Why I Care About The NBA, And Basketball

The Birdman

The Tats:  A couple of years ago, I went on Amazon in search of a coffee table book that had photos of NBA players tattoos.  The only book I found was old, and didn’t include the Birdman.  I bought it anyway but I’ve since lost it.  I’m now convinced an entire book could be dedicated to the Birdman’s tattoos and that this is actually one reason why I love the NBA: for the body art.  Another one of my favorites, that I just noticed the other day while the Bulls pounded my Hawks, is Derrick Rose’s hand tattoos.  It made me think — when Rose got these tattoos, his hands must have been out of commission for a week or so — did he not work on his jump shot or anything for that week?  Maybe he worked on going left/right depending on which hand was tat’t up first.  The larger point is that Rose’s hand tattoos caused me to think at all.  Some other honorable mentions are Kenyon Martin’s lips and Rasheed Wallace’s sun.

The Product:  Another reason I love the NBA is for the product.  The common claim is that NBA regular season games are painful to watch, but the lockout-shortened season has made this year’s regular season pretty compelling.  And I’ve never understood the argument that college basketball is more “entertaining.”  By making this point, you are saying that you like watching an inferior product played by inferior players coached by inferior coaches.  Excellence excites me, so watching teenagers brick wide open jump shots and run zero offense does not scratch that itch.  I do love March Madness — I’m not a complete idiot.   Some might say that the lockout disheartened casual fans.  Look, I don’t think you can make the argument that players make too much money.  It’s an illogical argument.  The money exists, whether it’s rich owners, lucrative TV deals, jacked-up ticket prices, or endorsements.  So who should take that money?  The players; not the owners.  I agree that there is a societal imbalance with professional athlete’s salaries compared to just about any other profession.  But fans feed the imbalance.  So we shouldn’t complain if we tune in (like I do) or use box seats from my fiance’s law firm (we do) to watch the Wiz lose games.  I like the product, so I feed the beast.  It would be nice if players did recognize that without fans, their profession would not exist.  And players could earn a little bit less in exchange for lower ticket prices.  But that sounds like Socialism.  Don’t be such a Socialist (brought to you by the Republican National Committee)!