A Sociologist Embraces Basketball

When I moved to LA, 6 years past, I told a friend I would start to watch basketball again, but I would never wash my car.

My vision was: LA as a smog pit/ bright light for the globalized moths of the world, community so diffuse that the Lakers and cars were the common parlance, the coin of the realm, the tendons of the dream.

My idea was to embrace one and villify the other.

It wasn't a bad choice- as a former Seattlite, I valued clean rain, green wilderness, waterproof clothing, heathly outdoor activities (yeah, like walking, biking, hiking, swimming), salmon, and the Sonics. Durant and Green, Payton and Kemp, the X man, Tom Chambers, Dale Ellis, and Derrick McKey, even Dana Barros for a season.

In sum, I had a natural affinity for "sustainable living", (LA is about as sustainable as a Sahara fish farm) and a love of the athletic grace of hoops.

Additionally, all that Sonic love was now being bought out by some Oklahoman oil magnate. Didn't hurt either when Pau Gasol suddenly dropped into the Laker's laps and Kobe stopped crying long enough to get the Lakers into the Finals against another re-vamped team- the Celtics.

To add to my Laker's resume,  I was born in LA during the Kareem Abdul Jabbar/ Norm Nixon era. I sat at some playoff games with my dad, when Bird and Magic went at it. I remember wondering how in the hell the Lakers got the number one pick to get James Worthy, and even trade for Byron Scott? Was anybody trying to compete with this team?

Back to the topic-

I relate all this to say I surprise myself with how much I've stuck to that original statement. I've washed my car, once. It's a pigsty. I don't care. It drives. No one breaks into it. It's got 6 month old birdshit plastered on the hood. People don't ask me for a ride- makes life convenient.

And as far as B-ball. Now , I play every week. I coach kid's bball- I've even been asked to start an AAU team- but who has the time for that?

I still read the news every day- but it used to be about cultural assimilation stories, impact of economic change on culture. Now, I look up future NBA prospects in my free time. I enjoy knowing the name of Tiago Splitter, and wondering what impact he could have on The Spurs. I wait with baited breath for news on Patty Mills, knowing that when he and Bayless finally run the Blazers second unit, they will be a frenzy of steals, dunks, and fast breaks that will help lift the Blazers to new heights.

If I could, I would watch D-League games, summer league games, and definitely European league games. I know the names of the best bball columnists- Ford, Adande, Dwyer, d'Allesando. There are others. I read their stuff daily. I find myself debating their opinions. Agreeing, disagreeing- I see how entire worldviews get squeezed into one's approach to basketball, and I want to bring some noise too.

It surprises me, that all this has happened, as it also represents how living in a morass of concrete and traffic, and overpriced shit makes one turn to entertainment for not only a small bit of distraction, but a small bit of morality, of values, of greatness.