I attended a Milwaukee Bucks game for the first time in a number of years on Saturday night. I found out that the NBA no longer stands for just the National Basketball Association anymore. In fact, it is more like Noise Blasting Always.
The game is now a near constant sonic assault from the moment you walk into the arena. It starts with fireworks during pre-game play introductions. That’s followed by high-volume dance music to “GET PUMPED FOR THE JUMP”. Then you have music or drum machines or other artificial noise playing–while the game is going on. I found out that like baseball players and their ‘walk up songs”, NBA players now have “made basket songs”. Giannis Antentakoumpo has some R&B song I don’t recognize. In fact, the only song that I recognized was the AC/DC tune that plays after Matthew Delavadova–who is Australian, just like the band–scores. Of course, to be heard over the “made basket music” the PA announcer has to yell every player’s name–or nickname like “THE GREEK FREAK!!!!” or “THREE FOR T!!!”
Now, PA Guy has nothing on the “Hype Man” that takes over during timeouts (and there are a lot of them in NBA games). As soon as the referee signals the TO, more high-energy dance music starts blasting and the “Hype Man” is encouraging us with “MILWAUKEE LET ME HEAR YOU!!” or “GET UP FOR YOUR ENERGEE DANCERS!!” or “WHO WANTS SOME T-SHIRTS?!?!?!?!” (The Bucks must lead the league is T-shirt giveaways, because there were at least ten of them Saturday night.)
Meanwhile, the floor is full of dancers, “Gameday Experience Staff” throwing out t-shirts, the guys that do the trampoline dunks, Bango Buck shooting half-court shots backwards so all of us fans can win free tacos, and Bango riding around the floor on a Harley–constantly revving the engine. The reason I’m a little hoarse this morning is not because I was cheering crazily at the game, it was because I was trying to talk to my friend right next to me over all of the noise. You would think that the NBA coaches would appreciate a little less noise and distraction while trying to communicate with the players in the middle of the on-court circus.
Obviously, the NBA doesn’t create its “game day experience” for people like me–guys who like basketball. My friend’s teenage son loved it–so much in fact I hardly ever saw him on his cellphone. But with the near constant “entertainment” going on, it was easy to lose what is supposed to be most important thing going on that night in the arena: the game itself.
