NBA Blues: Fans Come for the Game...But Cheer for the Specatcle

For the typical heterosexual male the opportunity to not just observe, but to be asked to focus your attention on shapely, scantily clad attractive, young ladies moving sensuously is seldom a bad thing.

Society accepts as a good thing watching the dancers. So that is entertaining one would think.

The other thing would be the chalupa. Any night the Blazers score 100 points, we all get a coupon for a free chalupa at Taco Bell.

I think a chalupa typically runs something like a buck.

A seat for a Blazers game runs from $10 for the cheap seats on up to several thousands of dollars for courtside. You would think the seats were free the way people go nuts for those chalupas.

In fact, a typical game involving ties, lead changes, thunderous showtime dunks, spectacular blocks, and a Blazers victory typically sees the largest cheers for the chalupa basket (also true even if they are winning or losing by a significant margin...as long as they hit 100 the people go home happy),the prize-distributing blimp flights, the Blazers dancers, and the free t-shirts distributed at various points in the game.

This is a disturbing trend. I have nothing against extraneous entertainment. Sure, I wish it was something vaguely entertaining, but at least they are making an effort. But I also think the game should be the centerpiece.

It is sad to see the crowd on their feet and roaring during the timeouts and then when the game is in play it is quiet enough to hear the occasional leather-lung complaint at the referee from the far end of the building.

If the game is not all that entertaining then why are the people there in the first place?

Somehow, some way somebody needs to come up with a way to get the fans energized during the game itself so the sound volume escalates at the right time to pump up the home team and hopefully demoralize the opponent. Then the home court advantage will be something meaningful.

At least between now and then I can console myself with mini-skirted dancers...

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