Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport, Part 2

Six days ago, we witnessed one of the most memorable and historic nights in "The Association".  In Oakland, two historic moments occurred: 1) the Golden State Warriors soundly defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104 to become the first team in NBA history to record 73 wins, besting the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' 72-10 record; and 2) Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to make at least 400 three pointers in a single season (402).  Down the coast in Los Angeles, five-time champ Kobe Bryant brought his illustrious 20-year career to an end by being the first player in NBA history to play 20 years for the same team as well as the first to score more than 50 points (60) in his final game on the way to overcoming a ten-point deficit to beat the Utah Jazz, 101-96.  After those two big games and reading Part 1 of this two-part series, O.G. Buddy of the Blog Country sent me an email that said, "Kobe went out to 60 and steph hit 73 w and 402 threes...Is that not enough to pull you back to basketball lol?"  I responded, "Still not kinging it over football, but it works for now LOL!"  As much as I loved seeing such a momentous occasion happen, Bryant and Curry are bookends of sorts as the former signifies remnants of a golden era while simultaneously ushering in a certain attitude in a newer one while the latter embodies certain fundamental elements while epitomizing how the game of basketball has transformed.  So what exactly do all of my convoluted observations mean?  Well, in the second and final part of "Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport", I shift focus from my personal connections to my observations of the game itself...

Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport, Part 1

So early last week, Big Little Brother Scribbler sent me a text saying that he was on his way to Houston for the announcement of Allen Iverson's possible induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame along with four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal.  When he mentioned those names, it reminded me of two things: 1) being happy when the Sixers took Game 1, but being disappointed when the Lakers swept the rest of the series; and 2) when basketball was still competing with football as my favorite sport.  Although Michael Jordan had retired for the second time in 1998, Dominique Wilkins (my favorite player of all time) retired a year later and Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were on the downside of their careers, the new breed that included Iverson, O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett were keeping the party going.  However, somewhere along the way, I stopped watching as many regular season games because 82 games just became too much to follow and I simply focused my energy on the playoffs--treating what was once my favorite sport with the same attentiveness that I give the MLB.  So what made me trade in what seemed to be an undying love for basketball for just a casual and sometimes strong like?  Well, in the first of what has become a two-part series, "Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport," I will discuss the more personal reasons why I am no longer as smitten with hoops as I was in the 80s, 90s and early 00s...

Are You Not Entertained?!?! The Glorification of Gruesome Sports Injuries



By now, most of you have heard about or seen the lower leg injury that Louisville Cardinals' guard Kevin Ware suffered playing against the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Midwest regional final on Sunday.  With a little over six minutes remaining in the first half contesting a three-point shot, Ware came down awkwardly on his right leg, which bent at a 90-degree angle and led to an open fracture where nearly six inches of bone protruded through his skin.  In a scene filled with coaches crying, teammates regurgitating and an arena full of people praying for the sophomore guard, it is arguably the most horrific injury ever seen on a basketball court.  CBS, who aired the game, may have shown the replay a total of three times and that's it.  Other media outlets like ESPN showed it afterwards and gave warning to their viewers of its graphic nature.  I didn't actually see it as it happened, but once I heard about the specifics the next morning, I had no desire to see any replays.  Only by research for this particular post did I come across a few of the bone protrusion pictures.  To date, I still haven't seen the video and don't want to see it.