Paper and Pen

So I'm now writing for the sports section in UB's newspaper "The Spectrum." I figured I'd put up my first opinion column here (assuming that it gets printed)... it's my first draft so it might undergo a few minor changes, but this is the gist of it (I haven't given it a title yet):


I never feel like I have anybody to talk basketball with anymore.

No, not college basketball, since many people are completely prepared to talk about UB, Syracuse or Duke hoops. But here in Western New York, where I’ve spent all of my nearly twenty-one years, you are more likely to hear the word ‘sunscreen’ during the winter than you are to hear the letters ‘N-B-A’.

I don’t have the official numbers for this, but I have to imagine Buffalo is one of the few cities in the U.S. where NHL fans outnumber NBA fans. I feel like every time I want to talk about how the pick-and-roll revitalized Chris Duhon’s career, I have to hear eight conversations about Derek Roy first.

I understand the fundamental reason behind the lack of interest: we don’t have a team. The Buffalo Braves left The Aud in 1978 for San Diego, who later moved to Los Angeles to become the dreadful Clippers. Nearby Rochester had the Royals until 1957, but they grew up to become the Sacramento Kings. Because of these departures, Buffalo’s most local NBA team is in Toronto, a city that has made Bills fans quite uncomfortable over the past year or so.

And in general, I understand why a person might think that college basketball is more exciting than its professional counterpart. Admittedly, college basketball crowds create an atmosphere that is far superior to the watered-down corporate crowds attending NBA matchups. It really is fun to see an entire section of students excitedly jump around in unison for an entire game.

But the game itself isn’t any more exciting. In fact, I’ll take the NBA’s style of play any day of the week. In comparison to college players, the professional elite play more fast-paced, are more athletic, and shoot for higher percentages from any given spot on the floor.

And don’t even tell me that they don’t play defense in the NBA. One of the beauties of the league is that at any point two of the league’s biggest stars, such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, could be locked up in a game-long battle for supremacy.

The great thing about basketball is that there is a balance between those aforementioned individual battles and teamwork. Not only do you have to be better than the guy guarding you, but you also have to help your teammate win his battle also. The amount of improvised strategy involved in a single basketball possession is astounding.

But my favorite thing about the NBA is that any moment could be a great one. At any point it only takes one man to drain a 60-foot jumper or windmill a dunk between his legs.

The league has commercials that state “NBA: Where Amazing Happens.” And it’s true, any given game can contain a little bit of something amazing.

So do yourself a favor: Just watch the games, pick a favorite team, and pray that they don’t hire Isaiah Thomas.