For anyone who likes REAL basketball, the gates of heaven open at 1120am cst.
Yes, I am talking about the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
I can watch this all day long, and probably will...
If I tried to watch one full quarter of an NBA game I would probably throw up and then have to go to church to confess my sins to James Naismith. Enjoy...
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Basketball heaven is upon us...
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14 comments:
Maybe if you'd stop watchin' the Bucks, you'd feel better about the game.
Scorpion says---
The state high school boys tourny and the NCAA BOTH start today. This
is the best time for basketball fans every year. The last time I paid for an NBA ticket the Bucks top player was named Lou Alcindor.
Marshall,
the NBA is crap, period. All of it...
Watch some real basketball this weekend
'splain yourself, Lucy. What makes it crap. Like all pro sports, the best from college hoops make up the teams. Are you going to tell me they don't have their eyes on the prize and just play for the love of the game? I recall you made remarks about thugs in the NBA. Where the hell did they come from? Just like football, the game's faster and more competitive in the pros. Yeah, some think their shit don't stink. You think it's any different in any other pro sport? You still watch the Pack, don't you? No sir. People like to think there's some purity in college sport. But competition is competition. The best make the pros. Everyone else is just amateur. Otherwise, draft picks would always start. Only a few do, and they always make rookie mistakes.
Lou Alcindor? Man, they can convert to their false religions if the want to, but Lou Alcindor is a much better basketball name than Kareem Abdul Jabbar. And Cassius Clay was an EXCELLENT boxing name. As was Dwight Braxton instead of Dwight Quawi.
Marshall
You make many excellent points.
I’ve often pondered why I prefer college sports to pro sports, and have come up with a few reasons.
I think regionalism has a lot to do with it. Most college teams have a good portion of their players coming from the same state or neighboring states, making it easier to get behind “our guys” versus “them”. To this day I have an irrational distaste for USC and UCLA. I get sick of hearing the media’s undying praise of those teams, and I associate them with left-wing-weenie political views because of their location. It makes it all the more satisfying when “our boys” whip “their boys” ass.
If you think about it, pro-sports is almost like several all-star teams competing against each other. I don’t know about you, but for some reason, I don’t eagerly anticipate each years all star game.
I guess the bottom line is pure ability and quality does not necessarily translate into “the most entertaining”, at least for me. Take music for instance. If you want the greatest musicians as far as talent, quality, and ability, you’d listen to opera most of the time. I don’t know about you, but I find Alice in Chains or Stevie Ray Vaugn to be more entertaining than the latest version of Madam Butterfly (most of the time).
Don't get me wrong. College sports is not without it's charms. My main reason for not watching is that time does not allow. Give up everything else, and I could watch sports all day long. When I used to get into pools, like the average confidence pool for pro football, I was compelled to watch every freakin' game I could get on my tube because I essentially had money on each game. Lately, no one's running such pools, I won't, so I just resign myself to watching Chicago teams, and I barely have time for that.
But college games? Jeez Louise, how many Illinois colleges are there? Not having attended any college or university, I have no true allegiance to any. And then, of course, there are great teams from other states that would be fun to watch. It would be both sports heaven and hell at the same time.
That being said, does college ball have qualities the pros lack? Surely. But it cuts both ways. The all-star analogy is a good one, but conversely, that makes college games nothing but try-outs, which, in fact, for many students, they are. (This makes missed free throws far less frustrating.) At the same time, most teams have players from other parts of the nation who've come for either the program, or the academic specialties of the chosen university. If you have to pay to go to Notre Dame, but North Carolina offered a scholarship to play for them, you'd likely choose NC unless specific courses were necessary and NC didn't have them. So there's plenty of out of towners one roots for in college ball as well.
I concede, however, the total cesspool that pro sports has become. It's true that the income and notoriety is not handled well by too many athletes. When Carmelo Anthony stars in a video teaching our young not to "snitch", that's some piss-poor role modeling. And of course, one only need be reminded of Ron Artest, Dennis Rodman, etc to get a sense of how bad it can get. But many in school are waiting for their chance to be professional assholes as well. Truth is, they were assholes before the NBA and the money just amplified it.
But of what consequence is that to me? Whether they hurt or help the team has no impact on my life. Whether they play or go to jail is meaningless. They won't influence my kids unless I allow it, so there's no problem there. I watch to see the best in athletics and considering how few are chosen, that's only found in the pros. There may be better in college that don't even want to pursue the pros, but it's really rare, and you can't really tell if they're that good until the compete full time against the best. So for my limited opportunities, I'll stick with the pros.
Scorpion says---
Where else but the NBA can a professional entertainer be fined 25 grand for raising his finger? If
you really want to call this entertainment,your entitled to your"RIGHT FROM THE RIGHT!!!"
I wrote a great answer to this yesterday, and it didn't post...
Interestingly enough...I went drinking with a lot of teachers last night, some were even varsity high school coaches. The number of WHITE teachers who liked the NBA was about 1 out of 20.
Black teachers was about 50% (4 of 8)
I won't go into why again, but in my experience, people who enjoy the game of basketball the way it was meant to be played not all one on one, different rules for different players, different calls given to different players, traveling all over the place, players resting on defense, no team concept, and thugs.
You really don't watch the NBA, Game. They've been utilizing zone defenses quite a bit these days. But what's wrong with one on one? It's a sound strategy in certain situations. I would wager that resting on defense is not unique to the NBA. I would also wager that some of the more well known collegiate players get better treatment from the refs than the average third stringer. It's a human nature thing not quite as prevalent due to the vast amount of players compared with the NBA. So some of the well known guys will get an extra step now and again I'm sure. Once again, where do the thugs in the NBA come from? College. That's where. They ain't getting muscle off the street ya know.
One more thing: have you never heard of college players getting perks from alumni associations and other sources to sign with their schools? College has it's own crap. It's not the lilly white and pure game you'd like to believe it is.
OK. Two things.
If college ball is so great, there'd be a lot fewer thugs in the NBA due to being properly coached and guided when in college.
OK. That's about it. Enjoy the tourney. I'm pickin' North Carolina.
I got Ohio State
Floor-ea-duh!!!
I'm not really pickin' NC. I just thought it would be funny raggin' on college B-Ball and then have a pick when I'm done. Like I said, I don't have the time to keep up. If I were to have a pick, it'd be from throwin' darts at a list. At this point, S IL is still in. Perhaps I should back them. But I wouldn't have any idea on who I think could actually win.
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