Tag: basketball

Grayson Allen and the double-standards of athletics

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: Duke basketball player Grayson Allen suspended indefinitely by the team for intentionally tripping Elon player (and then proceeding to throw the biggest temper tantrum this side of Christian Bale)

What is the risk when a college basketball player deliberately trips another player on a hardwood court?  Broken bones, contusions, concussions, among other types of injury.

What is the risk when an ordinary citizen deliberately trips another ordinary citizen on the street, in a hallway, at the store, at school, or any other location?  Broken bones, contusions, concussions, among other types of injury.

The difference is that when a college basketball player does it, although it is seen on television and by thousands of spectators, they get a whole lot of scrutiny, criticism, disdain and blown up on social media, but when an ordinary person does it at any other ordinary location, they are classified as committing assault, and are subject to arrest, among other criminal punishment.

It goes without saying that this sort of double-standard is troubling as far as society is concerned.  Just because Grayson Allen is a talented basketball player for one of the most recognized sporting teams in its entire sport doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be punished like an ordinary citizen for his dangerous actions. 

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Oh, why not one more?

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Because that’s a great idea: The Atlanta Hawks’ new developmental team, to get, wait for it . . . wait for it . . . a new stadium!

Everything about this is a bad idea.  For starters, the NBA is a joke of an organization, bastardizing a pure game with hip-hop, flash and no substance, and the repeated degradation of a sport enjoyed all across the world.  But to swindle taxpayers into creating an arena nobody wants for a D-league team??  Now that’s just some bull shit, if I’ve ever heard it in my life.

The D-league isn’t like minor league baseball; contrary to what the NBA wants people to believe.  People end up in the D-league, because they’re simply not good enough to make it into the NBA, and the D-league is more or less a holding cell for mediocre players, with organizations hoping the cream of the crop will rise, into becoming a useful backup player for the big squads.

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The end of an NBA era

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: Tim Duncan announces his retirement after playing 19 years in the NBA

I wax poetic about professionals occasionally, in the spirit of writing about professions.  Chris Benoit was a wrestler I loved to watch.  David Ross is a baseball player that I love.  Kobe Bryant was the successful successor to Michael Jordan.  Etcetera, etcetera.

In the right context, I can appreciate damn near anyone.  I’m under the belief that under the right context, anyone can appreciate anyone if glazed in the appropriate words and descriptions.

Tim Duncan was one of my all-time favorite players, ever.  Full stop, period.

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LeBron James actually did it

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The funny thing about sports is that seldom does the likely ever actually occur; especially when it comes to championships.   When was the last time a team favored to win it all from the start of the season actually win it all?  How many times do we see a college football juggernaut, ranked #1 from the start, falter and fail to even make it to the championship game?  How many athletes have we witnessed state their intentions to succeed and make promises that they have little chances of fulfilling?

I remember the rise of LeBron James.  Hearing about this kid in Ohio who was an absolute physical freak of nature, even whilst in high school.  He was a decade ago, basically what Bryce Harper was just a few years ago, this teenage phenom that was destined to easily succeed in the professional ranks of their respective sports.  LeBron was anointed a Next Jordan in a time when doing such was the equivalent of a career kiss of death; but that’s just how much of a sure thing he was believed to be.

I remember when the Cavaliers drafted him following the 04-05 season, it was the start of a truly storybook story, of the hometown kid being drafted by franchise in his state.  He said he wanted to “do his best” to bring a championship to Cleveland.  In his first regular season game as a Cavalier, he nearly had a triple-double.  I was impressed at how good he was from the onset.

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Shunning power

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

One of the biggest obstacles I face in the light of server downtime is the obvious out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality that emerges from time to time, when it comes to the pursuit of trying to write on a regular basis.  Sometimes it’s on account of knowing there’s nowhere to post to, however there are the times in which I simply don’t either have the time or the simple drive to write anything.

At the time I’m writing this, I realized that in a hypothetical online status, I’d have gone four days without taking the time to write something, which I would have chastised myself for being unacceptable.  Usually, I like to write to what I like to call, more organically, which is to say things that are happening fairly current to the particular day, and I write immediately after finding something that piques my interest.

Failing that, there’s the well of topics that I notate in a Gmail draft, or a Notes file on my phone, that I feel like I can dip into from time to time in order to have something to write about, when current events seem dry.  This post, is one of them.

I came across this article written by Michael Wilbon, a sportswriter I’ve typically been supportive of, from his time at the Washington Post, as well as being the less-insufferable voice of Pardon The Interruption.  Long story short, it’s an article about how African-Americans aren’t into statistics as it pertains to professional sports as much as others are.

First of all, I didn’t even know what The Undefeated was, until after I read this article.  After a little bit of research, I deduced that it’s the “Black Grantland,” that was a contributor to the death of “regular Grantland (which had several black authors)” that was initially helmed by noted race-card wielder, Jason Whitlock. 

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A little bit of basketball talk

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In a perfect world, the NBA schedule would have had the final regular season Lakers game on Tuesday, and the final regular season Warriors game on Wednesday.  Instead, both games are on at the same time, in the same time zone, in the same state no less, as in Oakland, the Warriors are knocking on history’s door, as they go for record-setting win #73, while in Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant suits up for his last-ever NBA game.

Now I’ve made no secret of my general ambivalence towards today’s NBA, often waxing philosophy that it’s putrid shit compared to the golden age of NBA I was a huge fan of throughout the 90’s.  But I’d be the first among many to admit that on April 13, was a one-in-a-million kind of magical night that, even for one night, a curmudgeon like me can even sit back, look at the night as a whole, and go god damn.

The Warriors broke the record that I’ve said time and time and time again would probably never be broken in my lifetime, and Kobe Bryant hangs 60 points on the Jazz on his way out the door.  I had and still kind of have a difficult time in thinking about which was more impressive, because sure the Warriors winning 73 games is now going to be the new record we’ll probably never see get broken in our lifetimes, but a talent like Kobe Bryant is a guy that we’re probably not going to see in equally a long time.

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Is there any worse team historically than the 76ers?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s funny, I like March Madness basketball, which has just anointed two competitors for the national championship.  I love baseball, whose’s Opening Day is literally on this day that I’m writing this.  But I think the NBA is more or less garbage, and here I am writing about it, because apparently, I can’t not talk about train wrecks.

Originally, I looked at the standings, because in spite of all the times I’ve said the Warriors will never catch the greatest team of all time, the 1996 Chicago Bulls, they’re currently sitting at 68-8, with six games to go.  Sure, they’ve got a tough remaining six left, as five of them are against playoff-bound teams, and two of them are against the Spurs, whom if not for the Warriors themselves, would be recognized as having a truly fantastic season in their own right.  But seeing as how the Warriors have lost pretty much one out of every eight games to this point, the idea of them going 3-3 in their final six to fall short of the 96 Bulls seems like its own impossibility.

I’d like to believe that the Spurs would love to be the team to deny the Warriors from breaking the record, or even hitting the 70 win plateau, but Gregg Popovich is also a big-picture guy who could just as easily not give two shits about stopping the Warriors if it meant resting his regulars so that they’re better prepared to face the Warriors in the playoffs, where it matters.

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