Earlier this week, the Portland Trail Blazers released a silly video of their guard CJ McCollum filling out his ultimate bracket, with contestants like waffles, three pointers and Saturday battling it out for his personal supremacy.
The almost two-minute long clip shows McCollum go through four rounds with 16 items, selecting his preference to move on to the next stage. All the first round face-offs make sense. From the second round on, it’s anything goes.
Without spoiling the video too much, McCollum is tasked with making some difficult decisions, none more painful than choosing between his beloved three pointer and the phone he carries with him every day, which pair to make the marquee matchup of the second round.
This video provides us with a collection of great out-of-context quotes, such as, “Sorry waffles,” “New Year’s is really valuable,” and “Valentine’s Day is a fictitious holiday.” Watch the video for these sentences to make sense.
The Spin
The NBA has received criticism over the years for being too focused on off-court drama and things that otherwise take place off the court. But, while the league and its coverage might go too far overboard in that direction sometimes, the emphasis on players’ personalities and putting their openness at a premium can be wildly entertaining for fans in a way that doesn’t detract from the game. This is one of those examples.
This is a goofy video that shows McCollum being himself in an interesting and worthwhile way. We get to see his sense of humor, a glimpse into his priorities, and most importantly, it puts some humanization behind one of the league’s best perimeter players. It can be very easy to sit at home watching sports on TV and forget that these athletes who are attempting and completing athletic feats most of us couldn’t imagine doing ourselves are people, too, with all the same basic life stipulations and human brain. Opportunities like this video allow those on the outside to realize those on the inside aren’t all that different, just unfathomably good at their sport.
