The Nostalgic Charm of "Hardwood Classics"

Even if the Coronavirus doesn’t kill you, it will drive you insane. Watching the news is now like checking off the smallest of changes to further advancements. Life has come to a standstill and redefined a slow news day. Yes, COVID-19 is one of the most serious viruses to happen in my lifetime, but there is something about it that makes you selfish. You so desperately want to fall back on a routine that you can’t. Restaurants are closed. Movie theaters dwindled so quickly that you can now watch new releases at home… for about $20. So much of the world is learning how to reassemble itself, and it’s kind of boring to watch. 

The definition of nothing being on is mostly true right now, though it will be truer by December when the fallout from this catches up with us. For now, we have programs that were in the pipeline waiting for a release date. We have Westworld and Devs right there waiting for us. What about the worst-case scenario? What happens if this gets so bad that no entertainment (on a professional scale, anyways) is produced for closer to a year? 

Is it possible to run out of reruns?

The madness seems tempting to indulge. If anything, the back catalogs that make Netflix and Hulu the gelatinous swamps they are were created for this moment. Their social media accounts would suggest this shamelessly. 

It's coming sooner than you think

There was also something lost that can’t be replicated on a binge-watch. It was an exciting tool that I sometimes planned my week around. An average NBA game during the season got me excited. The developments of who’s in and out, what team is on top are all variables that get my brain running. Is this the year that Giannis Antetokuompo gives The Bucks a Championship title? There is a build-up to these things that fade with time, but at the moment you can’t help but revel in because it’s the one time when everything seems uncertain. Nobody knows for sure if The Bucks will win, or if either Los Angeles team will be competing against them. They all seem likely given current standings, but postponing the season when they did is like stopping a boulder midway down a hill. It could pick back up, but the momentum just won’t be there.

So, how do you keep that buzz going? For those who subscribed to Disney+, you may have access to ESPN+, which among other things includes the 30 for 30 documentary series, including the Oscar-winning O.J. Made in America. There’s coverage for almost every sport, and the NBA has multiple ongoing series, including Kevin Durant’s look at NBA as a corporation with The Boardroom. There’s even a decent game theory show from the late Kobe Bryant called Detail that breaks down various plays from current people in the league. There’s so much there that it becomes a bit frustrating to note that due to contractual blocks, ESPN+ doesn’t actually have a whole lot of NBA games. At best, you’ll find some NCAA games that remind you why Zion Williamson really took off this season. I am sure there’s something more comparable in League Pass, though I never actually used it.

What is a basketball fan to do in times of crisis? For those without cable, it’s going to be a miserable couple of months. There are highlights on YouTube, but there’s nothing like the build-up to a moment, where the surprise comes out of nowhere and the twist on a way to a crucial three-pointer gives you that flicker of hope. A game is as much about the career-defining moves as it is sustaining an entire game. 

Given that TNT doesn’t do reruns, it leaves ESPN and other local markets to carry games. ESPN has great variety, but inevitably is disappointing for those who want to turn on the TV midday and find a basketball game on. You may get it, but it’s buried underneath various other coverage. Even then, you’re not guaranteed to get a recent game, as these networks cater to playing older ones from decades prior.

With that said, there’s the more reliable alternative NBA TV, which as the title suggests, is entirely dedicated to basketball. While some days will just get you marathons of Shaqtin’ a Fool, they have been known to play older games under the moniker Hardwood Classics. For someone like me, it’s the closest that I’ll ever get to watching the legends in action. 

I’ve only really had two eras in which I loved watching NBA religiously, and that was during the threepeat seasons of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant with The Lakers, and more recently with The Warriors since about 2016. As much as I could claim to be about a deeper craft, I am somebody who is more taken in by the spectacle of a great player making the game seem fun. I get that from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson shooting three-pointers like it’s a side hustle. I get that from Patrick Beverley essentially picking fights five times before the ball is even shot. 

Get well soon, Klay

Still, to ask me things like what made Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a legend in his own time would have been difficult without Hardwood Classics. 

Last summer I was helping my father move. We would spend what equates to a workday going through a room and packing every last item into a box. It took weeks to get done, and the summer heat didn’t make it any easier. I downed Gatorades as I tried to maintain focus. The only thing that really kept me going at times was the Hardwood Classics. The season was over and all I had were these reruns of games that had this distorted quality. The video felt worn and the colors were more muted than contemporary games. Sure I got to see things like the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George signing to The Clippers interrupt things, but otherwise, it was this crash course that’s on par with watching old Alfred Hitchcock movies to get a sense of classic cinema.

Aspects are different. There’s no way around that. However, I soon began to notice that any given day had themes. Somedays were Laker days while there were a few where I got nostalgic for Dub Nation being the best team in the league. However, there were moments that I had been looking forward to. I enjoyed those games where Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen lead The Bulls to championships, or how Dennis Rodman’s hair changed radically between The Pistons and The Bulls games that played back-to-back. There was so much about the experience that was more than escapism from the backbreaking work I was committed to. It was a sense of discovery.

Nowhere did it feel truer than with The Utah Jazz.

It’s tough to really say that I was originally excited about The Utah Jazz. After all, it’s one of the most nonsensical names alongside The Brooklyn Nets and The Washington Wizards. What about Utah possibly screams jazz? Sure, the team moved from New Orleans, but much like how The Seattle Supersonics changed their name to The Thunder upon moving to Oklahoma City, one would think that the hokey title would’ve changed. I have since come to love it as this delightful misnomer, and it makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Well, there was that and a line in The Book of Mormon musical where one of the missionaries sings “When I was young my dad/Would treat my mom real bad/Every time the Utah Jazz would lose.” (“Turn It Off”) Having never seen them play, I was under the impression that they were a terrible team. It’s what almost made me turn off a game that introduced me to one of the greatest duos in the sport’s history…

Karl Malone and John Stockton

The truth is that I knew about Karl Malone for one very dumb reason. When I was in high school, Jimmy Kimmel would appear on The Kevin & Bean Show on KROQ 106.7 occasionally and do bits as Karl Malone. I had no idea who he was or why he talked so softly. Still, it was enough to make me pay more attention. I had seen Abdul-Jabbar’s infectious sky-hook a few days prior and wanted to continue to be surprised.

Apparently, they know each other, too.

The Jazz was playing The Spurs in January 1991. I was a bit busier than usual that day, so I wasn’t fully paying attention to the first quarter. 

Then it happened. Sometime towards maybe the third quarter, I begin to pay closer attention to the announcer. A certain word keeps popping up. It’s “STOCKTON!” You’d swear that he was getting paid by the word because every time I turned around, it was another enthusiastic “STOCKTON!” 

At a certain point, I just decided to become engrossed in the game. There was something undeniable about the way that Malone played. The way he dominated in the paint made you feel like he was climbing out of a pit every time and miraculously getting the ball in. The Mailman delivered every time. It was exciting, but to comment on him is to ignore the fact that only one name was being yelled through that TV more…

“STOCKTON!”

This particular game was one of the moments where he got the honorary title of having the most assists AND steals in NBA history. It became ridiculous to watch just because it felt like he personally went up to every player and gave them a high-five as he took the ball away. He was a great player not because he could steal, but because he knew how to navigate with Malone, who was the better shooter. Together, they were unstoppable and feeding off of each other. 

I haven’t really stopped thinking about Malone and Stockton since. To me, they were magnetic even if they came from an older style of basketball. For 18 seasons, they played together. However, I feel like they get lost in the shuffle for younger generations somehow, if just because The Jazz were a great team that never permeated a cult status on par with The Lakers or The Bulls. Still, I encourage everyone to watch them in motion and feel that awe.

Speaking as The Coronavirus has us all in a solitary state, it makes me realize how much I crave these older games as a form of sanity. While I do think there’s something irresponsible about not playing random games from the 2019-2020 season, I do love getting the chance to see the heroes of yesteryear as they are becoming great. I love discovering these players and understanding what they gave to the game in their prime. Add this into random 30 for 30 documentaries that have been filling the airwaves and you get what NBA TV has been doing since this season was put on hold.

Dennis Rodman

In that time I have caught some exciting games. The most noteworthy was The Lakers/The Celtics finals in 1987. There were so many pieces working in favor of each team that even if this was the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird era, you just loved watching the whole team work together. The scores were down to the wire and seeing The Celtics fans in homemade “I Hate L.A.” shirts is an adorable sign of how too involved certain people get. 

Even then, I’m kind of waiting for another Stockton and Malone game to come on. They have an addictive dynamic that makes these reruns exciting. I also wouldn’t mind continuing to expand my interests, possibly seeing even older games such as the one where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points. I get that sometimes older games were more regimented and less flamboyant, but it’s fascinating to see how this sport has grown and how certain things become touchstones for generations. If I have to settle with no new games for a while, I hope that Hardwood Classics will continue to bring the goodies and introduce me to even more exciting players forgotten by history.