The NBA & I: A Love Story

I’ve been sitting here, at my desk for the last two hours trying to figure out the best way to tell you how I fell in love with the game of basketball.

I tried to be funny, I attempted to be sentimental and nothing worked. I thought maybe if my brain could work half as hard as Kobe Bryant did every time he stepped on the court then maybe, just maybe, I could come up with the best way to introduce my first blog post.

Well that was it, that’s all I came up with. So without further ado, enjoy the story about how I fell in love with the game.

We begin our journey in the year 2014, a young Brayden is entering his first year of high school. A stereotypical Canadian kid who lived and breathed hockey. Looking back on it, I see that i was so narrow-minded, I refused to believe there was a sport better than the game of hockey so why would I give anything else my attention.

Then this…

I had broken my arm in a freak hockey accident. This incident would take me out of hockey for the foreseeable future, my career in hockey had peaked, and so did my interest for the sport. I would spend the next couple weeks in and out of hospitals and bedridden because of surgery.

Luckily, the Toronto Raptors were piecing together their first playoff team since the 2007-2008 season, literally when I was eight years old. Led by Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan, they had captured the third seed in the Eastern Conference with a 48-34 record and more importantly, my attention.

Being bedridden meant I had been watching quite a bit of television. Whenever anything NBA related was on, you could bet I had it on my screen.

“I was in charge of making sure Brayden was resting. Let’s just say when the evening rolled around and basketball hit the screen he was doing anything but that. “

-Sandra Lynn Wilson (my grandma)

I recall one specific day that i remember so fondly. It was prior to Game One of the series between the Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets. GM of the Raptors, Masai Ujiri took to the stage at Jurassic Park, to make an announcement to the fans.

That right there, that was the moment I knew basketball was going to take over my life. Seeing such an important face of the franchise at a fan event doing whatever it took to get his fans into the playoff spirit. He sold me.

Now lets get back.

I’ve spent the last six years of my life studying basketball’s past and witnessing historic NBA moments unfold in front of my eyes. I watched as Kobe dropped 60 points in his farewell game, LeBron James lead the greatest comeback of all time and my personal favourite, watching my Toronto Raptors win the NBA championship.

I just wish that I had been conscious of what the NBA had to offer sooner. Maybe I could’ve appreciated Kobe’s 81-point game, or the impact of LeBron’s “Decision”. One thing is for sure, I will never take a special moment in the NBA for granted. I’m just fortunate that I fell in love with the game when I did. From the inspiration it draws to the entertainment it provides, the NBA has stolen my heart and it can keep it.