Faith is the Highest Passion

Where do we find meaning? Is it being able to exert grace under pressure? Is it surviving in the face of adversity? Rising above and discovering who lies inside? The NBA playoffs operate on an existential plane. You define yourself. Willis Reed. Jordan over Ehlo. Robert Horry in the last three seconds. Kobe to Shaq. Lebron slays Washington. In the playoffs no player is bound to the constrictions of past humans. No player is bound by the past.

There has been much written and much discussed about the apathy and lethargy of the NBA's regular season. Teams spending time position themselves for Oden and Durant, suspensions, fights, uninspired play. But there has been an equal amount written about how these playoffs will make us all forget about that. That the past has no bearing on the present.

“The self-assured believer is a greater sinner in the eyes of God than the troubled disbeliever”


In the playoffs you got to bear down. Defense wins championships. But there's something about Nash pulling up and hitting that three while the shot clock reads 18. Or Barbosa scorching past Smush for the lay up as the shot clock scrolls from 20 to 19. There's Amare, right where he needs to be with 17 left on the shot clock. They'll play defense another day. Right now, they're busy disproving your antiquated theory.


“There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.”

This is Chris Bosh's chance. He defines himself in this series, if for noother reason than he is facing Vince Carter. No matter how he left Toronto, Carter is the face of the Raptors--it took one slam dunk contest to prove that. But moreso, Carter was the one who took them to the playoffs. It was Carter who had them a shot away from the finals. It wasn't McGrady. It wasn't Doug Christie. Possibly Charles Oakley, possibly. But now Bosh has the chance to have people forget them all. And he knows it. "...[W]hen you have a guy who was pretty much the cornerstone of basketball north of the border.When you thought about the Toronto Raptors, you thought about Vince Carter, the Air Canada thing. It's been about two or three years now and people are still talking about it. That shows how important it was." This is Chris Bosh's chance to put to rest the past and define himself.

"Acting is a question of absorbing other people's personalities and adding some of your own experience."


I will never forget watching UMass-Georgetown in the Elite Eight, when Marcus Camby and Allen Iverson were playing a different game than the eight other people on the court. Now they're teamed up? Yikes. But that was then. There's been a few clicks on the old odometer since. Questions about melting were asked and answered by the media. This group never questioned. They embraced their current existience and went about figuring it out.

“Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.”


From 1990 until this point the only real significance the Warrior had was a guest appearance on an episode Hanging with Mr. Cooper. The one where Mark Curry tries out for the team, only to be stymied by the pranks of Tim Hardaway. Think about that. This was an organization that earlier this decade was composed of Richardson, Arenas, and Jamison. They could have been the evolution of Run TMC. Now though, Stephen Jackson is redeeming himself. Don neslon is adding a new chapter. Monta Ellis is getting his due. no longer do they need to team up with Rodney Peet's wife to get noticed. They don't even need a gun being fired in the air outside of a strip club. All they need now is Andris Biedrins and Baron Davis. The rest is taken care of.

“Pleasure disappoints, possibility never”


Can you imagine this with Steve Francis? It had to be McGrady and Yao didn't it. We waited for three seasons, drooling over the possibility of what could be. But then there were back aches, and knee problems. Now though, not even Bonzi Wells can submarine this. There's a good chance Battier took a charge while you were reading. Steve Novak makes you ask what ever happened to Travis Diener? Yeah, that is Bobby Sura. Injuries are so last year, possibility and potential are giving way to reality

Hell is other people.

I just have this feeling if it was Phoenix versus Kobe, the Lakers would have a better shot of winning.

Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what he could have.



It seems lost in the Suns and the Mavericks' win streaks. Forgotten amongst Bosh and Howard. Michael Finley who? Tell me about Ty Thomas. That's where the Spurs are. Duncan holding three rings, three MVP's, wanting people to remember that he's ready to play. He's bounced Shaq before. He's beaten Dirk. How many titles does Nash have? Didn't he drop Billups and Hamilton? He's ready, and since you don't remember, he doesn't mind reminding you.


Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices.



Not enough has been written about Chris Webber. He has not received enough attention. When we talk about tragic characters his name comes up. But when we talk about villains of the game, shouldn't he be there as well. He was nearly indicted. He destroyed Michigan basketball. He quit playing in Philadelphia and now he has become rejuvenated in Detroit. But that was the past. In the new season, he has the potential to fulfill his homecoming. Caesar crosses the Rubicon. Webber wins a championship for the state of Michigan. Big Ben who?

Life has no meaning the moment you loose the illusion of being eternal.


Fourteen in a row. Eighteen in a row. "To the lose the way they did last year..." For some reason though, I can't stop thinking about Dirk throwing Terry under the bus. The disunity. The kicked weight machine. Is it really theirs to lose?

A Different Kind of Alone

"I mean, damn, I'm doing things in this league nobody else is doing. Come on, now give me my respect. I'm not no big man. I'm a basketball player out here doing things at my size that no one else is doing." --Suns forward Shawn Marion from ":07 Seconds or Less" By Jack McCallum

Marion is unappreciated. He is passed over. He was in Phoenix first. He took the Suns to the playoffs before Nash--averaging in consecutive seasons 17-11, 19-10, 20-9. In the playoffs, he averaged 18-12. The Suns existed before Nash, and they were powered by Marion. But the only glory he received for his labor was an endorsement deal with the Roomstore, where he holds a basketball in front of an incredibly comfortable looking chair.


The unappreciated character is a staple of literature. And the path which the character chooses is usually what drives the plot. Will the unappreciated one take his slight as a personal affront and try to destroy all around him in an act of revenge, or will he suffer silently, all the while exuding an aura of contentment? Shakespeare used this plot device effectively several times, but perhaps no more effectively thant in creating Iago from "Othello" and Cordelia, from "King Lear."


Shawn Marion is no Iago. Sure he possesses the jealousy, but this jealousy has never shown signs of morphing into villainy. Iago was fueled by hatred and effortlessly destroys those around him, paying no thought to the consequences of his actions. Marion has never reached that level. Above most he is devoted to the team, although he is not the face of the franchise, he has never tried to bring down the team in revenge for his slight. Although such action is not uncommon in the League.

In the NBA, the role of Iago has already been cast.
In contrast, Marion exudes many of the characteristics which make Cordelia an unappreciated hero in King Lear. Cordelia is a paragon of devotion and honesty, but nevertheless is passed over and exiled. In the face of adversity and this banishment, Cordelia is still devoted, never stooping to the level of her sisters.

Marion's "banishment" is not nearly as drastic as Cordelia. Marion is still in Nike commercials, he still is an All-Star, and even has represented the country in the olympics, but at the same time if you asked someone to name three Phoenix Suns, Marion would not be in the top two (and maybe not even the top three, if you were talking to someone from France, or a fan of Nebraska basketball and Eric Piatowski.) Yet Marion is still devoted to the team despite the "cruelty" of the fans and the public relations staff. So he still scores 30 points, like against Denver last week, but in the backdrop there is still that slight, personified in his comments about his teammates finally getting him involved.

Marion skills make him one of the most valuable and talented players in the NBA. But while he has always been devoted to the Phoenix Suns organization, the more and more his feeling of inappreciativeness fester, the more and more the possibility or demand of a trade becomes. Since Marion would rather leave paradise then destroy it.

Traditional Roles

photo from: http://korkos.club.fr/wood-01grand.jpg

In comparison to the 1996 NBA Draft, the 1997 Draft was a paragon of paucity. The '96 Draft featured five players who were all-stars this year, ten of the first seventeen picks still start in the League, two players have won MVPs, and eight were parts of NBA championship teams. In comparison, the '97 Draft produced three superstars (Duncan, McGrady, and Billups), and a multitude of role and complimentary players in addition to several European and CBA caliber players.

photo from: http://www.12-6curve.net/duncan/main.jpg

Of the three stars in the that draft, Duncan's has always shone the brightest. Rookie of the Year, Two time MVP, three time Finals MVP, Duncan has exuded quality throughout his career, averaging 22-12. But Duncan lacks "something." In this year's all-star game ten players gained more votes than Duncan, in 2006, he had the lowest vote total among the other All-Star starters. In 2005, he had the lowest vote total of the Western starters. In 2004, he finished sixth overall, in 2003, fourth among Western starters. In 2001, he was again sixth among all starters in votes received and in 2000, he was seventh. The point being that Duncan, who has been an all-star every year he has been in the league, a playher who has garned numerous NBA and collegiate awards, has never has been the fans' top vote getter. Do people not relate?

Known as "The Big Fundamental," Duncan has evolved into a bigger, more agile version of Geroge Mikan, his serene visage belying the ferocity of his play. But it is his dedication to the basics that has impeded him from being accepted by the casual fan. Even in NBA Street vol. 2, while McGrady kicks a bounce pass off Yao's head before throwing it down, Duncan methodically accepts the entry pass from Tony Parker before kissing it off the glass. We see Tim Duncan's flawlesss fundamentals, and we refuse to be impressed. His style of play reminds us of poorly ventilatd Church gyms, and two handed jump shots which start at the chest. We beleive that with a little practice and five to six inches, we could master the exact same style of play. But we are positive we could not do what Carter can, or McGrady. We are in awe when Kobe explodes for 81, our jaws drop when Arenas "hibaychis" his way to 50. And so even though Duncan will occassionaly go for a double take 40-20, it is not novel enough for us. We expect him to get his points and dominate the low post, so that when he does, we are disappointed that he merely met our expectations and didn't exceed them.

Duncan also has the distinction of being one of the few players to play four years in college, making him one of the League's elder statesmen. So perhaps, Duncan does more than merely define the traditional role of the dominant low post player, perhaps instead Duncan is the bridge of the League. He is too young to be a part of the "First Coming" of Bird, Magic, Jordan, Isaiah, Ewing, and Barkley, and too old to be a part of the "Second Coming" of Lebron, Carmelo, Wade, Bosh, Howard and Amare, instead he is the bridge between the two. Duncan is the son of then and the father of now.

photo from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stilllife_hermitage.jpg

From Chaos

photo from: http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/goldslide/school_athens.jpg

"That which is conceived by opinion with the help of sensation and without reason, is always in a process of becoming and perishing and never really is."--Plato, Timaeus

Modern sport exists because of the path blazed by those who no longer play. In order to sustain public attention, sports need iconic figures that capture the imagination of the nation. They long for players who grace the covers of TIME and Newsweek. They yearn for hosts of Saturday Night Live. They thrive on identies that are so transcendant that they cannot be contained by a single forum. Anecdotes of mythic proportion need to sprout around them.

Baseball has been the preminent purveyor of this attitude over the years. McGwire, Sosa, and Ripken chased the essence of players long deceased, hoping to unleash a sense of nostalgia that would reignite interest. The NFL cycles through mixtures of Horatio Alger stories and Herculean feats of strength that both personify and inspire awe in their product.


photo from: http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/8/k/d/SamuelAnointsSaul1.jpg

But while baseball and football have been able to implement the genius of Eli Whitney into their leagues with ease, the NBA has always struggled in trying to replace a person instead of an idea. In the decade that followed his retirement, the NBA embarked on an Odysseus like journey searching for the "next" Jordan. But like Israel in the Old Testament, the NBA relied on sense alone to anoint their king. Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, all fit the mold of the next Jordan, but there was little more than aesthetics to why. Each player was always on the verge of becoming the next Jordan, but no player reached the zenith. This futile search though has led the NBA to modify the way they market themselves: To succeed their must be harmony in proportion.

The part is always imperfect to the whole. Lebron does not exist without Carmelo, Dwayne, and Bosh. Durant will always be paired with Oden. The Pistons are an incomplete entity without all five players. So instead of the disorder that arises out of attempting to find the "next Jordan," the NBA has made their "Second Coming" full of order by replacing Jordan with not one but ten. Instead of finding one player to remind fans of Jordan, the League rests its hope on a group to generate the mathleticism, marketability, and swagger, that Jordan provided for fifteen years We both step and do not step in the same rivers.


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