Kobe Took the Shoot and Scored

Kobe took the shoot and scored, about sums up the irresistible edge the NBA possesses in today’s sports market.  It came from two, jet black haired Armenian boys, speaking broken English from a curling bench in the gymnasium. And before I could correct their grammar, I paused, and took in the oddity of what NBA basketball now means to the rest of the world.

No longer a conglomerate centralized around U.S and European interests, the NBA has spread it’s sails to China, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Argentina and a host of Middle Eastern nations.  It’s hard to fathom that just one year ago the NBA incurred its second lockout in eleven years. According to this article, the NBA continues to set new television rating records.

How David Stern has continued to underwhelm the outrageous, with a worldwide marketing attack, building riotous fan bases, is miraculous and genially creative. Turn the channel to a Spanish network playing a sensationalized love affair between Carlos and Olga, and your certain to run into a high flying commercial production starring the Hollywood five.

Who are the Hollywood five? A five pronged attack of super humans.

Uncanny in their heroes names, “the Mamba,” “Superman Part Deux,” “Snaggle Tooth Spaniard,” “Meta World,” and “Nash,” conjoin a makeup of champion potential. Endorsing these five is a perfectly unapologetic front forging a final blaze for the older fans(our fathers and grandfathers) who split after the first lockout in 1999.

A sinister 1-4 start didn’t help things much. But after last night’s crushing continuum of victories (now 4 of their last 5), 119-108 over the Houston Rockets, the perennial powerhouse is hosing their way through mite-sized foes and reminding the more mature fan of former “share the ball” star fronts of the 80’s: the Boston Celtics, Showtime Lakers and Bad Boy Pistons.

If jumbled together randomly, David Stern fell into one mighty miracle when Dwight Howard and Steve Nash both said yes to the next blockbuster dubbed The Mamba’s Revenge. Currently the story line is fitting: Five stars align, experience sudden failure, overcome and conquer. They battle their way through valiant foes, but ultimately face off against the megadeath machine, the Miami Heat. The Old and the New: Kobe Bryant verses LeBron James. Television numbers soar, world dominance elongates, David Stern earns himself a star on the walk of fame.

Which is why saying nothing at all to two teen Armenian cats pointing and hollering in a small, humble gym at a Hilton hotel was the right thing to do. The mind numbing reality that the NBA is not only stable but more popular since its second lockout is a force unfazed by my incessant needs to correct grammar and put sentence malfunctions in their place. I may even start using Kobe took the shoot, if it means I can join the club.