<a class="link" href="https://andscape.com/">Andscape</a> <br>How does hoop run things? Let us count the ways.<br>Sorry, baseball. You’re not America’s Pastime any more. Hey, football – I don’t care how many viewers you get, you don’t run this block. Soccer? Y’all still sharing a name with football. Don’t even get me started on the invasive species that is pickleball. No disrespect to any of these other games – and by “no disrespect” I mean “take it however you want to take it” – but basketball is the Best Sport in the World.<br>Why so aggressive, Jess? Why not celebrate all games for what makes them special? Because hoopers talk the best trash. Because sports are defined by competition. Because at this moment in time, with the NBA and WNBA sizzling hot? Every game, highlight, storyline, hip check and viral moment is further proof that basketball is the apex influencer, the Kendrick Lamar in your little Drake world, the A’ja Wilson to all you … hold up, let me chill and simply ask: <br>How does hoop run things? Let me count the ways.<br>David Berding/Getty Images<br><strong>1. In this ultra-personal social media era, we need to feel the experience</strong>. Basketball brings us closer than any other sport to the emotions of the game. There are no helmets, hats or sunglasses between us and the players pouring heart and soul into their craft. After Luka Dončić <a href="https://youtu.be/ENxgSafvTuI?feature=shared&t=48" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fried</a> Rudy Gobert with a vicious game-winning 3, leaving the so-called Defensive Player of the Year squiggling like a fish in hot grease, the Slovenian superstar <a href="https://youtu.be/ENxgSafvTuI?feature=shared&t=48" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beamed</a> passion, intensity and dominance through our screens. Basketball has the perfect ratio of athletes to televised playing space, creating the proximity for emotive milestones like the Michael Jordan <a href="https://youtu.be/03GT8q3BCZY?feature=shared&t=81" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shrug</a>, a Steph Curry <a href="https://youtu.be/qUW0bo8hsXo?feature=shared&t=68" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shimmy</a>, or the LeBron James <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA3vVzCYBB8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">roar</a>. As Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks prepare to face the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, we can expect to add a potent dose of … <br><strong>2.</strong> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C72IBBgSEtt/?igsh=MW1pZWRtb3kwNTIxYQ==" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Luka Magic</strong></a>. Dončić is now the best player in the world, and if he can snatch a title from the overdue Celtics combination of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, he’ll have the league in a tighter chokehold than <a href="https://youtu.be/LQb8dK4MC-E?feature=shared&t=98" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Draymond had Gobert</a>. The Slovenian assassin is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/21/luka-doncic-dirk-nowitzki-dallas-mavericks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exhibit A</a> of basketball’s status as the most global of all major sports. Yeah, soccer fans, I said it – go ahead and measure your Premier League against the NBA. We currently have players from every continent, including Antarctica, where the Celtics’ Luke Kornet <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ktvBiGImM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inspired</a> the documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GqVK_dvS80" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>March of the Penguins</em></a>. But seriously, Dončić is peak entertainment, not only due to his ridiculous skills and joyous enthusiasm, but because of the things he says after cutting guys to pieces. Yo, Luka, why’d you have to talk to Gobert <a href="https://youtu.be/ENxgSafvTuI?feature=shared&t=48" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like that</a>? How’d you tell the Minnesota Timberwolves to “go home” <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dormroomrivalry/video/7372775713486671147" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like that</a>? How’d you get away with MF-ing Snoop Dogg <a href="https://youtu.be/CGJTWELUF6A?feature=shared&t=10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like that</a>? By flashing your lifetime pass to the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7xsO-8u4b4/?igsh=MTNkaTNjNTRjcG95" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cookout</a> – that’s how.<br>Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<br><strong>3. Women have been dunking in the WNBA <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a1XxRkM6Nw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for a while now</a>, but this young season already gave us a slam for the ages</strong>. What, you missed it? The play started with a loaded rookie class that brought rivalries, narratives, and drama up from college. It took flight as the W’s world-class athletes refused to bow down to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/06/04/caitlin-clark-chennedy-carter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shallow “savior” narrative</a> surrounding No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark. Then Chicago Sky certified dawg Chennedy Carter <a href="https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/40256386" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leveled Clark</a> with the kind of body blow that makes basketball a better sport than football – hard enough to send Clark a message, without the risk of <a href="https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/2023/02/06/researchers-find-cte-in-345-of-376-former-nfl-players-studied/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brain damage</a> or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/us/nfl-history-medical-emergencies/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paralysis</a>. <br>In the resulting media frenzy, ESPN star Stephen A. Smith claimed to be a champion of women’s sports – and got his soul snatched on his own show by colleague Monica McNutt. “Who talks about women’s sports more than <em>First Take</em>,” Smith said. That’s when <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/first-take-off-rails-monica-mcnutt-stephen-a-smith.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McNutt brought down the hammer</a>: “With your platform, you could have been doing this three years ago.” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbxMa6gUOEc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BOOYAH</a>! is what the <a href="https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2024/04/espn-films-greenlights-30-for-30-documentary-on-trailblazing-broadcaster-stuart-scott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">late, great Stuart Scott</a> said from the afterlife. McNutt set conversations on fire from barbershops to the internet with the kind of paradigm-shifting moment that the Stanley Cup Finals (which are, in case you can’t compute ice skating in the summer, a pro hockey championship that begins Saturday on ESPN) could only hope for. McNutt dunking on Stephen A. was the kind of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4re-nFt7DX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poster</a> that might end up on a <a href="https://hoopeduponline.com/2008/09/15/fresh-dipped-obama-dunks-on-mccain-tee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">T-shirt</a>. <br>Speaking of fashion …<br>Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images<br><strong>4. Hoopers have <a href="https://www.revolt.tv/article/11-most-fashionable-athletes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the most flavor</a>, set the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/03/1197461117/how-the-nba-became-home-of-trendsetters-in-fashion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most trends</a>, and flex the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/29/style/nba-basketball-stars-fashion-style/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illest styles</a></strong>. I can’t wait to see at least four more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJTVlg4D40E" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tatum tunnel fits</a>; I’d love to see what he wears to a Game 7. I’m curious if Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving will debut another pair of <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/kyrie-irving-sporting-moccasins-story-140717860.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hoop moccasins</a>. Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons pulled up to a playoff game wearing a Luka Dončić Dallas jersey – and the sneakers of the enemy team’s star, Anthony Edwards’ Adidas AE1s. Actor Paul Rudd <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C7riZ9Mpqvs/?igsh=b3NobjJ0cGxkeXBn&img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wore AE1 cleats</a> in a celebrity softball game. Football players take the field in cleats bearing the names of <a href="https://www.si.com/fannation/sneakers/news/the-10-best-cleats-of-the-2023-nfl-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jordan, LeBron, and Kobe Bryant</a>. One of the hottest cleats right now are called “Dunks.” Meanwhile, is anybody walking around in some Touchdowns? The new Fastballs? Maybe a clean pair of Corner Kicks? I’ll wait.<br>OK, let me chill for real now. We can all get along. I don’t have to Monica McNutt these other sports to appreciate young NBA superstars from across the globe taking the game to new heights, and women getting the respect and opportunities they deserve. Yes, football is exciting. Watching the MLB at the ballpark is fun. The speed, power and grace of hockey is amazing. Soccer is up there with basketball as one of the only sports played daily by both the world’s greatest athletes, and normal people inspired by the challenge of putting the ball in the goal. We can celebrate the joy of all sports with no disrespect to any particular game.<br>Except pickleball. Yo, Luka – tell those MFers they got to go home.<br><br>Jesse Washington is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. 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