Still Hungover

Ten years later and I’m still hungover. This is a bad one. I mean, this hangover came from a party that makes a John Daly all-nighter look like an “AA” meeting. Coffee, aspirin and Kevin Costner-esque standing-on-my-head routine have not worked. And it only got worst last week.
When the greatest rivalry renewed earlier this month, everyone was ready to live-up the old days of the NBA. Yawn. I wasn’t around back in those days but I don’t think the 2008 edition of the Boston Celtics or L.A. Lakers could have hanged with the storied sides of those two teams back in the 60s, 70s and 80s while taking IATT into account (inflation of athletic talent and technology). The Lakers were a bunch of sissy foreign ninnies who are polluting the NBA with too much finesse and soccer-like play acting. And their there where those two American ninnies in Lamar Odom and Luke Walton and their (fearless leader?) Kobe Bryant. The Celtics were ridiculously inconsistent and benefited from subpar competition to make up for their drastic up and down play. I was very happy to see Garnett, Pierce and Allen get their ring. Their years of struggle were finally rewarded but their ability to step up their game to provide a killer blow would have cost them in any other conference in any other decade. So watching these two teams desperately trying, and failing, to live up to past glories only deepened my hangover.
It has now been ten years and I have still not recovered. 10 years since we saw the greatest one wear red and black, hit game winning-jumpers and simply be the best player on the court. Michael Jordan single-handily developed my love for the NBA and single-handily caused me to view the NBA with apathy. It was ten years ago he hit that shot against the Jazz to win his sixth championship in eight years and I still remember sitting on my living room floor thinking “he’ going to shoot and make this, he’s going to shoot and make this, he just made it.” How I wish and I could travel back in time and live in that moment. I have missed it; the association just hasn’t been the same since he left.
Others have come along and tried to replace him. There was Bryant, he’s good. But he did have MJ’s coach and Shaq. The closest Jordan ever had to center were those goofy-looking white guys Bill Wedington and Luc Longley. Plus I doubt Jordan’s will to win would ever have let him get humiliated in an elimination game like the Boston clincher. It really is Kobe’s own fault. He had the best big man and coach of the generation and ran both of them off. Just learn to play nice Kobe.
He was followed by Traci McGrady, Baron Davis and Gilbert Arenas. Those guys brought more drama than a MTV reality show. Dwayne Wade seems like a likeable guy but his championship came via a Dallas suicide and he also had a certain aforementioned center. The Spurs and the Pistons have put together superb sides but have never defended a title and never had a player to capture our hearts and minds. Lebron James was then supposed to be the “Next One.” He has the charisma, the talent and all that stuff. He had a Herculean effort against Detroit last year in the Eastern Finals that showed he could come up big in big games but has yet to perfect his all-around game that has kept from reaching new levels. Check back with me in another ten years to hear my verdict on him.
It has been a tough recovery. A decade on and I’m still wandering in the wilderness looking for my savior. For this columnist he may never come. They say you never forget your first love. My first love left when I was 12 years old the NBA hasn’t been the same since.