NBA Quick Hits

Hats off to you NBA!  If you are anything like me you got completely sucked into this year’s NBA Playoffs (which seemed like they went on for about as long as a season of the MLB).  All the story lines, the drama- multiple game 7’s and underdog upset scares, small market vs. big market, the tension -physical/aggressive series almost coming to blows- and the talent all made for quite a memorable end to a great NBA season.  Which brings me to my next point, aren’t you glad that the NBA is back! I mean I know that it hasn’t gone anywhere, but ever since the lockout in 1998 and the post-Michal Jordan era, it had went from all-time high TV ratings in ‘97-‘98 to record lows in ‘03-’04 (Thanks Neilson). 

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It has always been said that basketball is a “player’s league” and it really is.  The game allows its stars to be in your face with no helmets or pads and puts only 10 guys in the competition at one time.  We as consumers of the sport and members of a society that is obsessed with reality TV, love good characters.The NBA is the perfect showcase for good characters that just happen to be some of the best athletes on the planet!  The advent of the Age of Social Media has only amplified a sport chalk full of these Freak Talents with many personalities.  In 1987 you may never have known how Isaiah Thomas reacted after a hard foul from Jordan unless you were at the game or lived in Detroit or Chicago.

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In 2013?  If Lebron James makes a goofy face after a bad call, 156 million people are dialoging about it on twitter or saw the pores in his nose as he committed it on their HD televisions.  Every season is a story.  Everybody likes a good story.  What do all good stories have?  Good characters, characters that divide the audience in their opinions about them.  In the NBA there is no bigger character than Lebron James.  Analogy: Whether you see him as the original super hero- American flag waving Hulk Hogan that is the optimal role model of his profession or the Hollywood Hulk Hogan that is the villain that everyone loves to talk about,

either way Lebron  is polarizing a character, a character that just happens to be one of the most gifted athletes of all time.

Now take the Dwight Howard saga for instance.   Do you think James Worthy cared about his global image or whether or not he received the “attention” he felt he deserved?  The modern NBA of up-close-and-personal athletes multiplied by the affects of social media has created many athletes that are no longer just a basketball player desiring trophies but a reality star living out a constant self-made Truman Show scenario with Tweets, Instagrams, Websites, Facebooks, Branding etc. 

Sure the NFL has these as well but we only hear of them when there is a "sideline helmet off confrontation," an off season reality show or a shirtless workout/interview.  We call them Wide Receivers.  Nonetheless, I love this modern NBA.   I love the good vs. evil, large market vs. small market, the emotions raging, the player/team backstabbing, the inter-squad drama and the legacy building.  I know I used the WWE and its characters both good and bad as an analogy for our NBA personalities of today, but if the NBA would only cut out all of the WWE-esque flopping, it has all the talent and star power to at least rival the behemoth ratings monster that is the NFL.