I don’t care about the NBA playoffs.
Apparently these started this weekend. Who knew? I sure didn’t.
More generally, I don’t care about the National Basketball Association. Not anymore, anyway. I used to, when I was a kid, and the Knicks were decent. My friend Meredith and her Dad would invite me to exciting home games that I would care about, played at Madison Square Garden. (Sidenote: I don’t care about sports venues that have nonsensical names, for example Madison Square Garden, which is on 7th Avenue, is the shape of an oval, and has no horticulture to speak of.)
Now, I realize this leaves me exposed to criticisms of being a fair-weather fan, but I can assure you, if the Knicks were good right now, and they were in the playoffs, I still wouldn’t care that much. This may come as some surprise to friends of mine who know that I do care about some professional sports quite a lot. For instance, I care a great deal about [American] football. Indeed, my Sundays are often ruined by a bad performance by the NY [Football] Giants, of whom I am a lifelong fan. My mom refused to cook dinner on Sundays when the Giants sucked. Which they did, a lot, in my youth. So, we ate pizza.
I digress.
What I don’t care about, is a Kobe-Lebron matchup this year. I can even say with some confidence that I wouldn’t recognize Lebron James on the street. I mean, I might, but probably because of groupies and the impeccable sense of style that tends to come along with major basketball fame (witness Michael Jordan). In fact, I might just think he was a very tall African American man who happened to like to hang out with large bodyguard-like men and paparazzi.
I just think basketball has become all about inordinately large men in singular displays of ridiculous athleticism — it doesn’t feel like a team sport anymore, which is what I think I used to love about it.
Does anyone else hear me on this one?
the i don't care blog 