From the time I saw my first NBA basketball game as a young lad over 35 years ago, I’ve been in love with the game of basketball – and the NBA in particular.
From the pre-Larry Bird Boston Celtics days of Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White and Charlie Scott to the more well-known Showtime Lakers, the NBA has always held a special place in my heart – until recently that is!
While I haven’t completely turned my back on the NBA in the last few seasons – and ran around acting like a brand new papa when the Celtics won it all back in 2008 – I have also become a lot more jaded, skeptical and downright offended by both, the on-court and off-court actions of many of today’s foolish players.
To be brutally honest about it, I think the majority of today’s disrespectful and unappreciative NBA players aren’t worth half of the money they’re ‘earning,’ particularly seeing as how the majority of American residents are just trying to cope on a weekly basis.
I mean, it’s kind of hard to be an NBA fan these last few years watching multi-millionaire athletes run around without a care in the world – or the morals to match – while complaining about everything under the sun.
As I recently said to my 28-year-old NBA-loving son George, how do you feel knowing there’s some 28-year-old NBA wanna’ be superstar making millions of dollars running around crying about being ‘underpaid and underappreciated’ while you work your fingers to the nub each and every day in an effort to support yourself and your family?
Needless to say, when my vastly knowledgeable offspring thought about what I was saying, he too felt a massive pang of disgust toward NBA players everywhere sweep over him as well.
This reason, above all others, tops my list of reasons why I am with the owners on the current NBA lockout. Simply put, I find it far too hard to root for many of today’s ‘jackass’ players to get more of the golden goose they’ve been living high on the hog off of for far too long.
I mean, I’m finding it really hard to root for many of today’s me-first, idiotic millionaire players, no matter how athletically-gifted they are (do you hear me LeBron). One of the things that bothers me most about many of today’s players is how they often act like the world owes them something for their respective athletic prowess, when in reality, the exact opposite is true.
Any professional athlete, not just NBA players, should be thanking their lucky stars – and the devoted fans that pay their salaries – that they are fortunate enough to play in the era they currently do and make the money they’re making.
To be honest about the situation, it actually pisses me off that idiots like the self-proclaimed ‘King James’ and players of a like mind, run around talking about what they’re going to do and how many championships they’re going to win, when the fact of the matter is that the majority of them couldn’t hold the jockstraps of many of the league’s past superstars that made nowhere near the money these guys are making.
Really, it’s a damn shame that character guys like Bill Russell had to enter arenas and hotels through back doors while playing for virtually peanuts, while players like James – and former NBA elite jackass Allen Iverson – enjoy the comforts of being grossly overpaid and pampered.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of NBA players that deserve every penny they’re getting – and some that deserve more, but those players (Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett) are few and far in between and in reality, dwarfed by their less appreciative brethren.
This is why I’m on the side of the owners during the NBA lockout – or maybe you like rooting for whiny, overpaid, overbearing athletes like many of today’s NBA players.