Re: Antoine and the Boobirds

[bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>]

> From: "pmaurice" <damekmo@teleport.com>
>
> From: Berry, Mark S <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
>
> > Enough buts. Watching him is absolutely exasperating for a basketball
> > purist.
> >
> > Mark
>
> Yeah, I'm a basketball purist too, and I can tell you I'm pissed that
> they're 42-32 and heading into the playoffs. And I'll tell you, I don't 
> know
> how this team's won 42 games with that idiot coach and ball- hogging power
> forward controlling things. Given how stupid O'Brien is and how much 
> control
> Antoine has over everyone on the team you'd think this team would be 1-73.
>  I
> just wish that basketball purist Pitino were still in charge.

Ah, yes, the Great IGTC List Antoine Walker Debate, part 187.

I was also going to respond sarcastically, but Paul M. beat me to it, and 
probably did a better job anyway.  So I guess I'll resign myself to a 
serious response.

I guess we all have an ideal about how the game of basketball ought to be 
played, from growing up and playing the game, to watching various and 
sundry basketball games throughout our lives.  One thing to remember is 
that basketball is a much more organic game than, say, Monopoly or the 
like.  It evolves and changes.  So even if there *was* one, single, "best"
  way to play the game, it would change as the game changed.  Clinging to 
one's idea about how the game ought to be played seems like not being able 
to see the forest for the trees.

Let me be specific (and possible pedantic): the "trees" are the "pure 
basketball game" and the "forest" is the winning record and playoff 
destination of a team that hasn't had either in a long, long time.  Ooops,
  I think I just used the "But, they're winning, aren't they" argument that 
is, surprisingly, shockingly, unconvincing.  I always thought it was about 
winning basketball games, but apparently, to some, it's about the 
aesthetics of the performance.  Perhaps synchronized swimming or figure 
skating is a better choice for those who wish for a more subjective and 
aesthetic criteria to judge success with.

I'll stick with "Games Won".

As for the boobirds: I agree with Jim Hill (perhaps a first, which he can 
probably attest to) that I wish for another way to show displeasure, which 
the fan is entitled to do.  However, as I've said before, booing your home 
team is like crapping in your own living space.  It's not cool.  But fans 
ought to have a forum, or at least a means of voicing displeasure.  
They're consumers, after all.  Showing displeasure at aesthetics (or a 
"lack of purity") when your team is blowing the other team out is pretty 
foolish, though, I think.

Bird