What happened to the NBA All-Star game I loved as a kid when you watched your favorite starts like Magic and Bird, Olajuwan and Kareem? I remember being a kid among kids, joining the masses who flocked to television sets to watch the Slam-Dunk contest. There was Jordan taking off from the free-throw line or Dominique do that unearthly double-clutch-below-the-knees-while-his-head was-somewhere-in-the-rafters dunk. Dee Brown, Cedric Ceballos, Kenny Walker and who could forget Spud Webb? The guy had helium in his feet!
What happened to Bird and Hodges? Guys who could sink long-range missiles with ease during the three-point-shootout. Dale Ellis, Mark Price and Jeff Hornacek were naturals in pressure situations and made shooting from the cheap seats look easier than putting cheese on nachos.
The all-star game itself was never something I was very interested in but there was something captivating about watching guys like James Worthy, Karl Malone, Isiah Thomas and John Stockton join the aforementioned on the same court, all at the same time. Those guys were my hero’s, my athletic demigods, the guys I emulated whenever I laced up my beat up Converse, hitched up my jean shorts and threw on Hanes tank top to hit the black top. They earned their stripes eating elbows for breakfast and taking a charge in the chest.
I guess when you grow up in an era where the players settled their differences by trading baskets and rebounds instead of jail cells and agents you come to the realization that basketball, like life grows up and changes and sometimes those changes are obstinate with your view of what was and should have been. Now instead of a celebration of what the league has done for basketball, the NBA All-Star game has become exactly what every other all-star game has become in other sports – An all out media frenzy to hawk corporate goods and services. Even though their ad revenues may never equal the rates touted by their step-brother the NFL, the NBA machine sputters along despite the dip in interest amongst the fans.
Don’t get me wrong. The NBA has done a lot of good for a lot of people. I just wish that they could strip the All-Star Game down to its roots and let it be the spectacle that it was meant to be when it was introduced. Okay, I’m a throw-back and a sentimental old fool, but even though I enjoy watching the incredible talent of guys like Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and that ‘kid’ named Kobe, I still long for the days when you knew the script as it unfolded. You knew that when Larry Bird drove the baseline he was going to stop short, pivot and throw up and off balance shot that would make the net snap when it sailed through. You knew that when Magic drove the lane from baseline to baseline that his opponents neck would knot up trying to figure out if the ball was going out to the wings or if he was going to take it up himself. That was when basketball was poetry. That is the All-Star stuff I miss!
No comments:
Post a Comment