Why Is It So Uncool For NBA Players To Celebrate A Championship?
A little enthusiasm for your NBA Championship would be nice, Oklahoma City.
I want you to take part in a little experiment with me, if you will.
Close your eyes and imagine you are playing for your favorite team. The clock is winding down in a decisive Game 7. In mere seconds, you will be crowned as champion of your league of choice for the first time in your career in addition to delivering your city its first banner.
Pretty awesome, right?
Now open your eyes and feast them on the absolute snooze fest that was the Oklahoma City Thunder's on-court "celebration" following their win over the Indiana Pacers.
My God! Did someone's dog die or did a team just win a Game 7 to hoist a Larry O'Biren trophy?
You be the judge but honestly, it looks like a high school library on the court inside the Paycom Center.
It looks even worse when juxtaposed with the Florida Panthers of the NHL, who just won their second straight Stanley Cup less than a week prior.
This was the NBA Finals, correct? We aren't looking at footage from a home game in February, right?
And if you think I am doing the old hackneyed bit of "look at how much more hockey players care," - which I have been known to dabble in from time to time - look at the celebrations of the champions of all four major North American sports in a quad-box.
Look at the exuberance, the pure, unadulterated joy of it all… and then there's the NBA.
Plenty of people on social media noticed it last night as well, so it's not just the lunatic fringe of hard-o hockey lovers coming out of the woodwork to bash the Association.
In fairness, it looks like the Thunder got busy celebrating after heading to the locker room, complete with not knowing how to properly open champagne bottles, but the point remains.
The on-court celebration is supposed to be the most visceral and raw reaction; that's when the real emotions pour out.
But I guess it all makes sense when the NBA has been stripped of its aura and neutered of any pageantry.
Maybe the internet can bully next year's NBA champs into a better celebration too.