The Game of Basketball

It’s not a Goodbye, it’s a see you later

As the semester comes to an end I just want to thank all of the people that viewed my posts and followed as well. This has been a great experience for myself as I was able to learn a lot. I learned so much not only about myself but my passion. One thing I love is sports and without it I really don’t know who, where and what I would be.

I’m not here to talk about basketball anymore but about different ways I can improve. Some of the things I noticed while working on my sites was how much more effort I can put into it. I know I am capable of more but I do feel like I didn’t put that much in as I would like but that’s okay because I look at it as something I can work on in the future.

Another way I can improve is finding new ways to promote my content. The only way I promoted my content was through my 2nd twitter account which barely has followers. What I could’ve done was retweet my post from my 1st account which has 700+ followers, tweeted my content from that account, posted a link on my IG story, posted a screenshot of my content on my IG and last but not least, post on Facebook. The reason as to why I didn’t go that route was because I was nervous on what people would think of my content. I didn’t want people to judge me or look at me differently but one thing I learned was that I can’t be scared. Regardless this is what I enjoy and people will always have their own thoughts and opinions.

One of my goals during this project was to visit different NBA arenas and experience each NBA fan base. Unfortunately because of Covid-19 I was unable to do it. Of course that did not stop me, I was able to find different ways to improvise. I was able to learn about what players were doing during this pandemic. That was the best experience to me because it showed how while everyone is battling we as a basketball community can come together and help those in need.

Now for the future who knows what’s going to happen but one thing I do know is that I will come out of this with a more positive attitude. I learned to not take things for granted anymore because they can go away with just a blink of an eye. As someone who wants to pursue a career in sports media I noticed how much our life revolves around sports and how much we need it in our life. Being able to create blogs about the sport that I love will definitely give me a head start because now I know what it’s like to run a page. I know how to create content that the media will love, I know how to promote my stuff and last but not least I know to not be afraid of what people think and just go in with a positive attitude.

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The Last Dance Pt. 2

Hopefully you guys are back and ready to talk about my take on the first couple of episodes of “The Last Dance”. If you’re all caught up you should know that tomorrow episodes 7&8 will air at 8pm CT on ESPN and ESPN2. If you are not, ESPN+ has episodes 1-6.

Okay let’s begin, my first thought on the documentary is, AMAZING!! ESPN did an amazing job not only releasing a documentary at a perfect time but showing us fans how great Michael was. As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to go in with an open view on Michael. I wanted to see what this “hype” that he created was about. So far he has not disappointed.

The documentary starts off with Michael’s last year as a Chicago Bull. It goes in detail about how this is the last year for this team and after the season the GM plans on “blowing” the team up and starting from fresh. Now the only thing that I do not like about the documentary is how it jumps back and forth. It goes from the “current dates” to Michael’s younger days in the NBA. It does correlate but it just keeps jumping back and forth.

I learned a lot about Michael and the Bulls. I learned that Michael only had love for one thing and that was basketball. He dedicated his life and passion to the game. All he dreamed and thought about was basketball. In order to achieve greatness, you have to be dedicated and persistent which is what Michael was. He went through a lot of downs earlier in his career but who does not. You learn from your mistakes and you use those to fuel you and mold you into the type of person you choose to become. Michael used everything against him and became what he is now.

Everybody wants to “Be like Mike.”

The Last Dance

Every day I wake up and check my phone. Not to see a notification about a school assignment, a Snapchat from a friend or a text from my dad. I check to see if the NBA has returned. It seems like every day just keeps disappointing me. Luckily, today is not that day. I turn my TV on and see a trailer, not just any trailer but a NEW trailer. “What may it be?”, you ask yourself. Let’s take a look,

Now many of you are wondering why the excitement. Let me tell you, you are stuck at home with nothing to do. No basketball, no sports, a whole lot of nothing. Just a documentary about one of the greatest players and teams to ever suit up. This is the closest thing we are getting to live sports.

Of course, this isn’t just any ordinary documentary, this is Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls we are talking about. Arguably the greatest team to ever be assembled. As one of the younger fans I was never able to watch Michael play. I have seen his highlights, his shoes and a couple of interviews but never witnessed him play with my own eyes. I hear a lot of older NBA fans praise him, calling him, the “GOAT”, Air Jordan, and all of these other names. Now it’s time for me to find out.

When watching this documentary, I want to go in with an open view. I want to keep in mind all the opinions that people have said about Michael and just let the show come to me. I know many people have this debate on who’s better, Michael or Lebron? I do not want that thought in my head, I want to see what Michael and the Bulls are all about. I want to see the failures, the blood, sweat, and tears that were put in during this long journey. From the looks of it, we are going to find out who really is Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

What’s your favorite blog?

As the internet evolves so do we as people. We learn to adapt to the new technology and the many different ways we are introduced to news, sports, and things you enjoy. One of the ways is it is introduced is by blogs. Blogs have news about whatever you are into. As a sports fan many people create blogs for them and for me one of my favorite ones is called SBNation.com. Not only are they known for all different sports they’re known for basketball and the NBA.

As you guys can see here how their mobile website looks.

What I really enjoy about their website is how up to date they are with their stories. As you can see from the picture above, the new show on Netflix ‘Tiger King’, has been trending lately and of course in the show there was a part where Shaq was shown. If you read the story it gives you a background on how Shaq went about the tigers and the amount he bought and how he got involved with Mr. Joe Exotic.

Now of course the more you go down the more stories there is, but one thing that I did like was the way they format their stories. When you read their stories they always have links and videos to what they are talking about just in case you want more information or need a visual to see what they are talking about. I as well like to use that format because it not only helps your followers, it as well helps what you are trying to tell. Just being able to have a similar mindset as them really shows how connected you can be with your followers.

What are NBA players doing during this pandemic?

With no NBA games going on at this very moment many people are wondering what are the athletes during this time. Many are recovering from Covid-19, others are at home with their families, while others are staying active on social media talking about past events and what they are doing to stay healthy during this pandemic.

As you can see Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade reflect on Kobe Bryant and the stuff they are currently doing.

Not only are NBA players sitting at home enjoying wine like Dwayne Wade, others are making videos with their children on Tik Tok or just making videos of themselves. One of the most famous NBA players, Lebron James has been enjoying his time creating Tik Tok videos with his family and Bradley Beal as well with his girlfriend/wife and son. As you can see many NBA players are doing great although there is no games to be played. The good thing about this is that players are able to rest and train at their homes or facilities they own without having to worry so much about the disease.

Now of course there is a couple of NBA players that tested positive for the disease and those players have been isolated but many have gone to social media to let us fans know how they are doing and to keep looking at the positives of this outcome. As many know Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert did test positive but since yesterday they have been cleared and don’t have the disease. Donovan did tweet out yesterday as you can see below and followed with this quote,

“On a more serious note… let’s continue to practice social distancing and remember… even though you may not have symptoms you still may be infected!! Let’s keep everyone in our prayers and stay safe”

🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/3JkZXqGr8U
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) March 27, 2020

Not only do NBA players miss the game so do us fans, even some have created memes on how much we miss it. For example this famous meme that everyone knows about, they added the picture of the NBA logo to show how much one misses it.

As you can see many NBA players are doing great even with no games happening. We are able to catch a glimpse of what these players are doing with a pandemic and that should definitely encourage you to not only practice social distancing but also not take for granted what you have. We don’t know when this will be over but I tell you once it is, you will see change coming in everyone.

No NBA, No Sports, No Nothing

You wake up with another day to do a whole lot of nothing. You turn the TV on and hope to see the return of the NBA but in reality it’s about COVID-19. You get on your phone and receive a notification but it’s about another NBA player with the disease. Things seem to get a whole lot worse as days, weeks and months continue. Not only are we suffering, the whole world is. No sports, no NBA, no nothing.

“What to do today?”, is what I’ve been asking myself these past couple of days. I wake up and it just doesn’t feel like a normal day, I’m used to looking forward to a basketball game but unfortunately there’s none. The NBA season has been postponed due to Covid-19. When will it be return is an amazing question not only I have but players as well. These past couple of weeks has been very rough, not too long ago a couple of stars in the NBA tested positive for the disease. One of the well known superstars like Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell and his teammate Rudy Gobert all tested positive. Now of course they’re not the only one’s as the list continues to grow. As you can see it’s affecting everyone and growing rapidly.

With no NBA games on TV you are forced to find something to do or watch. The beautiful thing about the NBA is, they are allowing people to sign up for NBA League Pass for free. With this pass you are able to watch all games from the 2019-2020 season, as well as classic games from the 90’s and previous years. This is so amazing for us fans because we are able to watch classic games which are hard to find and we are able to learn more about previous players that paved the way for many stars that we have now.

As a person that loves basketball it is very hard to not have live games since I’m so accustomed to being able to watch them every other day. During this time I have kept myself busy by going outside and shooting the ball either by myself or with one other friend. I as well went ahead and put up my Michael Jordan cutout on my wall to remind myself that regardless of whatever happens, basketball will always live on.

Houston Rockets

One of my favorite teams that I grew up watching is the Houston Rockets. All they do is disappoint me every year. Unfortunately that’s just how it is. I have a love-hate relationship with them and that’s because they get me excited all season just to break my heart once playoffs come around. Except for this specific game I went to.

Toyota Center

When walking into the stadium you feel the energy of the environment immediately. You see all of the cutouts, posters, championships, the happy faces of the fans. It’s just all good energy. It doesn’t stop there, once you make your way to your seat then you start to feel the nervousness, at least for myself. You see the big jumbo-tron with the players faces and the highlights from the past few games and that’s when you know it’s about to get super real!

During that specific game the famous artist, Travis Scott had tweeted he was going to make an appearance at the game and told us to arrive early for a special performance. We made sure we got there on time and I tell you, the man put on a show. Not only did he perform a couple of his songs, he also got into the stands and started to take pictures with fans. I as well was one of those fans that managed to get a video with him doing the famous Harden “cooking” celebration.

While being at the game I managed to talk to a lot of different fans and was able to get some thoughts and opinions from them. Some were good and others not so good. One of my questions that I asked was, “What do you think or feel about Clint Capela?” The reason as to why I kept asking that question is because I personally am not a big fan of him and that is because I believe he is a “soft” center that really doesn’t bring a lot to the game. Of course he can block shots and catch alley-oops but that’s mostly it. He doesn’t space the floor and is just there. Many fans agreed while others disagreed. I had a fan tell me he was a big fan of him and, “loves to watch him grow as a player.” I see where he’s coming from and I see how much Clint has grown but to me it’s just not enough.

As the game continued it was a nail-bitter until the end, Harden was doing his thing as usual and ended the game with 34 points while Westbrook kept trying to lead his team back ended the night with 47 points and a close to a triple double. We did get the win as well as closed the series with a 4-1 lead headed to the 2nd round of the playoffs. The atmosphere was amazing, the crowd was on the edge of their seats all game and it really felt like a roller-coaster ride throughout the whole game. Here’s a recap of the game

As you can see and hear the happiness of the fans once the game was over

Not only was this one of my favorite games but one of my favorite experiences as well. I managed to see two All-Stars go at it in a suspense game and my favorite team as well got the win to advance to the next round. I do plan on attending another Rockets game this year and hopefully get a better view and possibly an interview with more fans as well maybe a player. Hope to see you guys on my next post in which I plan on either going to a San Antonio Spurs game or another Rockets game. Stay Tuned.

The Game of Basketball

My name is Christopher Santiago and I am here to talk to you guys about the NBA and basketball. I fell in love with the game of basketball at the age of 11. I never really got to play in middle school or high school but somehow always ended up at my neighborhood park playing pick-up games with my friends, older kids and adults. Not only was playing one of my favorite things to do growing up but sitting in front of the TV watching every tip-off, layup, dunk and three. Basketball has really inspired me as a person with everything that the NBA and its athletes do not only on the court but off the court as well. Some of the things that the players have done to help off the court have been, charity events, signing fans jerseys, opening schools for kids, the list can go on and on.

Of course, being a Houston native, being a Houston Rockets fan is in my blood but my favorite player, who I consider the greatest of all time or “GOAT”, is Lebron James. That’s the guy I grew up watching and just the things he does inspire me to be a better person in life.

I want to be able to show you guys why I fell in love with the game and by doing that I plan on attending a game in Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas to show you how amazing this sport is. I as well hope to encounter die hard fans from each of those teams to talk about some of the craziest stories they have about the game, learn about their teams culture, and find out what made them fall in love with the game. I really hope this journey makes YOU enjoy the game like I do and eventually turns you into a die hard fan.