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I’ve laid off the whole LaVar Ball thing for a while. My only real STRONG TAKE on it is that everyone who makes it known how much they hate LaVar Ball and the shoes is doing nothing other than promoting and perpetuating the #BRAND of LaVar Ball. It’s the Trump campaign, all-publicity-is-good-publicity thing. He’s following that playbook and it’s working. The more you talk about LaVar Ball, especially in a negative way, the more LaVar Ball is going to grow.
The problem I’ve had is that there’s really no way to write that whole thought out without coming off like a self-righteous prick. I just tried to write that last paragraph as toned-down as possible and it still comes off as holier than thou. It’s lecture-y bullshit. And, more importantly, it serves the EXACT same purpose as the people who write about how much they hate LaVar Ball. Writing about LaVar Ball in any plausible way is beneficial to LaVar Ball.
But you know what I realized? I don’t care. I’m totally fine with that. I’m totally fine writing about and thus promoting LaVar Ball. We’re not talking about an evil human being. We’re not talking about a danger to society. We’re talking about a boisterous guy selling shoes through one of the most outrageous, fascinating marketing schemes we’ve ever seen. It’s really not that big of a deal. You’re not losing your healthcare because LaVar Ball is chopping it up on First Take.
It’s sports. It’s supposed to be entertaining and fun and not that serious, right?
So much of the discussion around sports now is heavy stuff. Race, domestic violence, gender, drug addiction, long-term mental health, politics. All of that is intertwined in sports because sports is intertwined in the culture. It’s not the “escape” that it used to be. You might not like that but it’s reality. All of those things affect players, coaches, fans, leagues, industries, advertisers, etc. and thus are going to be talked about within the realm of sports. If you don’t like how political sports have gotten then tough fucking luck. Go find a new hobby. Because that’s not going away. Serious issues like politics, race, gender, mental health, etc. are going to be a massive part of the conversation from here on out.
So… to finally get to my fucking point here… how about we just embrace the innocent, fun stories like a helicopter dad thinking he can take on the multibillion dollar shoe companies. That’s fun. That’s entertaining. That’s interesting without being too weighty. Shit, it’s downright hilarious.
I have no problem with real life and real issues intertwining with sports. But I’m also very much here for the less-serious stuff in between. It’s important to talk about Colin Kaepernick and his stance. But it’s also important to balance that out by shooting the shit about something completely innocent like whether LaVar is a revolutionary marketing genius or a total moron or both.
Enjoy the fun stuff. Don’t just cut off your nose to spite your face. You wouldn’t see a BIG BALLER do that now would you?
P.S. Weird thought here but every time I hear Big Baller I think of the line from Chappelle’s Show Cribs episode.
“I don’t really fuck with Africa cus people are starving to death and that’s not baller to me. COME ON MOTHERFUCKERS”
All time… ALL TIME line that gets completely overlooked within the dozens and dozens of All Time lines from Chappelle’s show.
link to video because Comedy Central won’t let me embed.
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