Walk around Los Angeles over the weekend and you would find an inordinate amount of Kobe Bryant jerseys. Its obvious many of the people are wearing them in support of the Lakers playing in the Finals but what isn't so obvious is why they chose to wear Bryant's jersey over many other more likable Laker's jerseys. Magic, Worthy, Divac, West, Baylor, Van Exel, AC Green, Karl Malone, Mark Madsen, Irwin M Fletcher or even Kurt Rambis. I'd even settle for someone slicking their hair back with Riley Grease of donning some of Jack's amber tinted sunglasses. So why does the majority chose a Kobe jersey over anyone else? Its because he is the best. The debate about whether or not he is the best player in the league is still open, but he is clearly the best player on the Lakers even though he is the least likable. Pau-bacca gives him a run for his money at times, but those are few and far between.
Come with me for a moment as we shift away from the hardwood and put on the headphones. The reason I'd like to explore the topic of best vs favorite isn't another ridiculous Kobe Bryant debate. It has to do with music. Specifically Josh Ritter.
The best song on the newest Josh Ritter album, So Runs The World Away, is undoubtedly The Curse. The lyrics show an acute attention to detail and are constantly folding back on themselves making the song deep and rich. The waltz piano places the story in a time where people who fell in love had a penchant for dancing. The story is unique, unforgettable and timeless. Everything about the song elevates it above the other songs on the album. Yet its not my favorite song, and maybe not even top 3 on that album. (Lantern, Change of Time and Folk Bloodbath are its fiercest competition) So why don't I like the best song on the album? Its nothing personal nor is it a personality trait where I have the undying need to always dislike the best. The Curse just doesn't connect with me like the other aforementioned songs. I can clearly see why it is the best song, but that isn't enough for me. Just like knowing who the best player is doesn't make me join his leagues of fans.
I'm not comparing The Curse to Kobe Bryant. I would never do that to anyone or anything since Kobe has no equal when it comes to loathsomeness. But its an easy, relatable example and I had to tie this back into the NBA Finals somehow. We are a music/sports blog after all and have failed to mention even once that the Lakers and Celtics are playing for all the marbles.
The thing about wearing the best player's jersey or even rooting for the best player, is that often it is the easiest. Its the easiest jersey to find, you know more about that player than any other, you are force fed their highlight reels. This is not always the case with the best songs, unless you stick to top 40 radio. This is also not the case with The Curse. Nobody is making it any easier or harder to like it. It comes down to my own personal choice and preference. It comes down to me choosing my favorites instead of making the best a part of them, and not confusing them.
Clearly this is an issue throughout sports and music. Just look at all the people on the Rajon Rondo bandwagon now. Not that he hasn't had some great moments in the playoffs but are we really forgetting about Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Steve Nash and Derek Fisher that quickly? (one of those is a joke...I'll let you decide) There is no way any of those guys no show in game 1 the way Rondo did. I do think Rondo was one of the funnest games in the NBA and i prefer watching him over a lot of those other guards, but in no way do I think he is the absolute best.
I'm going to start using the word favorite a little bit more and the word best a lot less, and I hope you do too.
Showing posts with label Rajon Rondo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rajon Rondo. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
"Its More Engaging When You Don't Know"
The National's Matt Berninger tried to describe the lyrics to "Bloodbuzz Ohio" in a veiled string of words and then ended it with, "Its more engaging when you don't know." That really sums up my draw to The National and more specifically, his lyrics. The same can be said about most of my favorite things, I like not knowing exactly what the intent is. I like having the space to fill in the blanks.
Nothing kills a movie for me like seeing 5 different trailers, each one getting increasingly more revelatory about the plot and showing "all the good parts". You could get me to see just about anything, or at least be excited about seeing it, by not showing me much more than the name of the film and some shots of each actor in the movie. Beyond that, you're giving me too much information and my interest wanes. Again, its more interesting to watch it unfold.
The same goes for sports. If I have a game on the DVR and I mistakenly catch the score before I've seen the whole game, I won't even bother. Its not that I don't want to watch the game, but it takes away my main motivation for watching; answering the question of who is going to win. The NBA Playoffs this year have been surprisingly entertaining. Sure there have been plenty of no-shows and series sweeps, but that is going to happen and even some of those series were entertaining (Phoenix/San Antonio).
I've enjoyed the suspense of the games, but I haven't enjoyed the hyperbole surrounding the cast of characters involved. THis goes back to the need to not know. Every announcer, writer, analyst and goofy-dressed reporter has used up their lifetime allotment of exaggeration in this playoffs alone. Rajon Rondo is the best point guard in the game. Rondo made the greatest play in Celtics' history. No he isn't and no he didn't. But does he have at least 3 exciting plays a game? Yes. Can't we just leave his place in history undefined until he strings together a couple seasons, yes I said SEASONS, full of the play we've seen from him recently? LeBron James is the greatest athlete in the history of the game. Wherever LeBron goes will turn that franchise around. You have to say something nice about Early Exit LeBron but both those comments are way off base. Great Athlete? Yes. Franchise Player? Yes. Beyond that? Lets leave it open for debate. Don't just sling hyperbole for the sake of needing to say something. The list goes on and on. Pau Gasol, best bigman in the game. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, best young tandem to team up with. Knicks, best opportunity to become a legend.
Say anything like this, and I'm immediately disengaged. I'd rather wonder how good someone can become and how good they are than see them ranked "all-time". I'd rather hear the questions than the answers, and don't think I'm alone.
Nothing kills a movie for me like seeing 5 different trailers, each one getting increasingly more revelatory about the plot and showing "all the good parts". You could get me to see just about anything, or at least be excited about seeing it, by not showing me much more than the name of the film and some shots of each actor in the movie. Beyond that, you're giving me too much information and my interest wanes. Again, its more interesting to watch it unfold.
The same goes for sports. If I have a game on the DVR and I mistakenly catch the score before I've seen the whole game, I won't even bother. Its not that I don't want to watch the game, but it takes away my main motivation for watching; answering the question of who is going to win. The NBA Playoffs this year have been surprisingly entertaining. Sure there have been plenty of no-shows and series sweeps, but that is going to happen and even some of those series were entertaining (Phoenix/San Antonio).
I've enjoyed the suspense of the games, but I haven't enjoyed the hyperbole surrounding the cast of characters involved. THis goes back to the need to not know. Every announcer, writer, analyst and goofy-dressed reporter has used up their lifetime allotment of exaggeration in this playoffs alone. Rajon Rondo is the best point guard in the game. Rondo made the greatest play in Celtics' history. No he isn't and no he didn't. But does he have at least 3 exciting plays a game? Yes. Can't we just leave his place in history undefined until he strings together a couple seasons, yes I said SEASONS, full of the play we've seen from him recently? LeBron James is the greatest athlete in the history of the game. Wherever LeBron goes will turn that franchise around. You have to say something nice about Early Exit LeBron but both those comments are way off base. Great Athlete? Yes. Franchise Player? Yes. Beyond that? Lets leave it open for debate. Don't just sling hyperbole for the sake of needing to say something. The list goes on and on. Pau Gasol, best bigman in the game. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, best young tandem to team up with. Knicks, best opportunity to become a legend.
Say anything like this, and I'm immediately disengaged. I'd rather wonder how good someone can become and how good they are than see them ranked "all-time". I'd rather hear the questions than the answers, and don't think I'm alone.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Playoff Musings part vi
THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS
Yes, you probably already knew all this. But it's news to me.
RAJON RONDO IS FOR REALSIES.
Fa'real. In my defense, reading Bill Simmons' columns (and I do, with a religious fervor somewhere between Footloose John Lithgow and Holiday Catholic) is like listening to Al Franken talk about the democratic party. Or, better, Greg Kot talk about Wilco. Not exactly fair and balanced. So, when I read Simmons' usual raves about his beloved C's and the potential greatness of Rondo, I was a little skeptical. But I repent because, to quote Dire Straits, "Oh yeah, the boy can play." The PG position is in good hands for the next 10 years: Rondo, D-Will, CP3, Derrick Rose, Jordan Farmar...
THE LAKERS ARE FLAWED.
Fa'lawed. The best team in the league squandered leads to the 8th-seeded, limping, in-fighting Utah Jazz. In every game. The flaws I saw: 1) The killer instinct- seen in teams like the Every Other Year Spurs, Larry's Celtics, Jordan's Bulls- is not there. 2) Bynum is not the new Kareem. He is streaky and prone to disappearing acts. 3) Their defense is spotty. It can be very good, but they just wanted to outscore the Jazz (which they did). And 4) Kobe is a mammoth douche. An unstoppable mammoth douche (seriously, Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko played admirably but Kobe's arsenal of Shots To Counter Tight Defense is the real deal), but a mammoth douche nonetheless. Laker apologists claim that the team's just "getting its playoff legs." Whatever helps you sleep. Go Cavs.
I DON'T WANT BEN GORDON ON MY TEAM
The way he talked about his game-changing shots was so narcissistic and clearly "Hey, media, this ain't only the Derrick Rose show" as to be completely off-putting. Contrast it to Derrick Rose's humble, unassuming appoach and it puts off all the more. Then after the big 2OT win, rather than say, "WE came together" he said (paraphrase alert), 'I told the guys, we're through playing. Let's go get this. And they responded to me.'" What a desperate grab for the public perception of Who Leads The Bulls. Also, he grabbed his crotch, just like classic MJ would've. Oh wait.
TEAMS WILL BLOW UP OR FANS WON'T SHOW UP.
The Pistons and the Jazz, in particular, have to shake things up or- in this economic climate- ticket sales will dive like a barely-pre-stitches Greg Louganis. This is not the economic climate to test your diehards. If you look, in particular, at Game 5 of Jazz/Lakers, it became painfully apparent who wasn't wondering if their travel agent could bump their flight up a couple days.
CHAUNCEY IS THE CURE FOR CANCER
Tell the teams upon teams of medical researchers to stop their studies. The Denver Thuggets, just a year after disappointing all of Colorado, most of Wyoming, and at least half of George Karl, are playing killer basketball. They DESTROYED a team led by "the best PG in the game" by more than FIFTY POINTS. How does a playoff team get pulp-beaten by another playoff team to that demoralizing degree? Like his old buddy KG before him, Chauncey Billups changed the atmosphere in the mile high locker room. He is the anti-cancer.
Yes, you probably already knew all this. But it's news to me.
RAJON RONDO IS FOR REALSIES.
Fa'real. In my defense, reading Bill Simmons' columns (and I do, with a religious fervor somewhere between Footloose John Lithgow and Holiday Catholic) is like listening to Al Franken talk about the democratic party. Or, better, Greg Kot talk about Wilco. Not exactly fair and balanced. So, when I read Simmons' usual raves about his beloved C's and the potential greatness of Rondo, I was a little skeptical. But I repent because, to quote Dire Straits, "Oh yeah, the boy can play." The PG position is in good hands for the next 10 years: Rondo, D-Will, CP3, Derrick Rose, Jordan Farmar...
THE LAKERS ARE FLAWED.
Fa'lawed. The best team in the league squandered leads to the 8th-seeded, limping, in-fighting Utah Jazz. In every game. The flaws I saw: 1) The killer instinct- seen in teams like the Every Other Year Spurs, Larry's Celtics, Jordan's Bulls- is not there. 2) Bynum is not the new Kareem. He is streaky and prone to disappearing acts. 3) Their defense is spotty. It can be very good, but they just wanted to outscore the Jazz (which they did). And 4) Kobe is a mammoth douche. An unstoppable mammoth douche (seriously, Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko played admirably but Kobe's arsenal of Shots To Counter Tight Defense is the real deal), but a mammoth douche nonetheless. Laker apologists claim that the team's just "getting its playoff legs." Whatever helps you sleep. Go Cavs.
I DON'T WANT BEN GORDON ON MY TEAM
The way he talked about his game-changing shots was so narcissistic and clearly "Hey, media, this ain't only the Derrick Rose show" as to be completely off-putting. Contrast it to Derrick Rose's humble, unassuming appoach and it puts off all the more. Then after the big 2OT win, rather than say, "WE came together" he said (paraphrase alert), 'I told the guys, we're through playing. Let's go get this. And they responded to me.'" What a desperate grab for the public perception of Who Leads The Bulls. Also, he grabbed his crotch, just like classic MJ would've. Oh wait.
TEAMS WILL BLOW UP OR FANS WON'T SHOW UP.
The Pistons and the Jazz, in particular, have to shake things up or- in this economic climate- ticket sales will dive like a barely-pre-stitches Greg Louganis. This is not the economic climate to test your diehards. If you look, in particular, at Game 5 of Jazz/Lakers, it became painfully apparent who wasn't wondering if their travel agent could bump their flight up a couple days.
CHAUNCEY IS THE CURE FOR CANCER
Tell the teams upon teams of medical researchers to stop their studies. The Denver Thuggets, just a year after disappointing all of Colorado, most of Wyoming, and at least half of George Karl, are playing killer basketball. They DESTROYED a team led by "the best PG in the game" by more than FIFTY POINTS. How does a playoff team get pulp-beaten by another playoff team to that demoralizing degree? Like his old buddy KG before him, Chauncey Billups changed the atmosphere in the mile high locker room. He is the anti-cancer.
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