That Was Then; This Was Now

I just recently watched a few NBA basketball games … the first time in many years. I have never watched regular season NBA games after Michael Jordan retired, and have not watched any NBA playoff games in many years.
FYI: The most watched NBA game with 36 million viewers, was in 1998 … the 6th and final game of the playoffs between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz, in which Michael Jordan hit the winning shot.
But that was then (36 million TV viewers), and this is now.
From Imprimus:
In the 2020 NBA finals LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in 6 games. The TV viewing audience for that 6th game was 7.4 million. This means that the NBA had lost 80% of its viewers, despite the fact that between 1998 and 2020 the population of the U.S. had increased by 30%!
This dramatic drop did not surprise me as although many years back I would watch some playoff games when the games actually counted, I had not watched any NBA playoff games since the NBA became “woke.”
Lest you have forgotten, in 2020 the league painted the slogan, “Black Lives Matter” on its basketball courts. Then the players in both the NBA and the WNBA began replacing the names on their jerseys with left-wing political slogans. Likewise back in 2017 the NBA pulled its All Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina because the legislature passed a bill to keep men out of women’s bathrooms! Finally after that ludicrous act in 2017, by 2020, I had both stopped watching any NBA games, and also refused to read anything NBA-related in the newspapers.
That was then.
Now one of my daughters, her husband and their kids are now avid enthusiastic Boston Celtics fans. For those unaware, the Boston Celtics play in the NBA, so I thought that perhaps I would watch a game. In fact I have watched a few. I have to admit that the games were entertaining, and to boot, there was no graffiti on the courts or on the uniforms. For those not aware, the Boston Celtics won the championship in five games.
The Boston Celtics head coach, Joe Mazzulla, is not confused about who deserves the praise after winning the NBA championship … and it was not Black Lives Matter or anything to do with the trans insanity!
During Game 5 of the NBA finals, Mazzulla wore a black crewneck shirt on the court sideline. But after his team defeated the Dallas Mavericks in a 106–88 rout, Mazzulla stripped off the long-sleeve shirt to reveal a second shirt underneath.
This is now …
“But first … let me thank God,” the shirt said.

Could it be that the NBA has awakened from its “woke” insanity?

6/20/24
www.californiacontrarian.com