A friend mentioned to me related to the project that he didn't really get the appeal of basketball. Here's my pitch:
I view sport as a competitive performing art. It's like ballet or opera, with more running into each other.
My own preference for basketball over other options didn't really connect with me until the first time I heard soccer described as "the beautiful game". To me, that description fits basketball better than any other major sport.
A big part of what originally got me interested in basketball was NBA Jam, but it was sort of like how Road Runner/Coyote was the precursor to my love of Buster Keaton's comedies: I started with the exaggerated version, but here are real people doing remarkably comparable things.
I can appreciate the strategic decision-making in other sports, but the choreography of basketball is just so much more appealing to me.
It's not just offense either - I actually find myself drawn to impressive defence as much, or more.
For instance, my next game is against the Bulls, so I was recently remembering Dennis Rodman's shutdown of Shaq in the Conference Finals that year:
Rodman is, like virtually every human being who has ever lived, smaller than Shaq - but he's able to stop him using nothing but applied physics. That's pretty cool.
Stuff like that happens in basketball all the time - there are many stats tracked, but the most interesting stuff can't be quantified. (I could say the same thing about most aspects of modern life, actually.)
Another example: I really think we're in a golden age of passing right now. Outside of the mid-80s Celtics (or the Harlem Globetrotters), I can't think of any other historical team that moved the ball in a way that's as fun to watch.
The Warriors are a go to example for excellent ball movement. LeBron, too. I don't know how he does these things. This is last season alone:
It's not limited to the current elite, either - and that kind of ball movement is a big part of why I would consider basketball the true beautiful game.
I can listen to baseball games on the radio. I'm not much for football but I don't feel like it suffers significantly without images. Basketball just does not work that way. You can describe how plays transpire, but the joy is in the execution, much more so than in most sports.
There's also the matter being able to appreciate something that would be literally impossible for you to ever achieve. I suppose this is more a defence of basketball video games than watching the sport, but we'll get back to that.
There are all sorts of reasons I could never play in the MLB (my eyesight, for one), but it does seem achievable, if I worked hard enough, to become the Altuve of the beer league softball team - much, much, MUCH worse, but a difference of degree, not kind.
No matter how long or hard I work, I will never be able to play basketball in a way that at all resembles Giannis. Not just a difference of degree, but my frame simply cannot produce action that resembles what many of the top basketball players can do.
I never got into the Rock Band craze because any time I was practicing the game was time I could've spent playing real instruments. No amount of practice is going to help me post up somebody.
(Source on inability to post up: I tried playing in a church league a couple years ago. My knee still hurts sometimes. Don't get old, kids.)
Anyway, I do enjoy other sports too. Going to baseball games is a great time. If there was a deep 16 bit 2-on-2 volleyball sim, I would probably be playing that instead. But basketball is the first sport I loved and will always be special for me.
TL;DR:
