REJUVENATION

I don’t want to say they transform the mundane, because that completely undermines the competitive and technical aspects. However, these athletes affect hit us right in the reptile brain, and send us reeling from there. I don’t really think this describes the typical viewing experience of the fan who knows not to ask. My sense is that, for the most part, sports become easier to invest one’s self in the more you know about them, and vice-versa. The trick is that this class of athlete short-circuits this relationship. They don’t transcend the burden of understanding, they tear down the very parameters by which understanding is so strictly tied into spectatorship. Call it ecstatic viewing, performance without description, or the belief that some moments in sports can cause sports to fall away and just sit there in front of you, beaming, as if their power were inherent, their expressiveness final, and their ends, inevitable, if not irrelevant.

via freedarko.com: That Old Weird Horizon.

Couple things on Shoals’ latest acid trip. One, everyone takes FD for granted (seeing a theme, here?) because it’s now an institution, but really, remember when we never saw anything like this earlier in the decade, and how amazing it is that we get this on a consistent basis? Also, this season has brought a sense of rejuvenation to everyone I know. It’s almost like last year, even though it was supposed to be better with the rookies and LBJ v. KB24, was somehow dreary and this year feels like spring. It’s almost like the Lakers’ reign frees us to a certain degree, like Taiwan and China. No longer worrying about who’s winning the title lets us watch the game again. Plus, Brandon Jennings is a Pterodactyl with wings of fire. So that helps.

Oster-Tags: freedarkoiskindofawesome