I Want To Feel Free Again!

When I was growing up, I was petrified by the thought of drowning. I had a reoccurring dream when I was in elementary school that the Dodge Caravan that my mother drove would, for some reason, careen off the side of the Piscataqua River bridge which connects Maine and New Hampshire through an interstate highway. For a little while, I was terrorized by this deep, unfeeling thought of water flooding my lungs.

Probably because of the dream, I was also sort of horrible at swimming, which increased my paranoia about going over the bridge. It was a classic catch-22. I only cured myself of by throwing myself into gradually larger bodies of water with terrible reasoning: girls liked dudes who could swim. Eventually, I was able to conquer my fears and calmly dive into the swarthy depths of municipal pools and minor lakes and ponds. My worries are gone, and now I can swim with the best dogs, turtles and underwater creatures.

In a couple of days, or maybe even today, there is going to be some sort of trade rumor that will shock the blogosphere to its very core. Maybe the Mavericks, who have been surging as of late, will move Caron Butler’s contract to get another quality player into their rotation. Because of the short news cycle, ESPN still desires a hungry need for Andrew Bynum to get traded. Possessed by a demonic being, there’s a good chance that Carmelo Anthony will be shipped to the Russian national team in exchange for four suitcases of rubles.



What I would propose to all of us who are occasionally obsessed with intentionally headline-grabbing trade rumors and other bullshit is: forget all that stuff, and let whatever happens, happen. We need to leave our worries about our favorite teams behind and jump into the weird, seemingly scary future. Are potential trades and free agent signings really changing the players that we love? Look at Chris Bosh: after moving to Miami, he’s still Chris Bosh!

Things are going to change eventually and if we’re scared of what happens, we won’t be able to enjoy what happens when they do transform into new, explosive demons. Face the facts: we are going to live in a future where Ray Allen has retired, where J.R. Smith and Anthony Morrow are two of the best shooting guards in the league.

I’m actually extremely excited to just get on with whatever the future will bring us. For the first time in years, it seems like the bottom three spots in the Western Conference playoffs are wide open. If Carmelo gets traded before the deadline, the Nuggets might not make the playoffs. In its current placement, the Jazz would miss the playoffs for the first time since the year before Deron came to Zion. Believe it or not, Memphis, Phoenix, Golden State and Houston all stand a chance to make the playoffs. We shouldn’t be scared, and we shouldn’t immediately judge this teams as also-rans right now: we should embrace this sexy chaos and throw our hearts into it.



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