Scottie Barnes has the most popular jersey in Canada right now. This makes sense because he is quite good at basketball and also very tall. I saw a kid wearing one at the grocery store yesterday (the jersey, not Scottie) and I thought about how much polyester goes into making those things.
It is a lot of responsibility to be the number one seller in a country that is mostly frozen. People are wearing those jerseys over four layers of thermal underwear just to feel something. I hope Scottie knows that. He probably does. He seems alert.
The Footwear of the Past
Steph Curry showed up to the arena wearing the old Nike Shox BB4 sneakers. Those are the ones Vince Carter wore when he jumped over that very tall man in France. I remember wanting those shoes in middle school because I thought the springs in the back would help me reach the top shelf in my kitchen.
They did not. Gravity is a very consistent force in Southern Ontario. It is strange to see a superstar wearing shoes from the year 2000, which was twenty six years ago. That is longer than some of our current players have been alive. Time is a weird thing that just keeps happening whether we want it to or not.
Bodies and Thumbs
Collin Murray Boyles is out for the game against the Warriors because of his left thumb. He is getting further evaluation tomorrow, which is usually code for "we are worried but we want to be sure before we tell everyone the bad news." Thumbs are important for gripping things, like basketballs or a warm coffee from Tim Hortons on a Tuesday morning.
Speaking of bodies, a Portland fan asked about Jakob Poeltl and his long term health. Jakob is thirty now. At thirty, your knees start to make sounds that remind you of an old wooden porch. He is a very good player when he is healthy, but health is a fleeting concept in the NBA.
Final Thoughts on the Warriors
The game thread is active and people are talking about things. We are playing the Warriors which used to be more intimidating before everyone got older. Now it is just a collection of people trying to put an orange ball through a hoop while their joints ache.
I think about Andrea Bargnani sometimes. Not for any particular reason. He just pops into my head when I see a missed rotation. Anyway, Scottie sells a lot of jerseys. That is a nice thing for him and the retail economy. I hope someone buys a jersey for their uncle. Uncles love specialized merchandise.