BallinEurope admits to seesawing on the whole NBA lockout thing. On one hand, BiE’s never enjoyed such schadenfreude in any other walk of life and/or big-time media: It’s billionaires versus millionaires in a verbal tussle that only alienates the fan (on any part of the globe, BiE’d daresay). Hey, Europe’s still got basketball, lots of it, right? Plus, there’s always football – either variety.
On the other hand, the truth is that dozens of the world’s greatest players are doing nothing basketball-related, denying everyday fans – call us “The 99%” – the greatest minute-by-minute sports entertainment on Earth. Sure, it’s great to see Andrei Kirilenko, Tony Parker, Deron Williams and Nicolas Batum play well in Continental games *that honestly matter*, but what about Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Pau Gasol, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera?
(Incidentally, BiE knows how some readers of/commenters on this website feel about the performances of locked-out players in Europe. BiE says: Give it time. If the lockout in fact cancels the NBA season, BiE’d take any of the teams with the above-mentioned players to go far domestically, in European regional leagues and even, in CSKA Moscow’s case at very least, in the Euroleague.)
In any event, kudos go out from BallinEurope to Rube (or maybe that’s Mr. Elrube or even Mr. El Rube) and Deadspin for producing/disseminating the “NBA Lockout Anthem,” a rap that deftly encapsulates what most of us are feeling about the boardroom drama keeping the courtroom drama offline.
