Why do you watch the NBA?

I think the Blazers could win a title, I just think they need to be a lot smarter than they've been the last 15 years.

 

Why am I a fan?

I grew up in Chicago and remember when the Bulls were an expansion franchise. I really liked all sports, and saw guys like Wilt on TV and in the news.

Over the years, I saw the Bulls become contenders with guys like Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloan, Tom Boerwinkle, Bob Love, and Chet Walker. I remember falling asleep with the radio on, listening to Jim Durham calling the Bulls games. That was most nights during the season.

After making it to the Western Conference Finals (Chicago was a western conference team in those days), they were favored to make the Finals and even win it the next season. The Bulls faced the Warriors in the WCF that season. The Warriors came to town to play at the Chicago Stadium. The Bulls practiced at the Angel Guardian gym when in Chicago. The Warriors needed a place to practice. My school had a nice enough gym (I played at Angel Guardian and it was WAY nicer than my school's...) and the Warriors chose to practice there. All day long, the news spread through the school. When classes were over, the gym was packed with students waiting to see the Warriors practice.

The Warriors came out and ran layup drills, 3-man weave drills, and some full-court 3-on-3. Rick Barry was wearing a full length mink coat over his practice gear. He went over to one of the side baskets and shot free throws the whole time. I remember Clifford Ray could not dunk. He got over the rim, but always hit back iron or something and the ball never went in. He wasn't much of an offensive player anyhow, but his teams won a lot of games anyhow.

I remember listening to the series on the radio. Jim Durham kept saying, "Rick Barry from the twilight zone!" as he killed us with long range shooting. Cliff Ray was on the Bulls the year before, but was traded to the Warriors for Nate Thurmond. I remember when the trade went down the sports section of the newspapers were filled with articles about how we finally had a real center and he'd get us over the hump to win a championship. Dick Motta, the Bulls coach, hardly played him in the WCF series because he never really got comfortable with the Bulls scheme of things and had a pretty sucky regular season. The Bulls were up 2-1 and then 3-2 and ended up losing. It was a real heartbreaking loss.

I played 12 years of baseball. It was my favorite sport. In the offseason, Basketball was something to do to keep in shape, but I gradually came to love it as much as baseball. In school, when I had an hour between classes, lunch, etc., I was always in the gym playing pickup games (yeah, in street clothes). I played on the varsity baseball team for 4 years, and on the basketball team my junior and senior seasons. The assistant coach of the team was Jeff Bzdelik, who later went on to coach the Nuggets and is now head coach at Wake Forest.

But I remember playing a LOT of basketball. I used to ride my bike over to DePaul University and played a lot of school yard games with college guys. We'd sometimes get into the gym and on rare occasion, we'd get to play with guys from the team or even the NBA. One time I was playing at one of the outdoor courts and Revie Sorey (a guard who blocked for Walter Payton on the Bears) showed up with a bunch of kids from the United Way. The kids sat on the sidelines while he played with us. The guy was HUGE - like 6'2" and 300 lbs. He could dunk, too. And when he did, nobody tried to take the charge.

When I wanted a change of pace, I'd ride over to the Mayor Daley's Youth Foundation and Fire Department Gym on Navy Pier to play. The gym was super long and narrow, as you'd expect since it was on an actual pier. It was huge. There were maybe 20 full court basketball courts and a boxing ring in the back and maybe some other stuff I didn't pay attention to. It was a good place to play in the winter when it was too cold to play outside

I think playing on organized teams helps me appreciate the game more. I recognize plays the teams run and what they're doing on defense to a level of understanding that is beyond being a casual fan. The NBA is where the best (mostly) players play.

 

I had the wind knocked out of me by Oden being an absolute bust. The GM nonsense with Cho being let go hurt. I like where the team is headed, but I've had a REAL tough time watching every game like I used to.

Part of that reason is that the broadcast quality here in Seattle is ab-so-lutely terrible. Easily the worst-looking channel on Comcast, and watching it pisses me off knowing that I can watch thirteen cooking shows in HD at that very moment. It seems like a minor thing, but... it aggravates me to no end and it's dramatically.

As for non-Blazers NBA: don't care much about it beyond boxscores for fantasy, and I haven't for several years.

Ed O.

 

I feel the same, but at least you have a chance to watch the games. Imagine all that crap and being unable to watch the games?

 

Yeah, that'd be tough... but if I couldn't watch them, I might follow more closely for some perverse reason. Trying to watch concurrently fuzzy and pixelated standard def basketball games was OK in the 1990s but it just pisses me off to no end now.

Ed O.

 

I'd think the leagues wouldn't care as much about population as they would about which population has the more disposable income to buy merchandise and tickets.

 

Stuck, since it's in the "Portland" NBA market here in Seattle. Which blows. I don't think that legal online streaming would be allowed here...

Ed O.