Round The Game

I want to start this off by saying that I can be a pretty exaggerative person. Sometimes I embellish a bit too much for flare, sometimes the fish aren’t as big as I say they were. There have been a couple of times that I tell some white lies in a story to get a few more laughs. With all of these being said, let me give you a list of things that I 1000% mean, with absolutely zero hyperbole.

1. The NBA season should start on Christmas Day, and not some random Tuesday in October.
2. Christmas Day NBA games are by far the best, non-playoff, at-home experience across all sports.
3. Christmas Day NBA should be a completely separate holiday from Christmas.
4. The US Government should make it a law that only NBA games should be allowed to be aired on Christmas.
5. There is hardly ANYTHING else I’d rather do on any given day than have NBA Christmas matchups right in my face.
6. People who don’t watch the NBA on Christmas Day should be fined.
7. America’s Independence Day should be moved to Christmas, not for any religious reasons, but strictly for the NBA games.

    Now that we have that out of the way, you should understand that everything I say for the rest of this article I mean with every fiber in my being. I honestly just can’t think of any other sport doing a special day better than the NBA. Adam Silver and the rest of his crew have done such an amazing job since he took over with every aspect of the game. All of the matchups, on paper, are exciting. The only time it is ever a dud is when there are injuries involved, i.e. the Pelicans last year without Zion Williamson. There are COUNTLESS classic moments from NBA games on Christmas like LeBron James putting on a dunking clinic versus the Lakers, Kobe Bryant filling the stat sheet up against the Celtics, and Derrick Rose hitting a game winner against the Lakers. From noon to after midnight east coast time, you have endless NBA content you can inject right into your eyeballs, and honestly it is usually so good that I wish I had more.

    One thing I think the NBA gets right with this particular day, is that the teams that get to play on Christmas always vary depending on team success. The Lakers suck one year? No Christmas game. Unlike in the NFL where the Lions and the Cowboys ALWAYS play every Thanksgiving no matter how awful those teams have been in past decades. The NBA, for better or worse, is more focused on players and their personalities, rather than teams themselves when it comes to marquee matchups on Christmas. Big stars? Yep. LeBron, KD, and Giannis will be on Christmas, health permitting, until they all retire. Up and coming young stars? You bet. Look no further than the Pelicans, Heat, and Mavericks this year. Spicy potential rivalries with deep storylines? OH HELL YEAH. My eyes will be glued to the Celtics/Nets game to hopefully see Kyrie get waxed. Adam Silver has taken the reins from David Stern and continued to make the NBA the best league in all of sports. It is literally an all year sport. There isn’t one time of the year where I’m not glued to my phone or TV looking for more NBA content, news, or clips. Adam Silver deserves every bit of credit in being able to maintain success in the post-Stern era of the NBA.

    You know that moment as a kid where you kinda don’t feel that “Christmas magic?” You don’t feel like waking up early, you aren’t in the holiday spirit, you hardly want to act like you’re in a good mood? Most people get that when they’re in their teenage years, but thankfully I never experienced this feeling to this day as a 26 year old man, and that is only due to the NBA games on Christmas. I went from “oh lets go look under the tree!” to “oh my gosh I CANNOT WAIT for the noon game.” You watch the noon game, when that’s over your Christmas lunch/dinner is basically ready, just in time for the 2:30 game. The 5pm game is a good mid-day pick-me-up that will always excite and lift you from the post-meal sleepies. 8pm is the primetime game, generally the defending champions versus a team that can make some noise in the playoffs, and this year we get to watch LeBron go up against Luka Doncic. After the 8pm game, if you thought all that wasn’t enough, the 10:30 game is the perfect way to end your perfect basketball filled day. You watch it until you fall asleep, essentially. From start to finish, a 10/10 day.

    The Christmas Day NBA games are something I look forward to every calendar year. I know that I am an anomaly with how much I love and adore this day, but I really am thankful that I am in a position that I can watch my favorite sport on a day that I can spend with my family. I hope you all are having a good holiday season. I know things have been tough and weird this year; it hasn’t been the easiest or most fun way to spend our collective time. Here’s to 2021, and hopefully a better, more productive year for us all. I’m happy that I have the chance to share my sports opinions in this forum, and I’m thankful for you for reading them. Make sure you tell someone you love them, and happy holidays, from your favorite overzealous sports fan.