Burn Notice

I'm a basketball fan in a love/hate relationship with the pro game. It's been that way since I got home from elementary school on a Thursday in November of 1991, turned on the TV to find some cartoons, and watched Magic Johnson tell me he was retiring from the NBA because of a positive HIV test. Literally telling me [ed. note: keep in mind that I was about two weeks away from my eighth birthday at the time]. Something about that moment--that weepy scene on the television that interrupted my after school routine and felt all too personal--triggered a sea change in the way I would come to view the NBA. This is not to say I completely turned on the game of pro basketball. Hell, I have a framed Kobe Bryant jersey hanging on my wall. I simply started to take it less seriously. A seminal moment in the development of my fanhood, if you will. Actually, this was probably a good thing given that taking today's NBA seriously is like reading Dianetics as a non-fictional account of the human condition. Wait... what? People actually do both of those things??? Fucking sheep. I only wish it wasn't spurred on by Magic's untimely retirement.

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That being said, the 58th annual NBA All-Star Game took place this past weekend in Phoenix, AZ and there were just enough entertaining moments to compel me to post a trio of worthwhile clips for your viewing pleasure.

First, Shaquille O'Neal. The Big Fella/Diesel/Aristotle/Cactus/Legendary was selected by the coaches to make his 15th-and-likely-final NBA All-Star appearance, and the significance was not lost on Shaq-Fu. Always the showman, Shaq teamed up with the season one champs of "America's Best Dance Crew," Jabbawockeez, to orchestrate a player introduction that even the most charismatic professional wrestler [ed. note: with the exception of Scott Steiner, of course] would be unable to match. I give you "Shaqawockeez":





Next up, the explanation for the title of this post. It basically involves Kevin Garnett, Craig Sager, one of Sager's fantastic one-of-a-kind suit ensembles, and live television. Great interview, or greatest interview?





As my brother Steve put it, "...why is he trying to be the Don Cherry of the NBA?" I love Craig Sager, yo.

To bring things full circle and return to my love/hate situation with professional basketball, this last clip isn't from the All-Star Game, but rather a Golden State Warriors practice from this very season. It is awesome on many levels, and pretty much sums up the current state of the NBA while also accounting for the Warriors' 19-35 record as of this writing:





There's no possible way I can add to that, so let's just wrap it up here.


(HT: Ball Don't Lie)