Not Every British Person Enjoyed The Knicks-Pistons Game In London

by Dylan Murphy | 5:56 pm, January 18th, 2013

The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons 102-87 yesterday in London as the NBA expanded its reach to Europe. From what we could glean from the television broadcast, fans at the arena seemed to like the show – people cheered and booed and NBA fan-ed just like in America!

But one British columnist for the Daily Telegraph, he just couldn’t handle the spectacle of it all. For all of you who have been to an NBA arena over the last few seasons, you know that most teams have ramped up their extra-curricular activity: arena-induced crowd chants, music bleeding over into game action, jumbotron antics, the works. For Oliver Brown, it made him spit up his tea and crumpets.

Take this high-browed sneering:

“It is familiar, this disorientating effect. We British like our sport served up with a breathless intensity, but the Pistons’ 102-87 defeat on Thursday night to the New York Knicks came layered with such incessant interruptions that all but the most ardent aficionados swiftly lost touch with the balance of play. Carmelo Anthony’s metronomic free-throws for the Knicks were all very well, but they became almost incidental as the audience’s eyes wandered to gyrating cheerleaders and the Pistons’ donkey mascot bashing an oversized drum.”

Kyler Singler, franchise player? Ha.

And more poo-pooing:

“Detroit’s predicament was captured even before tip-off when Tayshaun Prince, seeking to pay thanks to the “beautiful city of London”, found his microphone abruptly cut off. The night’s musical turns made a passing effort to make them feel at home. Alexandra Burke gave our poor unsuspecting national anthem the full X-Factor treatment, complete with several octave changes, while somehow resisting the urge to follow “Send her victorious” with “Can I get a whoop whoop?” Mercifully, the Star Spangled Banner was given a more delicate rendition by a Lakenheath staff sergeant in US Air Force regalia.”

Look, guy: NBA music is wonderful.

[Daily Telegraph, via Detroit Bad Boys]

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