Friday, April 27, 2007

3 cheers for NBA; Big Raz-berry for D.A.

With the fate and reputation of the NBA depending on it, I thought this topic should resurface at the top, with all due respect to the previous Camby blog, as opposed to simply a comment, so here goes:


While the NBA surely isnt what it used to be during the Michael, Larry, and Magic years, I beg to differ that no one cares about what happens in the league anymore. New England might not care about the NBA right now, but there are three reasons for this:
1. Everyone up there is into the Pats and the Sox, hardcore, summer and winter, spring and fall, day and night, and who can blame you, because while they are winning championships:
2. The Celtics have sucked for the last 5 years.
3. The Celtics will continue to suck as long as Danny Ainge is in charge.

Its not D.Stern, its not players leaving college early, its not the dress code, its not the strike 10 years ago, and its not global warming that makes Boston uninterested in the NBA. Its not the NBAs fault that Boston is the 2nd worst team in the league. If they were the 2nd best, things would be different for the Green and Boston. If you want to talk about sports that no one cares about, lets talk hockey or boxing.

Here in Texas, where football is KING and baseball is queen, the NBA still thrives here as the Mavs, Rockets, and Spurs all have a healthy, successful fanbase. Here, as well as in the rest of the country, basketball is still a big deal. The league is on the verge of another climax, as its all about the young up-and-coming teams like Chicago, Golden State, Cleveland, Utah, Denver, etc. taking over the established teams . There is a ton of great talent, young and old. Wade, Melo', and James are givens, along with Luol Deng, Chris Bosh, Baron Davis, Steven Jackson, Carlos Boozer, - I could go on and on. There is still Kobe, Shaq, Wallace, Kidd, Nash, Ming, Billups, and look at A.I. and Marcus Camby in Denver.. again, I could go on.

Its unfortunate that the Celtics arent on that list, as they should be- all these teams in the playoffs now were worse than the Celts a few years ago- but Danny Ainge can take alot blame for that, for reasons we all know of. Thus, there has been no reason for the 617 to tune into the NBA, which leads to local apathy and then league apathy, turning into the rest of the NBA passing the Celtics and their fanbase by, leaving once-proud Celtic fans with a seemingly unrealistic view of the NBA beyond Route 128.

I guarantee that if the Celtics were in the mix with at least a decent team, Boston would care very much about the NBA. Its too great of a sports town not to. So even if the Celts are nowhere near the playoffs, Boston still needs to support the NBA. So for the next few nights, instead of worrying about whether or not Shrilling put blood on his sock over two freaking years ago, watch the new Bulls beat up on the defending champs, see the lights-out Warriors take it to the Mavs., and see if Kidd or Nash finally get a ring.

And pray that the Celts can get Kevin Durant.

1 comment:

Aaron_Strout said...

Lee B. -- thanks for keeping us folks in "617" real. I think that the NBA still has problems but I applaud you for seeing the greater good of young upstarts like the Bulls and Golden State potentially winning out over the behemoths of the east (your Miami Heat) and west (Dallas Mavs). This will help make the NBA a better place.

Regarding Durant, my fingers and toes are all crossed that we a) get one of the top two picks and b) that he is our choice. Question for everyone, if you have your choice to take the next Hakeem Olawujon (Oden) or Michael Jordan (Durant), which do you pick? No guarantees that either young stud will meet those gigantic expectations but if they do, I'd have to go with Jordan...