NBA Playoffs, MLB season start, apparently there’s a football league called the USFL. Thinking this will be a more sports-ish article week on the site. Anyway, fire off your ideas and takes.
HOS rightfully criticizes the NBA for the way the league is run and I agree with some of the sentiment. But, now the NBA playoffs are here and let’s enjoy the best the product has to offer.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Erik Rydholm. While he created possibly my favorite ESPN show of all time (PTI), he’s also responsible for some of the worst (highly questionable/ high noon) and I feel his influence has expedited ESPN’s leftward move.
The generational disconnect present between the NBA and NFL exists less because of marketing and more because of human psychology. When you’re younger, everyone dreams of being a star - or at least an individual with power and influence over your peers. What sport gives you the best opportunity to capitalize on this sentiment? The NBA. Once we realize that this fantasy of being a professional athlete is exactly that, however, the natural human response is to envy those who are at that highest level. Those who have exactly what we wanted but could never have.
Football, meanwhile, is a sport that is predicated more on “knowing one’s role” and team success than it is on individual dominance. As one enters the arena of life, the so-called “real world”, these virtues become that much more integral to personal success. Not only is there less room for jealousy, but there’s more room for nuance and curiosity- particularly in the strategy of it.
I found the instantaneous scold N shame fest towards jokes about the Timberwolves’s 7th seed reaction way more off-putting than any TNT segment or viral Tweet. There was plenty of space to respect & appreciate what Minnesota did while having a few laughs at the sight of guys crying and hopping on the scorer’s table like newly crowned tag team champions without need for guilt tripping blue check NBA tweeters to role play as Patrick Beverley’s overprotective mother. Ten seconds into his sanctimonious, browbeating rant, JJ Redick felt the need to remind us that Karl Anthony Towns’s mother passed away two years ago. Umm, what? If you want to go down that strange and unnecessary path, maybe Shaq and Chuck brought laughs to someone watching from hospice? The heavy handedness towards something so silly really stuck out, even on a platform where you see it every day. Playful chiders not only didn’t comprehend the emotional swings of athletic competition, they were likely joyless and bad people.
As a relative newcomer to your Substack, I have been catching up on your older articles. And I can't shake the fact that while your article on "Why the NBA's China Bet Is Failing", is largely accurate, I just don't see the NBA severing itself from China any time soon. NBA Brass (LeBron James included) is going to continue to kiss China's ass, and players like Kevin Durant are going to continue to make more money selling their sneakers in China, than they will in America.
Your theme on America's decline, while mildly depressing, is pretty insightful. And you do present it from an angle that I don't see from many mainstream news publications (if any). For those of us that have been keeping close tabs on your Substack and who gravitate towards writers like you, my MSM reference, is no big surprise to anyone.
Would you think of travelling to different NBA playoff sites to provide your unique perspective. As a sub..I would be amenable to an increase to defray costs.
Happy Easter
HOS rightfully criticizes the NBA for the way the league is run and I agree with some of the sentiment. But, now the NBA playoffs are here and let’s enjoy the best the product has to offer.
Any comment on Adam Silver aka The Human Pencil saying the players need to play more?
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Erik Rydholm. While he created possibly my favorite ESPN show of all time (PTI), he’s also responsible for some of the worst (highly questionable/ high noon) and I feel his influence has expedited ESPN’s leftward move.
The generational disconnect present between the NBA and NFL exists less because of marketing and more because of human psychology. When you’re younger, everyone dreams of being a star - or at least an individual with power and influence over your peers. What sport gives you the best opportunity to capitalize on this sentiment? The NBA. Once we realize that this fantasy of being a professional athlete is exactly that, however, the natural human response is to envy those who are at that highest level. Those who have exactly what we wanted but could never have.
Football, meanwhile, is a sport that is predicated more on “knowing one’s role” and team success than it is on individual dominance. As one enters the arena of life, the so-called “real world”, these virtues become that much more integral to personal success. Not only is there less room for jealousy, but there’s more room for nuance and curiosity- particularly in the strategy of it.
I found the instantaneous scold N shame fest towards jokes about the Timberwolves’s 7th seed reaction way more off-putting than any TNT segment or viral Tweet. There was plenty of space to respect & appreciate what Minnesota did while having a few laughs at the sight of guys crying and hopping on the scorer’s table like newly crowned tag team champions without need for guilt tripping blue check NBA tweeters to role play as Patrick Beverley’s overprotective mother. Ten seconds into his sanctimonious, browbeating rant, JJ Redick felt the need to remind us that Karl Anthony Towns’s mother passed away two years ago. Umm, what? If you want to go down that strange and unnecessary path, maybe Shaq and Chuck brought laughs to someone watching from hospice? The heavy handedness towards something so silly really stuck out, even on a platform where you see it every day. Playful chiders not only didn’t comprehend the emotional swings of athletic competition, they were likely joyless and bad people.
This is one of the most insightful articles I have read in a long time as to why democracy is breaking down so quickly, and the role social media has played: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/ Highly recommend it as a must-read for everyone here.
Love these opportunities you provide for your community to exchange ideas.
Rave Group LLC bless you all in happy ester now is the right time to Grow Up.
Regards Micha Rave owner and CEO
Hey Ethan did you catch the ESPN piece this week on nets owner Joe Tsai? Feel like it’s something you and Ryan should discuss next time.
Happy Pesach, Ethan!
As a relative newcomer to your Substack, I have been catching up on your older articles. And I can't shake the fact that while your article on "Why the NBA's China Bet Is Failing", is largely accurate, I just don't see the NBA severing itself from China any time soon. NBA Brass (LeBron James included) is going to continue to kiss China's ass, and players like Kevin Durant are going to continue to make more money selling their sneakers in China, than they will in America.
"Durant’s sneakers are best sellers worldwide, with more sold last year in China than North America" (article is from 2019) https://www.netsdaily.com/2019/10/16/20918361/kevin-durant-unboxes-latest-sneaker-and-its-tech-footwear
Your theme on America's decline, while mildly depressing, is pretty insightful. And you do present it from an angle that I don't see from many mainstream news publications (if any). For those of us that have been keeping close tabs on your Substack and who gravitate towards writers like you, my MSM reference, is no big surprise to anyone.
Would you think of travelling to different NBA playoff sites to provide your unique perspective. As a sub..I would be amenable to an increase to defray costs.
Desmond Bane looks like a male Ashley Graham