edwards age is, I don't know if it's just getting old and shit.  But a lot of NBA players look mighty young to me these days.  With some of them, if not for the fact that they're mad tall, you wouldn't even know they're adults by looking solely at their faces.  So it's only a matter of time before we see a player on the court after a no call like 'I want my mommy!'

On the converse side, we have dudes celebrating every time they make a three-pointer or screaming every time they dunk.  Like damn, leave that to us laymen who don't actually play basketball for a living.  A NBA player celebrating every time he makes a three-pointer is like a policeman celebrating every time he makes an arrest.  Like damn, it's your job. 

The only players who should be getting giddy every time they make make a three are the ones who rarely shoot them.  Some players, you see them dancing and throwing up signs after making 3s, and their teams are deadass garbage.  You know what I'm saying?  Isn't actually winning supposed to be like a prerequisite for celebration?

Recently I was watching a Lakers game from 2000, where they featured a snippet of an interview with this old player, like some dude who played during the 50s.  Unfortunately, I can't remember who it was.  But anyway, they were asking him about his opinion of the current state of the NBA.  And he said something I'll never forget.  He said that he thinks the sport has suffered now that it's airing on TV.  And he said the reason why is because in the pre-TV days, players were more humble.  But now in the current age, they're 'selfish', I believe is how he put it.

So it's like always having those cameras in your face makes you want to showboat or some shit.  You know what I mean?  It makes you more emotional.  Like I don't really know how to put it into words, but you know what I'm talking about, since it's like some human nature type shit.

CONCLUSION

And if old boy was perturbed by the affect TV has had on the NBA 20 years ago, then he definitely wouldn't be happy with the internet, social media and all this additional shit we have now.  Hey Mr. Silver, whatever happened to that plan to let spectators metaverse their way into live NBA games?

But once again, I digress.  And I'm not trying to judge nobody or anything.  But in closing, I would like to think that if I were an NBA player, I would save the in-game celebrations until after the game is actually won.  You know what I mean?  No use celebrating a three or a phat dunk if your team is soundly on its way to getting its ass bust.  And then, how many calories does screaming like that consume anyway?  Like wouldn't that energy be better dedicated to gameplay?