Ty Kinda Watches the NBA All Star Weekend
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NBA all star weekend was this past weekend. I love the NBA. It is the best professional sports league in my opinion and they do the most for player empowerment. Besides college football, basketball, mainly the NBA, is my next favorite sport to watch.
For the past few years I have been really glued to the TV for all star weekend. I love the camaraderie, the spectacle, the events and, for the most part, the game. The three point contest has become the best event for me to watch, but some of the other stuff is cool too. Even with the dunk contest being kind of blah, there have been one or two that have been solid. And this new skills thing is very cool. I enjoy that very much.
I also think, due to the pandemic, that I am prone to be home more on the weekend. That gives me a reason to sit back and watch. Basketball has also been a stress reliever for me since the pandemic started. I can get lost in the action and not think about COVID or the awfulness that happens every day. But this year has been different for me. I go out a little more than I have since 2020. I have gone back to a few concerts. I have been to a couple NBA games. I have seen some movies in the theaters. I have even gone to a restaurant to have a meal inside occasionally.
Point is, I was not as attentive to all star weekend as I have been in the past. I did watch some of it, but other things and more important people got in the way. And I am happy about that. I did not watch a second of the Friday night stuff. I usually skip this anyway. I'm not interested in the celebrity game or the open practices that they broadcast live. That stuff is boring to me. Even when I am familiar with some of the celebs, that game is not watchable. And I do not know who a lot of the current celebrities even are anymore. I'm officially old. I do like to tune in to the Saturday night festivities. This is when they do the skills challenge, the three point contest and the dunk contest. This year I only saw the final round of the dunk contest. My son had an 8pm game and I coach his team. I also forgot that the skills stuff starts at 7, but we were out the door by 7:15 anyway. So I missed the entirety of the skills and three point contest. I did get a notification that Dame won the 3 point contest, which is dope, but it wasn't until Sunday morning when I saw the Jazz were the skills champs. I didn't even bother to look at highlights of either as well. We missed the first two rounds of the dunk contest and it was mere coincidence that we watched the final round. My son got cleaned up and asked if he could watch the dunk contest before he went to bed. I said yeah and told him I'd watch with him. I don't even remember who Mac McClung went up against, I think it was Trey Murphy, but that final round for McClung was dope. I was highly skeptical of him being in the field, but he showed out and did some cool stuff. That 540, or maybe 720 dunk was incredible. I was in awe just like all the NBA players watching courtside. He earned that dunk title and the mythology around his leaping ability was answered on Saturday night.
Sunday is the game and I usually tune in for at least a half. I love the Elam ending, so I always want to watch that. And my son and I watched the whole draft before the game. I love this new format. I like how they switched it to be like you are on the playground. I have to imagine it is so much fun for these superstars to do something like this. It has to make them feel like a kid again. And you could see how cool Giannis and LeBron thought it was to pick their players live. And to see the guys waiting to be picked was cool too. It was neat to see them get their team jersey and take their picture in that same exact moment. This is one of the many things I love about the NBA, their willingness to try something different. I was all about the draft and figured we'd watch a bit. But it was dinner time right after that. Sunday night we turn off the TV and eat at the table. Last night was no different. My son said something about watching after dinner and we both agreed we would, but we forgot, and I did not mind forgetting. The all star game is devoid of defense anyway until the end and it is a glorified dunk contest. I like how high scoring it gets, but it also does get a bit boring after a few minutes. So after dinner my son went downstairs and my wife and I watched other shows. I basically forgot the game was on. My son watched for a bit but he too came upstairs and said the game was kind of boring. He hung out with us until he went to bed. And I never turned the game on. I went to bed and fell asleep, totally forgetting about the all star game. I woke up and watched highlights and saw that Jayson Tatum put up incredible numbers and was the well deserved MVP, Tatum is so great at basketball, but I have no real urge to go back and watch. My son recorded it and watched a bit this morning before turning it off and playing NBA 2k instead.
I guess it is good that I am getting back out into the world and sports isn't the end all be all it was before, but I am kind of kicking myself for not tuning in too much this weekend. My love for basketball is still alive and well, but maybe my love for all star weekend is fading a bit, and that is okay. But believe me, I will be tuning into the second half of the season because we are down to the nitty gritty and it is going to be a fun push to the playoffs. That I will most definitely be watching.
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.