Adam Silver Was In The Stands During The Sixers Game...As It Got Hacked Into A Foul Shooting Contest11/30/2017
Let me paint a picture for you. Vinny Chase and the rest of the Entourage stroll wide-eyed and bushy tailed into the theatre for the first public screening of the fictional, semi-biographical tale of Columbian kingpin Pablo Escobar. They have smiles across their faces and lavish dreams of the pay day that's sure to come their way as the title Medellin flashes across the big screen. The group couldn't be more optimistic, and why not? All the hard work had been one to get the movie made, and not it was time to sit back and bask in the glory, glitz, and glamor of it all. I imagine felt Adam Silver felt as he first sat down amongst fans that have getting treated to exciting, winning basketball for the first time in years. Sure, he was in a city as thankless as Philadelphia, but - considering the state of The Process and the popularity of professional basketball - there was no way the mood of a building was going to completely shift with the transcendent talents of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons set to take the stage. This was a night for the Commissioner of the NBA to forget about all the bullshit that he deals with on a daily basis, and enjoy the fruits of his labor. He endured all the criticism that was unceremoniously directed his way as the 76er's intentionally made his product partially unwatchable for half a decade, and now it was time to exhale as it has finally produced something - other than a trusted tag line - that could actually be marketed and turn a profit. Then, like the first investor getting up mid-Medellin to "take a piss" and never return, it all went wrong. You could say a persistent problem came to light at the worst possible time, or you could just say the energy of the building got...ahem...hacked. Either way, Adam Silver must have felt like he was "the bald fuck" getting indicted under Murphy's Law in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. To put it simply, having two of the most enticing young talents in his league get picked to participate in a free throw shooting contest that - relative to the alternative - was as depressing as getting selected for jury duty is as "what can go wrong, will go wrong" as it gets. And I get it, most teams don't have a player whose critical to their success that makes the stroll to the charity stripe look like a walk to the end of the plank so they'll never vote to rid the NBA of Hack-A-Whoever to benefit of those teams who do. Winning will always matter above all else, and a middle finger to the fans that go comatose watching professional athletes suppress their actual skill as they casually walk up and down the floor for long stretches is a small price to pay for even a slight increase in the likelihood of success. Still, of all games, the one in which the most beloved Commissioner in professional sports was present as mid-court is the one where one of the few recurring complaints he receives comes to the forefront? There is an NBA matchup taking place, but the ire of every member of the most irritable fan base in sports is centered on him? I don't want to speak for a guy that was able to take the unearthing of a racist owner (and President) in stride. However, the lump in Adam Silver's throat as the first off-ball, intentional foul was administered in a building full of Philly's unforgiving faithful must have at least temporarily grown to the size of the one in Vinny Chase's throat as credits rolled and half the potential financiers of his passion product woke up and wiped droll from their chin.
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