We Stay Fly, No Lie, You Know This. BALLIN'

The Basketball Enthusiasts 

MJ teaching humans how to fly.

They might have this poster of one of the all time greatest basketball poses of the greatest player of all time.

T-mac's 13 point in 35 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nfurCV1FDpM

There is that one youtube video that they'd watch over and over again to relive and experience moments of greatness.



They might use websites such as NBA.com or espn.com to gather the stats for their favorite players, gather news on the latest basketball news or keep up with the NBA action by subscribing to NBA league pass so they can keep track of scores of every game.

They probably have a subscription to an ESPN magazine as well. And this is sort of how they view them.

Or their greatest dream is to attend a playoff basketball game of their favorite team and go all out, wild out, and shout out loud with many other basketball fans.

We all know those people in our lives that just love basketball! They may play basketball, they may love to watch the games themselves or dream of playing. They might have all of those things in mind! The perception of these people is that they are obsessed with the game. Hours are spent listening to professional analysts so they can have long 2- hour conversations of who is going to win the championship this year and why. They can spend all day catching up on information like stats and game schedules like the example I used above. Or they might spend all day playing ball. They can sit around the television and have a marathon basketball day where they watch 3 or 4 games a day using their NBA League Pass. Their favorite player is Michael Jordan (but lets get real who doesn't love MJ?). They probably have the jersey of their favorite player. They may watch youtube videos and reminisce about last years season in order to prepare themselves for the upcoming basketball season. To them basketball players are larger than life. To them they need players to watch so they can work on their own game and copy the successful pros. On one edition of ESPN the Magazine (See picture above). LeBron James, Kobe, and Kevin Durant are depicted as members of the avengers squad. In a sense enthusiasts see them as heroes and even people who are super human.

Basically, the single story about this group is that basketball is their life. If basketball season is over their life has no fulfillment and the sports world is on break because no basketball can be watched at the time. Maybe even when the NBA season is over they would find basketball to watch such as the amateur rookie summer league or even foreign pro basketball. To them no matter what the season basketball has to take place in their life. If not, the sports world seems boring and sports are pretty much non-existent until the season starts back up. People see them as enthusiasts because of their excitement of basketball or a connoisseur type knowledge about the game. From the artifacts I have provided one may be able to tell who is an enthusiast and who isn't. But why does it matter that this message is being sent? Is it because they want to be associate with something as awesome as basketball? Is it so that they can find others who love it and be connected with them? Are they even trying to send a message in the first place? Maybe they just have a simple passion for basketball? Or maybe the knowledge of basketball somehow proves you are at least somewhat in with the American culture. Or do they want to prove that they are good at playing basketball without ever having to step on the court?

One thing that is limiting with this story is that it may make enthusiasts seem like people who don't value anything else in life. Maybe in addition to loving basketball they may just love sports in general not just basketball. People could even have the thought that maybe the reason that they love basketball is because their life's dream was to be a pro player and watching so much basketball allows them to live that dream indirectly.

Ultimately, the single story about this group is that basketball is their life. They can't live without it. If basketball is not on the excitement of life is minimal or not there. Their life is shaped by their love of the game and there is a passion for it. It becomes their hobby. So for them to stay fly and keep from living a lie, they stay BALLIN'.

Post by: Eric Smith