I'm All in for a Professional Game of HORSE
/We are now over a month without sports, and I know a good amount of people are trying to figure something out right now. I read that baseball is looking into playing, at least the first part of the season, all their games in Arizona, or at minor league parks. The NFL and college football is hoping they can start practices in July or August, which is a big time hope. And the NBA seems to be doing anything and everything they can to try and at least have some kind of playoff or tournament.
Personally, I think all these leagues should be extra, extra cautious, and only play when it’s 100 percent safe. But, and I want to give Adam Silver and the people that work for him a ton of credit, they’re doing everything they can to keep people interested, reading and trying to watch something. They did that thing a week ago where they had NBA players play each other in NBA2K, and it was fun. Hell, I would’ve watched anything at that point, but it definitely scratched an itch. I saw these guys “competing”. I saw them trash talking. I saw them trying their best to win. I saw the competitive nature that I have been really craving and really missing. And now the NBA has this wonderful idea, that is going to happen, where they’re going to have current players, WNBA players and former players play each other in a tournament version of the game HORSE.
For those that may not know, HORSE is a game where one person makes a shot, and the person after them has to make the shot, or they get a letter. The first person to get HORSE loses the game. The winner is the person with less letters. This is a game that I’ve played ever since I picked up a ball. I’ve done it with friends, during practice, at basketball camps, anywhere there’s a hoop, and we want to get some trick shots up, we played HORSE. So, the fact that former and current professional basketball players are going to do this tournament style, and they’re going to air it, you better believe I’m going to watch it, and I’m going to LOVE it. I’m not sure about all the participants, but I know guys like Trae Young, Chris Paul and Zach Lavine are going to do it. Imagine how insane some of these shots are going to be! It’s going to be crazy. These guys have dedicated their lives to basketball, and practice their craft endlessly. I’ve seen a ton of videos, and live at games, NBA players, not well known players, who make ridiculously hard shots. Shots that would take me hundreds of tries to even get close to making. CP3 is going to do some wild mid range stuff. Trae Young may pull up from 3/4 court regularly. Zach Lavine has turned into a solid shooter, but he’s such a phenomenal leaper, I’d love to see him do some wild 360 layups, or jump from the free throw line and do a reverse layup or something. All the other participants are pros as well, so you know they’re going to bring it. I also think, with the lack of games and competition, that the players involved are going to take it very seriously, and I love it. It was great to watch the All Star game ending because it mattered. I feel like this game of HORSE is going to bring out a similar intensity. I’m not sure how it will be done, if the people involved are quarantined together, or if they’re going to do it from their home gyms or something. But, I have to assume the powers that be have that all figured out, and this is going to kick so much ass.
I never thought in a million years I’d be excited to watch a game of HORSE, but that’s the world we live in for the moment. This is so awesome. Thank you NBA for this. This makes me love this league more than I thought possible. I’m so stoked.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.
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