Basketball Embarrassments

I attended the UGA-Kentucky basketball game in Athens Sunday, and I was thoroughly embarrassed by the spectacle I saw.

I'm not talking about the performance of our team (although that was torturous to watch, how many blocked shots can there be in a game!?!); I'm talking about the magic show that took place at halftime.

Yes, A MAGIC SHOW AT HALFTIME.

I sat there befuddled as to why we need a magic show AT A BASKETBALL GAME. Having one just screams, "THIS IS NOT A REAL SPORT!" Or perhaps, "this is not a legitimate team or program," would be a more appropriate assessment.

I expect this kind of stuff at minor league baseball games. Streit and Earl were even recent witnesses to the famed "teddy bear toss" at a Gwinnett Gladiators minor league hockey game (see below).



It was particularly irritating to watch since we were playing a legendary college basketball program. I began to wonder if programs like that have halftime magic shows. Somehow, I don't think that would go well with the bourbon crowd in Lexington. Then again, it is basketball.

To be honest, I can't even remember what took place at most halftimes of the other UGA basketball games I've been to over the years. Apparently, as some have described to me, it is often similar spectacles that are just as ridiculous. I guess I was always getting a coke or staring at co-eds.

Maybe I'm overreacting, because it is a basketball game. Annoying music, dancing from scantily clad women, and t-shirt cannons are just accepted parts of this sport.

I will admit that the end of the magic show was awesome. The magician instantaneously changed from wearing his magician's tuxedo to wearing a Georgia basketball uniform.

My assessment of the whole situation might be wrong because the ENTIRE CROWD GAVE THE MAGICIAN AND HIS ASSISTANT A STANDING OVATION (except me, of course).

Was I in an alternate universe where such novelties are acceptable (it is a basketball game, afterall), or am I just that hateful?

That question may never be answered in our lifetime (I probably am just that hateful), but I hope this ridiculous display doesn't happen again at one of our sporting events.

Next thing you know, we will play techno music at football games, and then I will abandon all I hold sacred in life.