Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Why we don't appreciate the Spurs

American Idol  21.5 million viewers.
Mad Men season premiere 3.5 million viewers
Jersey Shore ratings 6.6 million viewers
Breaking bad 2.9 million viewers.



We enjoy simple narratives.(which explains Skip Bayless) Most of life is complex, your boss sucks , your wife won't put out, your husband is lazy, kids are rebellious. As culture we put pressure on ourselves to achieve, when we get home we want an escape, to be entertained, we certainly don't want to think.  Watching TV is perhaps the most passive action one can participate in,turn on the boob tube and shut out the world. We’ve shut the Spurs out.

On the surface the Spurs should be the toast of the league, four rings, their own big three, for god sake Tony Parker was married to Eva Longoria. What’s that you say? They are boring? Aren’t the Patriots boring? When’s the last time one of the Patriots gave an entertaining and engaging answer to a question? Is there a difference between Popovich and  Belichick,Brady and Duncan?

 Basketball and football are team sports but we've always winked at the notion that basketball is a team sport, only in basketball do we talk of stars and supporting casts or as Shaq calls them “others”. When we talk about the history of football we talk about great franchises first, then we get to the players, we when talk basketball when talk top ten players. Basketball is a sport that rewards individual creative expression, in football it's punished. We love Magic’s smile, Bird’s craftiness and Jordan's improvisation.
We love stars. 
Why do we love them? Because they provide drama, we develop an emotional connection to them and then we live vicariously through their every up and down. The Spurs don't give us anything, each man carries the party line with the discipline of a political operative. The result is a team that everyone knows is good but no one cares about. They are an indy film, critics love them but we want to see the Avengers. 

In the end too appreciate the Spurs you have to appreciate subtlety, nuance and substance, admittedly that's not something our populace is very good at. 


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