NBA WON’T STICK TO SPORTS
And they shouldn’t have to for sports to be played
It was March 11, a Wednesday. The last time an NBA regular-season game was played.
A lot has changed in 20 weeks plus one day.
When the NBA resumes tonight, eight teams have been eliminated. Nine in the Eastern Conference will play on, and 13 from the Western Conference will play musical chairs for the last playoff spots. Each team will cram in eight games over the next couple of weeks to sort out the final groups, all playing on courts at Walt Disney World in Orlando with team coaches, a handful of staff, officiating and broadcast crews, and a few reporters. There are no fans allowed. The players aren’t supposed to leave the so-called “bubble.”
And the court bears the words “Black Lives Matter.” Celtics players will have jerseys with social justice messages such as “Enough,” “Freedom,” and “Equality.”
And while the NBA has had a rule in place for decades requiring players to stand for the national anthem, there’s a 100% chance that players would kneel during the anthem.
That’s going to be enough to irritate some people, and inspire others.
Suggestion: Don’t play the anthem. Short-circuit this move.
Besides, it’s Patriotism Theatre anyway. If the national anthem was so important it needed to be played before games, then let’s play it before you start your workday. Or go to get a haircut or buy a coffee. Or before movies or TV shows. Ridiculous, right? Playing the national anthem before sporting events doesn’t make you any more of a supporter of America any more than going to a house of worship makes you holy. It’s how you live that demonstrates your patriotism, or your faith.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a different world from the one last seen 141 days ago, when the sudden cancellation of a game in Oklahoma City minutes before tipoff between the Thunder and the Utah Jazz portended a broad shutdown of not just the NBA, but all sports, and a large part of the country.
The U.S. had lost 38 people to the coronavirus by March 11.
More than 152,000 Americans have died since. More still will.
Into this mix, here comes the NBA. The platform used by the players is their right … it’s the very First Amendment.
But most of us just want to see the games.
We’re worn out. Worn out from being stuck inside. (Think of the scene from “Step Brothers”: “This house is a (bleeping) prison!”) Worn out from losing jobs. Worn out from fears of getting sick. Worn out from being afraid of dying. Worn out from wearing masks. Worn out from political infighting and polarization. Worn out. Worn. Out.
Washington Nationals closer Sean Doolittle has used the phrase “Sports is the reward for a functioning society.” Our society has been dysfunctional pretty much from the get-go. That’s actually the beautiful mess that is the American Experiment. It used to be we’d have disagreements and then at the end of the day we’d still realize we both wanted the same thing, we just had different ideas how to get there. And that was OK. It was like fighting with your brother. My brother Curtis was always wrong when we had an argument, but I still loved him at the end of the day.
Ideally, sports allows us to put all our squabbles aside for a while. You hate one side. They hate the other.
But we all love the same team. Or at least the game. And when the game starts, we’re not thinking about whether or not Marcus Smart should be demanding justice for Breonna Taylor. We’re thinking, I hope he can slow down Ben Simmons, and I hope his shot is on. It’s a chance to take a break from … all “this.”
In other words, we need it. And given what looks to be the failure of MLB — and the success of the NBA’s bubble idea, where on Wednesday the league and the players association announced there have been ZERO positive virus tests of 344 players since July 20 — the NBA right now is our best bet to get through this.
Naturally, that could all change. Baseball is in trouble. The NFL might be. The NHL is about to find out. And the virus rages on.
But tonight at 6:30 p.m. the games resume. Friday at 6:30 p.m., the Celtics get back to it. And in less than three weeks, we’ll have playoffs. Let’s go.