NBA where amazing happens -PART 1-

NBA where amazing happens -PART 1-                

 HAN SI HUN (JAKE)

   The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a pre-eminent men’s professional basketball league, one of the 4 major North American professional sports leagues. It consist thirty franchised member clubs of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada. There are 2 main conferences: The EAST and the WEST. Each conference is divided by 3 sub divisions: East=Atlantic, south east, central. WEST= pacific, south west, North West. And each division consists 5 teams. [1]

   When we talk about the NBA in today’s society, some people might think that NBA is just a basketball game between insanely overpaid athletes. In a sense, they are right. NBA players are the world’s best paid sportsmen by average annual salary per year.[2] However, what people do not realize is the rich history behind the NBA, how it was created, the glorious records, the great games, and the thousands of amazing memories that have been forgotten in this day in age. How the players impact American culture, and also people all round the world. Many people do not realize how the NBA players affect the growth of the black youths in US and how their actions affect those who idolized them. NBA is not just about basketball, it greatly affects the culture, society and certainly it affects the lives of millions of people. NBA even launched the leagues’ social responsibility initiative called NBA Cares. NBA Cares gathered the contribution from the teams, current and former players, and the league office on volunteering 302,000 hours of hands-on service to the community and money more than $50 million for charity to create 171 places where kids and families can live, learn or play.[3]

  
  


  
  
   Have you heard about Linsanity? Linsanity means legendary created by an Asian NBA player named Jeremy Lin who is Chinese-American and he graduated from Harvard University. Asians are not often discussed in professional basketball such as the NBA due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, there are not many Asian players who are prominent in the basketball profession. Due to the nature of basketball being a highly athletic sport with height and genetic advantages being very important elements, Asians are disadvantaged in this aspect due to their genetically less robust physical frame. However, the main reason is due to racial limits. But Jeremy Lin overcame those limitations through his shooting skills and penetration skills. It affected a lot of people, not only in Asia but in the world, and he destroyed the stereotype that Asian cannot be a successful in the NBA. He is showing to people that even though there are physical limitations on playing basketball, we can overcome just through the raw efforts and hard practicing. This gives a lot of hope and inspiration to the Asians. [4]

Jeremy Lin's Game Winner At Toronto Raptors (02/14/12)

NBA provides a lot of solutions to society problems in America. In America, nearly one out of every three black American men between the ages of twenty and thirty are in some way involved in criminal acts. Even though they play basketball in college, they know that it will never be their profession, it is simply their passion. The uncivil behavior in basketball goes beyond the arena and the player. It is not difficult to find a fan willing to stand in line for an entire day to get an autograph from Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant. These players are black people. But imagine 20 years ago, when the Blacks were severely discriminated in the White society. But now, 9 out of 10 players are blacks. The presence of NBA helped the society to overcome racism. Not only this, even the basketball players who previously did not get the chance to play professionally, are able to go right to the NBA to earn their big contract without graduating from college.  [5]

Through this you can see that basketball is not simply a sport for entertainment purposes but also encompasses cultural and societal influences. For the Americans, this sport helped them overcome certain racial issues such as discrimination towards the Blacks and Asians. Thus we can further understand how the American societal belief and value system works by delving deeper into the close relations basketball has towards the American people. After doing my writing, I feel that I know so much more about the game of basketball.

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[1] National Basketball Association. 12 June 2012 at 04:18.
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association
[2] Joe Dorish. Average Salaries in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.Available:http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ycn-10423863
[3]NBA Cares Available:http://basketball.wikia.com/wiki/NBA_Cares
[4]tech dirt. Linsanity... At The Trademark Office. Available:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120215/01523817765/linsanity-trademark-office.shtml

[5] NBA lauded for Diversity players,coaches. Available:http://www.interbasket.net/news/2473/2009/06/nba-lauded-for-diversity-of-players-coaches/