Basketball introductions: Love them or hate them?
March 25, 2008 @ 7:31 p.m. by Joannaby joanna
I don’t want to offend any of the faithful readers of this blog — I love you, I really do. I appreciate your comments, I appreciate your readership. But ya’ll, too many of us are too stinking old.
Want evidence? A whole bunch of you don’t like the intros at basketball games? Why? Because it takes a whole 3.5 minutes to get through? Let me reiterate that I don’t want to offend, I don’t want to turn you away. But Come On!
I usually ignore them, because I’m readying my stats page for the game and I see lots and lots of intros. But I like the creativity or the simplicity. They make me smile. The kids enjoy it. What harm is there? As one of you noted, someone could get hurt after a chest bump. Yep. Very true. If it happened, that would truly stink.
But how often do us “old” (mentality, not age) folks — I’m throwing myself in there — ever just let these teens be teens? They aren’t throwing gang signs (not all the time anyway that I’ve noticed), they’re not flipping someone off, no one is yelling Airball to the other team or some other horrible thing that old folks hate, they’re not screaming profanities.
Let them be. Let them have fun. There’s so much seriousness in sports, with every parent sure their kid is going to be a Division I scholarship recipient who they are pushing into every camp and keeping them playing 24/7, 365. So let’s let them, for a few seconds, show some exuberance and fun.
Remember when you were a teen and you walked through a store and people’s eyes followed you? I remember, and I was about as conservative and boring as a 16-year-old could be. It made me mad. Sure, some teens deserve a close eye, but not all of them.
So next season, avert your eyes when the intros start. Go to the bathroom. Or just smile and think, Hmmm, I bet that’s fun to sit in study hall and try to come up with a cool new routine.
I’m done preaching, but I’m hoping you all will share your thoughts. Agree? Disagree? Think I’ve offended my entire readership?
I’ll try to suck up tomorrow.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
One thing that irritates me as a player is when the National Anthem takes 10 minutes or so to play. I mean you just get done warming up then you have to stand in line and listen to it for what seems like forever. I’m not against playing it before the game, just wish they could play it a little faster.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I have never had a problem with the intro, but “Boo” hit the nail on the head about the national anthem. Don’t get me wrong. I am a patriot. But c’mon, wrap it up already. Milking the anthem just drives me crazy.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Its not a talent show. They are being introduced as starters at a basketball game not for American Idol. Just get it over without a big deal, use the game to showcase your skills not introductions. I have seen players who can do a great pregame handshake or put on a good show but can’t remember a play that their coach calls. I think players will remember the games they lost or won and not that they didn’t get a chance to show off during introductions. I bet SE will remember the state title and not the all the BS during pregame.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I think someone did get hurt a few years back, tearing an ACL during a chest bump.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Agree! Let the kids be kids, and enjoy their high school days.
March 27th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I love the intros!! I still want to hear (as a South fan) some thing like this; “Ladies and gentleman, standing a towering 6′4”, tipping the scales at 240 lbs, number 44, center, Arthur Gary!” Why not? They intro MJ like that when he played.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
How many times did you ever see MJ chest bump during intros. Or get a pat down like a SE player did. I tell what the players will enjoy, winning. Just get intros over and when Gary makes to the NBA he can get his introduction or maybe he can get someone to do it in a YMCA league for him.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I’m just not one for someone showing someone else up in sports. It’s not a direct “in your face show-up”, but it reaks of “look at me”. I hear you, let kids be kids. The problem is, this process can take three times as long as the anthem…. This is why I can not tolerate Tiger Woods. Please, do not anyone tell me he’s the greatest golfer ever. I can’t argure against that (although most likely true, he can give me another 5+ years and I’ll sign off on that whole-heartedly). I do NOT like his antics. I don’t like the fist pump. I don’t like how he spiked his hat the other day after a big put. I don’t like the whinning and crying about a camera shutter. I don’t like his showmanship in a game that is suppossed to wreak of honor, class, and ethics. It’s the only other sport besides tennis (amatuer) that you call your own fouls, and are considered higher by your peers when you do so. That has NOTHING to do with high school intros, but I’m just a simplist. Let your game do your talking. Now somebody give me a DAP……
March 28th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I just don’t like the intros. They’re not for anybody but the (starting)players themselves.
I fee like I’m watching “You Got Served.”
They’re just unnecessary. Some of these guys should take the time they waste on coming up with “what’s cool when they call my name” and work on their free-throw shooting.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Or learn a few plays.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I LOVE the intros! The game would not be the same without them!
PLEASE do not EVER change this!
Come on! It only takes a few minutes out of your life!
As far as them only being for the starters, do you don’t how much longer the intros would be if schools took the time to introduce each player? What we have now is a great compromise!
I wish they did it for JV &/or FR teams occasionally.
It gives the kids who are not yet starters something to work for - a goal, so to speak. It’s a reward that starters have earned and deserve!