What NBA fans can teach Virat Kohli
The Indian Premier League (IPL) maybe "India ka tyohaar" and the country may have been in a festive mood with people donning jerseys of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on the streets. But loyalties are fleeting here. They are not rigid and limited to a Kolkata or Bangalore. A Shah Rukh Khan fan anywhere in India would pick the KKR purple or a Dhoni loyalist would go for the CSK yellow. Your city of residence and base of the team you support aren't necessarily correlated.
The city-based league franchise culture has still not found its true meaning in India. The fierce love of the Manchester public for Manchester United or Manchester City, the crazy support of the Madrid population for Real or Atletico Madrid, is an element that is missing in the IPL.
In fact, Virat Kohli got really agitated during an IPL match when he was jeered. In the post match conference he said he did not understand why fans got so worked up over an IPL match and went on to add that these very people would cheer for him when he wears the Team India blue. Maybe Kohli should take the trouble of visiting the National Basketball Association (NBA) and see how LeBron James was jeered every time he touched the ball at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
The NBA is one of the most popular sports leagues in the US. The league has produced stars like Michael Jordon and Kobe Bryant and is revered by fans of basketball. For a fan of the Golden State Warriors it would be unimaginable to don a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. These are the two finalists for the 2015 season.
As the city of Oakland, home to the Golden State Warriors, searches for their first title since 1975 and the first at the Oracle Arena, the atmosphere is festive and apprehensive. Cleveland Cavaliers on the other hand has never won any major sporting title. The city is desperately waiting for their name to figure in the rich sporting history of the nation. Whoever wins the championship, the 2015 NBA finals will be historic and the fans will surely have carried their team along as much as the players on the court.
As I travelled to Oakland to see the second match of the seven finals, I was amazed by the craze in the city about the match. I was greeted at the airport by staff dressed in not formals but Warriors jerseys. On the way to the hotel, I could see cars in Oakland and the neighbouring San Francisco carrying flags of the Warriors. The Oracle Arena, which is home to the Golden State Warriors, has a capacity of about 19,000. T-shirts of the home team were left on each and every one of those 19,000 seats. Reason? So that the arena turns all-yellow in support of the home team. All the fans enthusiastically put on the T-shirts over their attire and cheered their team on, producing a deafening sound.
But the atmosphere is not all calm and cheerful. Basketball fans in America are crazy to the extent of aggressive. They shout, cheer, and literally wear their heart on the sleeves. Every decision against their team was jeered and with forceful aggression. If I was the referee of the match, I would have surely been scared for my life. As far as the Cleveland Cavaliers are concerned, they will be waiting for their fans to turn the tables on the Warriors during the return leg.
So a LeBron James and Stephen Curry may play together for the US during the Olympics and the country's population may root for both. But, when they step on the court during an NBA match, no such country loyalties exist. It is all about the home state and home team.
It is kind of impressive the way basketball players handle all the jibes. The game requires concentration and even with all the opposing noises, they do a commendable job of putting their A-game forward. After all, being a professional athlete is not an easy task.