Great YouTube Channels

I remember the early 90's when the public started using the Internet. My first memories of basketball online were sports chat rooms where the conversations usually looked something like this:

"Hakeem is the greatest"
"What? He sucks Shaq rules!"
"You're an idiot. Have you ever played basketball dude?"
"Shut up loser. Wilt would destroy anyone".....

If we look forward 30 years we are basically hearing the same thing today but with a lot more budget and production value. I sometimes get amused hearing Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd, Shannon Sharpe, Max Kellerman, and others pontificate, debate, and argue but it frequently comes across as being biased and shallow opinions.

Over the years I have encountered many independent sports channels on YouTube that I enjoy. One basketball channel I really like is JixmHighroller. He has produced great videos focusing on basketball over the last 3 years. The video below shows the detail he goes into to compare which active players today most resemble Michael Jordan's game. I'd love to have a channel like his but I'm not willing to put in the time for research and production work that he does. I guess I will just enjoy his good work.



Here is another interesting video I just came across this week. I've never seen Danger Productions before but this video does a great job breaking down the GOAT debate we have all heard a thousand times before but it adds so many more insights. I am a huge LeBron fan and would love to see him surpass Jordan someday but after watching The Last Dance recently and seeing this video breakdown it has reminded me why Jordan is still the greatest.



I hope you enjoy these two videos. I appreciate all the research and work that goes into making them. I enjoy these type of productions more than listening to famous, opinionated sports analysts arguing with each other on ESPN.

Basketball Withdrawals

I love playing basketball but I have not done so for 8 months. I went back to Ghana in October and said goodbye to playing the usual pickup games with friends 2-3 times per week. I have really missed playing ball and couldn't wait to come back and start again since it is my favorite sport and is really the only social activity I have with friends.

I was counting down the days to play again at home and was so excited to be able to come back in April, but that was before the Coronavirus closed borders, shut down airlines, spoiled an amazing NBA season, and changed the world. At this point it looks like I wont be able to return home for at least another month or two.

My biggest fear when I do finally get back is not being able to play ball like we used to. I can see how people can play tennis, golf, frisbee, or other games and still social distance but 5 on 5 full court basketball requires close physical contact, getting in people's personal space, and getting sweat on each other. Playing 6 feet apart from people while wearing a mask sounds about as fun as playing basketball on an outdoor rim with no net and a flat ball.

Speaking of sweat, I love this clip from Along Came Polly. It's only funny because it has happened to me so many times when we used to play shirts and skins.



This makes me miss both pickup games and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I hope things improve soon. There are many sacrifices I am willing to make but saying goodbye to basketball is not one of them.