Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Stop looking for happiness in the same place you lost it-unknown

A change

If you are linked to Words eye view you now notice the blog has a new name, it’s now titled Off the Dribble. The original title was a nod to the former legendary Laker broadcaster Chick Hearn. Because Hearn simulcast Laker games on radio and television, he painted the broadcast he said in the Words eye view. At the time we first began publishing if you Google the term this blog was the only one referenced. There are now two others with the same title thus the name change. There is no other modification except for the name, if you enjoy Off the dribble, please continue to read it daily, in addition refer it to your basketball friends.

Thank you

Larry Laker 

Two NBA cities, a similar occurrence  

The Sixers beat the Wizards somewhat easy on Wednesday, Russell Westbrook left the court with an injury. A “fan” and I use the term loosely decided rather than eat his popcorn he’d toss it on the exiting Westbrook. Naturally, Sixer security removed the fan, but the issue goes much further, I’m reading responses to the incident. I stopped reading after the first 5 or 6 letters due to 2 of that number. Two individuals decided to inform us “how Westbrook was a hothead” and he went on to criticize Westbrook because he was restrained from going into the stands. Two issues, if you’ve read this blog any length of time you realize Westbrook is not one of my favorite players, but I will defend him to the hilt in this instance.

The popcorn certainly didn’t hurt Westbrook but the question we might ask the fan why? I didn’t see the game but from the final score (120-95) it appears the Sixers were clearly in command. Meantime a few hundred miles east in New York City a similar incident occurred. A fan decided he’d deposit some spit on the Hawks Trae Young. The fan was caught and ejected; he was not a season ticket holder but has been banned for an indefinite period.  No wonder we have violence problems in this nation if we cannot control our emotions any better than this. In Philadelphia, the ticket holder seasons pass has been revoked and he has also banned for an unspecified period too, but this is more than troubling. We have a percentage of the population who allow their emotions to dictate their actions. In addition, from the letter responses we read there are others who believe the actions of both fans are no big deal.  

Covid basketball

To see Madison Square Garden filled for the Knicks and Hawks game was a good and bad thing on Tuesday evening. Good from the standpoint New Yorkers are rightly excited about their Knicks, the team has played pathetic basketball over the last several years. Fans of the franchise haven’t had a great deal to be proud of. The attendance released indicates there were 16,000 fans inside the world’s most famous arena.

The crowd gathered outside after the victory was shoulder to shoulder too. The inside and outside gathering represents the Bad, all I could think of is it safe, is it safe yet? The last year of covid has caused me great trepidation whenever or wherever I witness large crowds gathered.  It appears in the U.S. we might have turned the corner on this dreaded plague, and I hope that is indeed the case. I read no details, but hopefully standard precautions took although I never saw any facial coverings.  

The Vampire Diaries

Just like Dracula lives on and on in movie after movie so does the Zion Williamson story. The Pelican forward is no vampire but just like a vampire story every time you believe the story is dead it rises once again. That is the case for the latest news, the account claiming Zion’s parents had received payment while the young man was in high school. In 2018 the NCAA and Duke conducted an intense investigation of his background and the family.

The NCAA Clearinghouse approved Zion to play at Duke. If both institutions managed a thorough background check how come nothing turned up at the time? Where is the evidence, to simply state we have it and fail to present the evidence leaves me highly skeptical? So, this case continues to drag on, every now and then a portion of it rises again. It’s too bad we don’t have a stake to drive through its heart, that’s what they do in the vampire stories be they movies or television.