In the middle of April is often my favorite time of the year.
It is usually when trees start to be sprouted here in Massachusetts, temperatures hit 50 for the first time in months and the basketball court just down the street from me thaws out for good.
I’ve been playing pickup basketball with the same group of guys for two years now. None of us say a word to each other from the beginning of October to the second or third week in April, but when summer dog days roll around, we spend three or four days a week at the court, and know all daily schedule per heart.
No tendency has gone unnoticed at this time. Everyone knows that I have absolutely zero left hand. At the same time, which pulls up for 3, which is not, which does not pass even if their lives were dependent on it and who has no idea how to use their 6-foot-9 frame has also become general knowledge.
There is something really special about pickup basketball. Not only the game itself, but also the relationships you build, the things you learn about people, the beef that derives from a game that was or was not a foul. Everything is just fine.
But I just want to associate pickup basketball with the court down the street from my apartment. Not the NBA All-Star game on national television.
The league went with a new format this season, and boy Oh Boy made it suck. Four teams, three matches, one winner when everything is said and done. First team to 40 wins. No clock is needed. And guess what? One of the four teams didn’t even have all-stars on it.
Yuck.
Usually, the NBA is quite good when it comes to getting innovative ideas to life so that fans continue to stay committed. It is clear that it was what the league went here, but this was a massive, massive miss.
Of course, all-star games from previous years were nothing to write home either. Zero Defense was played, with things that were quickly turned into more by a competence competition and a scene for players to show how evil they could throw down a thump or how far their skiing can reach.
It has come to the point now where I would have a good time with players getting all-Star nods and then just enjoy their week. No game is needed. The title is enough. Isn’t that all we really care about anyway?
We looked at pickup basketball on Sunday evening, and I can almost guarantee you that you would be more maintained by spending an hour on all the YMCA gym across the country or your local park – if it is hot enough to pour right now.
Let’s hope and pray that we never have to see this all-star game format ever again. If the NBA decides to reuse it, grades will continue to slip and the fans will only be more upset.
Things can’t get worse at least, right?
