End of an era ...
Or, when the The Association still mattered ... that is, from a blood and guts perspective ... hardcore basketball ... not talking beautiful game necessarily ... but blood and guts effort, intense rivalries, none of this current day superstar driven crud ... teams, personalities ... wait, did I say that? ... yes, personalities within the team concept. And, of course, good old fashioned hate -- note, not 'dislike' ... HATE
Nice article in the DetroitFreePress setting up this round of playoffs between the NuBulls and the RePistons ... Bulls - Pistons: 88-91, the last of the old school team-based rivalries. And I'm not even a fan of either team ... I loved it for what it was, an old fashioned beat down -- a battle to see who wanted it more.
Funny, although I enjoy the renaissance of the fun-n-gun Suns, Mavs, GSW ala the late 70s and 80s when I started watching. I just don't get that feeling that anyone really cares that deeply anymore, it's that annoying we play hard only in the last 5 minutes of the game stuff, all the hugging and texting and hanging out.
Ehhh, I'm probably just getting all old and nostalgic, but where are the rivalries that this league was revived on and thrived on? ... Bullets-Spurs; Showtime Lakers v. Celtics; Pistons - Celtics; Bulls- Pistons; Knicks - Bulls ... Knicks - Heat seemed promising a handful of years ago, but 33 of the Garden was on his last wheels. Can't think of any since then, then again less than 5 in the Association had their own signature shoes at that time, either
Really enjoyed this read ... life's definitely different now ... check it here.