jazz and basketball

A guilty confession… I am a fierce critic of the corporate mediacracy, believing strongly that there is a powerful agenda to numb, drug and distract us from the ultra-rich pillaging at the public trough while we do the Pavlov on everything from Gay marriage to whether or not Paula Abdul was shtupping an American Idol contestant. However, I have a deep passion for basketball, holding it to be the sport most akin to jazz on the planet. Why? Think about it – any player can pass, rebound, shoot, set screens, block out, etc…the play is constantly fluid, there is a clear set of criteria (call it the form and changes) and it is fascinating to see how the players work their magic inside those rules. Baseball types love to trumpet the complexity of the situation in their sport, how the infield and outfield shift on every pitch in the count. Hell, you want to talk strategy, every time someone tries to drive to the left and is defended the situation changes. There is more strategy, and fluid change of same in one minute of great basketball (say any game involving the Phoenix Suns) than in an hour of baseball. The famous study (can’t recall it now, look it up) that posited about 3 minutes of genuine action in a 3 hour baseball game is a mighty contrast with the soaring, virtuoso, thrilling and breakneck ad lib show in hoops. Basketball, like jazz, is an urban game requiring split second decision-making, true improvisation and some of the most astonishing athleticism one can imagine. Baseball is a bucolic 19th century game with sometimes 20 minutes between balls being put in play. As for the assertion that it is a more cerebral game: Really? Those who say so have no idea of the intricate offenses and defenses called in every basketball possession, with, pace Grace Paley, enormous changes at the very last second on many plays. I also believe there is a racial subtext to some of the critiques of roundball. It, like jazz, has a strong representation of Black culture and rhythm, and while there are many many outstanding white players, from Nash to Nowitzki to Peja to Ginobili to J.J. Reddick, today’s basketball, like jazz did in the 1930s, counts blacks as the substantial majority of its best practitioners, and I believe that is troubling to a largely white viewing audience. That is by no means to say you can’t be a conservative republican basketball (or jazz) lover or a lefty baseball or nascar lover and jazz/hoops hater. However, even among my progressive baseball loving jazz friends, I hear code words about “street ball”, no teamwork, “natural athletes” and “I like the college game better”. When you scratch away, a lot of the antipathy some have towards basketball is because of the cultural disconnect and because, while most armchair jocks can leg out a double in a softball beer league, it’s pretty hard to deceive yourself that you could have played college or high school basketball.

You can even analogize to styles of jazz playing with bball.

The Suns with Nash and the Pistons with Chauncey are thrilling equal access teams ala the Jarrett trio or the Miles mid-60s quintet and teams with ball hogs like Kobe are like the sax player who treats his rhythm section like an aebersold CD, something to be used to practice his solipsism over (and no, I won’t name names.) So here’s to bball, the sole reason, along with Jon Stewart that the cable conglomerates occasionally get a toehold in our house…and c’mon Montgomery, let Ike play some more, for God’s sake! I love this game…peace, MZ
PS – check out www.youtube.com very cool site…