2.16.2010

My Wife On Sports

My lovely bride was flicking through the channels tonight while the Olympics were in commercial or something. She stopped at WGN out of Chicago which was showing the NBA game between the hometown Bulls and the New York Knicks.

About 30 seconds into it she said, "Why don't I take this seriously? Major League Baseball I do and pro football I do. But not pro basketball."

Her comment is almost a straight line, but it's all too true. I'm a sports fan and I don't take the NBA all that seriously. I think it's just a notch above pro wrestling.

1 comment:

Bob Wingate said...

Add me to the list, I really have a hard time equating pro basketball with pro football or major league baseball. I read your post last night, and I couldn't come up with a reason I feel the same way.

Is it the antics of the NBA players? I doubt it makes that much of a difference, both the NFL and MLB have had their share of kooks mixed in with the more honorable men. Is it just the comparative bigness of the other two sports...the huge stadiums, expensive TV contracts, etc?

This morning I had another idea, see what you think of it.

Basketball was developed by James Naismith to give his physical education students needed activity on cold, rainy New England (Massachusetts?) days.

My theory is that it has never been able to "divorce itself" from the image of being just a school / college sport. Yes, grown men play it, but somehow you don't get quite the sense that it's a job. In contrast, the NFL and MLB do seem to be occupations.

And yes, it's only a working theory. I'm fully prepared to have it proven wrong.