I have a huge announcement. I want you all to take a seat. Go ahead i'll wait................Ready? I, Harry P. Nolan, founder of BiasedSports, am in love. I have all the signs: food doesn't taste the same, colors are askew, etc. I can't go a day without thinking about my love. Don't mean to sound creepy, but my love is my life. Now I should be honest with everyone, I have fallen for my muse before. We had a few good years, one great year. Like any relationship, we had our ups and downs. I was unfaithful a couple of times. Went for a younger, more promiscuous model. For all the hardships, our love stayed strong. That was until this past summer. The love of my life changed and not for the better. She became greedy and arrogant. She dumped all her old friends, for newer, flashier one's. Only cared about her wants and needs, no one elses'. In all honesty, she became a bitch. She would bully and pick on other's who disagreed with her. No one could talk her down, not even me. It was disgusting and so we split up. Never to get back together again, so i thought. That was until 2 weeks ago. My lady returned better than ever she had matured and once again I fell head over heels for her. This time I won't let go.
If you haven't figured it out already, my "love" is the NBA. The relationship between the NBA and myself has been a rocky one. During the Jordan years, I was the biggest NBA fan. It and baseball were tied for my favorite sports. When Jordan retired for real, I do not acknowledge his Wizard years, I was depressed and lost. I needed a light at the end of the tunnel. Like most people, after MJ retired, I had no favorite player just loved the game. Watching the NBA at this time was enriching and aggravating. The NBA was changing in this time period. No longer was hard play rewarded. In fact some of the players had gotten soft. My love of the NBA started to wan. This is when I fell for college basketball. College basketball offered me a chance to watch fundamentally sound basketball. Tough play was rewarded in college. plus the fans were incredible. Despite my new found love of College Ball, I still loved the NBA. That was until this summer. With Lebron James' decision and the pomp and circumstance surrounding it, I became sick of the NBA. That decision went against everything I thought the NBA stood for. Never before had I ever witnessed such self servitude. But I brushed it off. It was only one player. Then the Carmelo Situation happened. Strike Two. Then everything with Stern acting like a dictator. To me it ruined the NBA. I went on numerous blogs blasting all that the NBA had become. It made me sick. I know I sound whiny, but it's because I love the NBA so much. I couldn't believe what it had become. There was no way i'd ever come back to watch the NBA.
Hi We Helped destroy 2 NBA franchises. :)
Then these NBA playoffs happened. So here I am, hat in hand, admitting i'm wrong. These NBA playoffs have made me love the game again. The biggest criticism that me and others laid on the NBA this season was there would be no parody in the game any more. These playoffs have proven that the NBA has parody. Who could have imagined that the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that was 41-41, could go toe to toe with the #2 seed Miami Heat? Philly fans only hoped to be competitive in the series, not to do what they did. In 4 games the 76ers had a lead late in the 3rd quarter. If they could have held on, they might have won the series. Imagine a team made up of Jodie Meeks, Lou WIlliams, Elton Brand, Spencer Hawes and Evan Turner, could have beat Lebron and Dwayne Wade. It was unfathomable. The ultimate parody. Even Dan Lebatard, a known Miami homer, said he was impressed with the 76ers. What about the Memphis Grizzlies? A team that was shipping it's 2 biggest named players, OJ Mayo and Zach Randolph, around at the trade deadline. Sounds like a recipe for disaster right? Well those same Grizzlies, the butt of jokes for so many years, are beating the #1 elderly statesman San Antonio Spurs. Not only are the Grizzlies beating the Spurs, their dominating them. Zac Randolph, the man considered another Edy Curry, thanks to his time in NY, has abused the Spurs. There is no more impressive team this post season then the Grizzlies. You had other games like the Pacers and Bulls, where the Pacers, a below .500 team, pushed the #1. I could go on forever and ever about the most compelling story lines in these playoffs. The re emergence of Brandon Roy and Chris Paul. Finally a Dallas vs Lakers series in round #2, Celtics vs Heat, etc. If your not gripped by these playoffs, your not human. Oh and Carmela's Knicks, the one's he wanted to be traded to so bad? Got swept by Boston in the first round. His old Nuggets team? Were in a highly competitive series with Finals favorite Thunder.
So for now I am back in love with the NBA. Hopefully, it doesn't give me a reason to stop.
Your friend-
Harry P. Nolan
