Kayte Christensen: One Parent Is Sucking The Joy Out Of March Madness
March Madness is in full swing. Brackets are in. Millions and millions of eyes are on college basketball to witness what may be the best time in the sports world.
We've debated back and forth on The Drive about what is more exciting, March Madness, NFL playoffs, NBA playoffs, or MLB playoffs. Of course it's not that simple.
You can then break it down into even more specific series or games, like the Divisional Round in football for example. That debate isn't really the point of this blog, however, so I digress.
There is just something special about March Madness. The fact that I'm even willing to consider the college basketball playoffs as a contender against the NBA and NFL (which I live for) says a lot.
I don't even watch college basketball throughout the regular season. Part of that is because the NBA travel and game schedule kicks my butt enough that I don't have a whole lot of free time to focus on college hoops.
The other part is the pain an agony I experience watching a college game that is 35-33 deep into the second half of the ball game. There are a number of changes I think could be made to make regular season college basketball more intriguing and watchable like shortening the shot clock from 35 seconds to 24. Teams that meander their way past half court, because they can waste 10 seconds and still have 25 seconds of clock to work with deserve a special place in basketball hell for me. It's not only boring it's just flat out lazy.
The point of this isn't to talk about what could change in college basketball to improve it though so let me get to it already.
I think what makes March Madness so special is the fact that it's amateur sports. It's young men and women competing towards a common goal for nothing other than the glory of being able to say you won it all. There's no bonus structure built into their salaries, no incentives from sponsors, etc.
[Also not getting into why college athletes SHOULD be paid right now. I'm in a fairly good mood and I'm not about to ruin that with how absolutely ridiculous the NCAA is.]
As I was saying…
March Madness is the purest form of competition.
Sadly, most of the joy is being sucked out of this whole tournament for me because one parent has managed to take over the news cycle each and every day.
LaVar Ball is committing a cardinal sports sin. He is successfully making this WHOLE thing about HIM.
At a time when his son Lonzo and his entire UCLA Bruins team should be soaking up every moment of the March Madness experience it's LaVar's face, not his son's, that is plastered all over the damn place.
You can't open ANY social media source, turn on any sports channel, radio station or click on any sports website right now without that man's mug and over-the-top antics and declarations being thrown in your face.
He says his son is better than Steph Curry, and that he (LaVar) could beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one. He says "they" deserve at least $1 billion shoe deal.
We get it man. You're like every other parent on the planet. You think your kids are the best thing since sliced bread. And yes I'm sure each and every one of your sons can walk on water.
But please, I beg you, stop talking for 5 minutes and think about what you're doing. Think about the crazy asinine foolishness that is exiting your mouth like projectile vomit.
I can concede the media owns a lot of blame in this whole $#|+ show.
But the outright obnoxiousness with which LaVar Ball has been operating the last couple weeks, if the media wasn't giving him the kind of face-time they have, I'd be damned if he wouldn't start his own Big Baller Network to cover himself 24-7.
The level of narcissism this man possesses is off the friggin' charts.
We don't blame news outlets for covering terrorist attacks or train crashes. They cover them because people can't help but watch the carnage. And that's exactly what's happening right now with LaVar Ball. It's a complete train wreck.
His son is one of, if not the best, players coming out of the college game this year. He's just kicking off his NCAA tournament run. The NBA draft is a few months away. He'll be playing in his first NBA game in the fall and during what should be the most exciting point in his son's life to date, this grown-ass man is making himself a one-man circus where he is the center of attention.
It's shameful. It's embarrassing. It's a joke.
And sadly, I feel it's just the beginning.