Take That, Phoenix Gorilla!

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

The NBA sits a distant 3rd in my major sports leagues fanaticism rankings. Even back in the “glory days” of the Association, I didn’t set my sports clock by the action on the hardwood. I rooted for my home team Milwaukee Bucks – went to a lot of games at the MECCA and the Bradley Center – watched a lot of games on television – but the regular season never did much for me…because the regular season in the NBA pretty much sucks. It sucked back then. It still sucks now.

At the risk of generalizing (I guess it’s too late for that, though), the NBA’s regular season is dominated by egomaniacal displays of offense at the expense of just about every other fundamental aspect of the game. It’s the league’s fault. The league has decided to market its stars, its individual athletes…not the teams. In 2010, it is so defined: Kobe vs. Lebron; D-Wade vs. Melo – not Lakers/Cavs; Heat/Nuggets.

But the post-season is an entirely different animal. Suddenly, the supporting cast matters. Suddenly, teams are equally concerned with stopping the opponent as they are offensively dominating them. Suddenly, the better TEAM trumps the better INDIVIDUAL.

The NBA’s post-season is really good hoops. Unfortunately for the Association, the way that it has sold its regular season has so soured the average basketball fan on the experience as a whole, that it’s really tough to get that dude to tune in when it matters most.

It’s too bad…because said dude is not only missing some solid basketball at the highest level, he’s also missing insane halftime antics like this:

The stunt itself is insane, as the YouTube titles suggests, but compounding the lunacy is Bango's blatant disregard for the top rung warning.  That is not a step, Bango.  Fear the deer!