Watch a college game, and then immediately after, watch a NBA game. The level of ability does not compare at all. The best basketball players in the world are in the NBA. But we don't like the product that much because the players really don't compete that hard. We watch it if there's nothing else on, or we bet on it and use the product like an action drug, strictly for our own dopamine rush. It's corrupted at the core. Players have already gotten rich and care more about money than they do the games. They sort of want to win, and the best players really do want to win, but the effort given to achieve that goal is just not that high. So do they really even like competing anymore? For some of them, I'm sure even the fake clapping on the bench after every basket is seen as part of their job responsibilities and nothing more. Other than Popovich, the coaches don't yell at their players because their relationship is like a brother to brother, rather than a father to son. Pro sports just have a damaged product that will never change, because of human nature. Greed on the part of everyone, and just the fact that we live in an imperfect world of selfishness, of which we are all guilty. But we still long for the purity. We love the minor leagues in basketball much more, because it embodies everything that we wish were true about the world. The talent level is the highest available to the sport, while keeping it as pure as can be within our fallen state of sin as humans. Yes, there are highly paid coaches and shadiness with payments to players, but no kid in college basketball gets rich while at school. They play because they love to play the game of basketball. The game is played with such intensity on every possession. You really pick this up when you go to a college game and sit near the court. The coaches are fathers. Sure, you fear them. But you love them, and they love you back. You certainly know that there will be yelling and cussing, and it's part of the father son relationship. The kids aren't yet at the age where they've died inside. All of us died in our late twenties, realizing that life here was absolutely not going to be what you had hoped for when you were in high school. Or if you have achieved every result and felt every feeling you ever wanted to feel in this life, you found it empty and ultimately unfulfilling. You know what I'm talking about. These kids haven't died yet inside....they are still kids. They dream about the future....success in basketball. But they mostly live in the now and they live it with all of their heart. What is the chance to compete? It's recess to kids. They play as hard as they can, and they want to win with all of their energy. The coach can also help you in your life dreams. And he just might be what makes them happen. Then there is the NCAA tournament, the granddaddy of all sporting events of all time. "The ball is tipped, there you are..." ah, that's one of the sadder moments of the year every year for me, signaling the end of the season I've thoroughly loved watching. The CBS music video with all the tournament highlights has an unforgettable song, One Shining Moment. I'm moved to tears or near tears every year as it plays at the end of the last game. It's the capping off of a 3 week celebration of life, living through the kids vicariously in one of the pinnacle experiences of their lives. We hear their stories, and always fall in love every year with a new darling Cinderella that comes out of nowhere to knock off a giant or two. At the end, every team but one has their raw hearts broken and their dreams crushed. But they felt so alive while taking this journey. We love those kids, and we regret that they will learn very soon that life is going to break their hearts much more than it just did, in ways they don't see coming. For us, well, tomorrow is Tuesday, it probably won't be that great, and it's back to living in a fallen world. I love college basketball.
Great post. There's nothing quite like the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. The best 4 consecutive days of sports all year. If I'm not mistaken the first year they ever played "One Shining Moment", was the year Louisville and Never nervous Pervous won the title. The song replaced Phil Collins "Give me just one more night", which was played the year Nova and Rollie stunned the Hoyas.
