hoopla~

Tonight, during dinner with friends, I would say about 95% of our conversation revolved around basketball, or more specifically the Knicks, though we did talk about bball in general as well. And the funny thing is I not only welcomed this topic, but most of the time, I was the one initiating it. And this wasn't just this past dinner, but pretty much the past few weeks or so (whenever this whole craze started).

Just a few months ago, I was doing some research at work on NBA players and basketball terms for KIA's twitter campaign (you know the Blake Griffin stuff), and I could've cared less. I was emailing/gchatting my guy friends asking them what the heck an alley-oop or Lob City was...

And here I am now, spending countless hours (out of my own will) looking at espn.com/nba.com, following nba players' twitters (more specifically lin & landry), reading blogs/articles on all these shenanigans.

Some of my friends look at me and ask (in a befuddled manner), "Who ARE you?!"

I don't even know anymore.

I've never been a big basketball fan (or a sports fan in general), though I've enjoyed watching football, rather casually, ever since I started playing Turkey Bowl. I liked watching live sports games, but I never felt any attachment to any teams- nope not even the Lakers (in fact, I think I'm one of the rare Angelenos who don't care for them at all and am definitely not a fan of Kobe). You see, my interest for sports comes from the narrative. I like sports movies - the wholesome, all-American tales of the triumph of the underdog. That's why this whole Knicks/J.Lin story appeals to me so much... And yeah, the fact that he is a Christian, Asian-American, and an academic makes him that much more relatable (and the Lin & Landry duo... they just kill me).

It feels nice to have a team to finally root for... there's definitely a very strong sense of camaraderie among New Yorkers when it comes to sports, and I love it. Now I finally see why guys like sports so much... it's not just the game. It's like a larger, fantasy world where you know the players, their stories, their team history - It's something you can invest your mind and heart into the same way people can get invested into korean dramas (except these people are real). And you're tied to these players (either through hometown or school or - in my case - my current residence), and in some way, they represent us (maybe Hunger Games would be a better example than Korean dramas).

Anyway, I can't wait for the 2nd half of the nba season and am secretly praying for the Knicks to go into playoffs. Though I have to say these games are seriously causing me a good amount of stress and indigestion. Go, knickerbockers!