I'm not a big fan of professional basketball, I really never have been. However, due to circumstances beyond my control I've watched more (W)NBA basketball in the last few weeks than ever before.
As the Wolves move through the playoffs, I've gotten on the bandwagon and hope that they continue to have a good playoff run. As I've watched I've noticed a few things.
1. The NBA needs to make the court bigger, move the 3 point line back, and probably raise the basket. The size and strength of the players should lead to making the game more challenging.
2. Either call traveling, or get it out of the rule book.
3. Lebron is the worst, but y'all are flopping more than soccer players.
4. What the hell is up with games scheduled to start at 9:00 Central with the actual play starting at 9:20? It's a great way to nurture the next generation of young fans by scheduling the games too late for kids.
As far as the W, I've watched parts of two games.
1. I watched Paige Buekers since high school and it's fun to see a local kid succeed in pro sports.
2. The CC "flagrant foul" should never have been called because Reese destroyed a Fever player before she got the rebound. Yes it was a foul, probably not flagrant 1, but definitely a foul.
3. Reese overreacted to the foul by flopping, then general by going after Clarke.
4. From what I saw, the women do a much better job of passing and ball movement than the men do.
5. Clarke has an amazing ability to put passes in exactly the right place for her teammates.
6. The WNBA has a great situation going forward in terms of marketing. The Clarke/Reese and Clarke/Buekers "feuds" can bring some great visibility to the game and possibly do for the W what Bird/Magic and Jordan/Pistons did for the NBA back in the day.
I'm still not a fan of either league in any real sense. Yes, I'll stick with the Wolves until the end of the playoffs, and I might occasionally watch part of an interesting WNBA match up, and not much more.
6 comments:
Uncharacteristically for me, I haven't watched a single NBA playoff game this time around, since my Bulls embarrassed themselves in the first play-in game. (BTW, unlike so many, I am NOT a fan of the play-in tournament, just as I've never been a fan of wild card games. I'm well aware of the money side of these issues which were at the heart of instituting them, but I'm more than good with only the top teams in each division vying for the Finals, Superbowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, because if you can't win against your own division, what right have you to the playoffs?
I was quite pleased to see LeBron knocked out of the playoffs, though, and am quite sorry I didn't sit through that series to enjoy it's wonderful outcome. He disgusts me and has for most of his career. In the same vein, not sorry to see the Warriors out, too. Curry can annoy, but I'm really sick of former Bull Steve Kerr.
Now that it's down to the final four (assuming the outcome of the Nuggets/Thunder Game 7, I might watch. Gotta say, the East did NOT turn out like I thought it would!
Even as I'm watching because of the Wolves, I acknowledge that the NBA game just isn't enjoyable enough that I'd watch otherwise. I agree that Lebron is annoying, and flops constantly, but seeing the Wolves be the team do knock them out was nice.
I'll watch as long as the Wolves are in (by watch I don't mean sit in front of the TV for the entire game, but follow) and them I'm done.
I admit I don't understand indifference to the sport of basketball. I find it as enjoyable to watch as football and baseball, though baseball requires a different mindset. My interest in hockey can be re-stoked from my childhood interest...it was when the Blackhawks were winning Stanley Cups...but between the NFL and NBA, I don't know that I should be spending more time in front of the tube. I keep thinking I want to watch Cubs or White Sox, but I forget to keep the time of the first pitch in mind, and end up missing the games entirely. BTW, I lost interest in boxing, too. I have no idea who's who in that sport, unlike in years past.
I'm not indifferent to the entire sport of basketball, I just find the NBA style of basketball to be relatively uninteresting, at least on TV.
I have no doubt that (like hockey and baseball) the NBA game is probably more enjoyable in person than on TV. I also acknowledge that the success of one's team definitely raises one's interest in watching. I'm not a hockey fan, rarely watch it on TV (state HS tournament is the exception) and don't care that much about it as a sport. Yet I have ,and will, enjoy going to the X to watch Wild games on occasion. Part of that is that hockey is a sport that seems to be inextricably linked to one's childhood.
I think part of it is that the NFL has realized that their game is best suited for TV and has made great effort to shape the game day around the TV production. The last few games I've been to in person have been tedious to watch because of all of the TV crap. Hockey, Soccer, Baseball, and Basketball are all still more enjoyable in person than on TV. The fact that there are so few NFL games also helps make them more engaging.
One other aspect of the game watching experience is the proliferation of highlights. Why would I invest 3 hours watching a regular season MLB game, when I can see all of the highlights in multiple places in less than 10 minutes?
For me HS and College basketball is much more interesting and enjoyable than the NBA. Although, I did note some things that might make the NBA more attractive to me. If nothing else, the wokeness prevalent in the NBA hasn't helped either.
All four of the major sports were part of my childhood, especially in terms of having played them, either in pick up games or in an organized league of some kind. I never thought in terms of which game I liked best, but rather in terms of what season is was. If it's summer, let's play baseball. That kind of thing. Aside from having been brought to MLB games as a kid, I didn't watch televised pro-sports so much until I was pretty much out of high school. Then I watched a lot. Heck, I watched the PBA on ABC with Chris Schenkel for years.
Thus, I invest the time to watch any sport I enjoy...even three hours of baseball...because I enjoy the sport on the pro level.
I most definitely agree with the prevalence of wokeness in sports. It's pretty much in all of them to one degree or another. Here's one recent example which sickened me no end:
I watch Chicago sports teams because I have subscribed to an IPTV service which allows me to watch most anything anywhere in the world (and I mean ANYWHERE) for a really nominal fee (about $100/year). There are issues with the service (I've tried two different companies, but they both use the same means of broadcasting the many offerings, so the difference between the two is minimal, but I have noticeably fewer buffering and access issues now), but multiple means of seeing the game I want to watch. As regards the Bulls, if I can't get the Chicago feed, with the normal excellent broadcast team of Adam Amin and former Bull Stacey King, as well as the Chicago commercials and such during timeouts, there's another option which allows me to see the game without the commercials. Instead, it broadcasts all the crap which goes on at the stadium hosting the game. At first I found it kinda cool, but now I find I prefer the commercials. Anyway, they had a "gay" night, or "LGBTQ++++" night, in which they a sickening amount of gay prancing and crap. I definitely pined for commercials on that night. Disgusting, but I don't know that that doesn't go on to some degree in other sports and we just don't normally see it because of the commercials. The teams might wear special uniforms or something attached to their uniforms or one just might get a glimpse of that kind of crap on the scoreboard or something. I don't know that college and high school level is necessarily devoid of such, but I hope so.
Anyway, enough rambling. Art out.
I was raised with baseball and football mostly, and I went to games also. Yet I will rarely invest 3 hours to watch any game just because. If there's something interesting, or a good story line, maybe. But to watch (for example) the White Sox play the Rockies, not a chance.
I mostly stick with my "hometown" teams, but will jump on the Wild/Wolves/Lynx bandwagons during the playoffs.
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