The NBA's Locker-Room Nerds | Hacker News Reader

The NBA's Locker-Room Nerds

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41 pointsjseliger16 comments

"A spokesman for the Portland Trail Blazers says the handful of players on the team who cozy up with novels didn't feel comfortable revealing themselves."

I'm imagining getting together some teenagers to do public service announcements aimed at NBA stars, to let them know that they needn't be ashamed of who they are.

It's interesting to see the divide between foreign born players and American players, in terms of how they spend their free time. Also nice to see that Pau Gasol is in fact reading 2666, which Phil Jackson hand-picked for him (in the original Spanish, I imagine?)

It's a sad state of affairs when reading makes you a nerd.

It's already a sad state of affairs when being a "nerd" is a bad thing.

"New Orleans Hornets center Emeka Okafor, whose parents both hail from Nigeria, is one of the league's most accomplished fans of literature. He has finished six books this season"

Wow. THAT'S a sad state of affairs. A few hundred players, hundreds of millions of total income. Billions maybe? And "the most accomplished fan of literature" have read 8 (eight!) books this season. Well, on the other side... maybe it's better for US economy. Those people will be more willing to spend their hundreds of millions on physical goods and thus give the econome a nice push. But still... sad and disappointing.

Oh, sorry. It's even better. It's SIX books.

That's about 2 a month. Not impressive to a bibliophile, but more than most people.

Almost 6 months have passed since the beginning of the season. So it's barely more than 1 per month. Yes, it's still more than most people. But we're talking about most prolific NBA reader here, not the average one.

The season started in November.

Do we know what the books are? Even looking at novels, there's a big range there. If the list includes _Man Without Qualities_ and _Swann's Way_, six could be quite a few. If it's all quick & disposable stuff, then no.

Reminded me of the stories I used to read about US riders who joined pro cycling teams in Europe. They invariably explained that in Europe, cycling was a blue collar sport, akin to boxing here in the US. Cycling is much more of an upper class activity in America. This discussion would then lead to interviews where American riders would describe their Euro teammates tastes in literature as either non-existent or at the juvenile comic book level.

It's probably not a fully symmetrical situation, since I doubt that basketball is of a much higher social standing in Europe than it is here.

But I did find it interesting that the "outsiders" were called out as being the intellectuals of the sport.

Sorry, but I can't resist:

Wow, look, filthy rich people read books. How awesome.

What do you want them to do? bring guns to the arena? create chaos in Palace? don street clothes and look like thugs?

Why is it of such fascination that people who can put a ball in a hoop can also read philosophy and novels?

Because it's unusual, and don't pretend you don't know this. It's already reasonably uncommon for any American to read books, and it's even rarer among Americans in their 20s and 30s, also known as the ages of NBA players. Classic novels and philosophy? Forget about it.

So these mostly foreign players stand out because they read.

Finding Forrester?

I don't get what you can't resist? That comment wasn't even funny. It wouldn't fly on Reddit or even -gulp- Digg.

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