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Cooling the flames of debate: Fewer hot takes, please

June 3, 2019 / Winston

Think more, talk less. Or talk a lot, but think even more. You get what I mean.

The Ringer is great. It’s one of my daily go-to websites for basketball and pop culture news and discussions. My favourite writer works for them, and I also listen to many of their podcasts.

They annoyed me recently though. And it’s because of this:

Specifically, this episode of their Group Chat NBA podcast. Even more specifically, it was Chris Ryan, one of the two people on this episode, who annoyed me.

But this isn’t a rant about The Ringer or the Group Chat podcast or Chris Ryan. It’s a rant against the normalization of ‘hot take’ culture.

A hot take is, as Wikipedia defines it, “a piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing, usually written on tight deadlines with little research or reporting, and even less thought.”

(We all kinda know what a hot take is, but in the interest of being exact, I looked up the above definition. It’s a little harsh in describing my annoyance with Ryan’s statements, but I guess it’ll do.)

So what did Ryan say that triggered me? There were two things, actually:

1. “I think most people would agree, [Kawhi’s] the best basketball player on the planet” (50:48)

I gotta break out good ol’ Vault Boy here:

Justin Verrier, the other podcast host, goes on to say that maybe only Anthony Davis compares in terms of ability to affect the many areas of a basketball game. This helps to frame the discussion: they’re ‘only’ talking about modern-day players.

So we’re just forgetting players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, LeBron James?

What the hell does ‘modern-day’ even mean anyway? For example, what version of LeBron counts? Are we talking about the current, slightly hobbled version of LeBron, or is his career over the last decade being taken into consideration?

You. Can’t. Make. Such. Statements. Based. Off. Of. One. Playoff. Run.

And sure, playoff games count more, etc. But it’s ridiculous to throw out a whole season (and a couple rounds of the playoffs!) of Giannis and Durant dominance in favour of ONE brilliant playoff run by Kawhi.

I’m loving Kawhi’s play, but statements like the one Ryan offered up, without enough thought and/or context provided, are just inflammatory by nature. In Singaporean parlance, it just serves to stir shit. There’s too much recency bias at play.

2. “The one thing that’s kinda cool about the way they do the FA Cup in England… is that, for the opening rounds, basically the kids play” (56:19)

This is from Ryan’s discussion about introducing a knockout cup competition, much like those in European football, to the NBA. This is to give teams who aren’t realistic challengers for the Larry O’Brien trophy something to play for.

I highlighted this one sentence, but really I have a bone to pick with several things he says.

To be fair, he makes some good suggestions, such as the winners getting extra cap space or draft considerations. It injects excitement and stirs interest in fans of teams like the Charlotte Hornets or my Dallas Mavericks.

But there are so many nuances he misses out in his proposal that I can’t take it seriously.

To address the highlighted sentence: only the biggest teams such as the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, and Chelsea play their youngsters and reserves, because they’re stretched thin with fixtures across up to four different competitions at any one time. European tournaments and the league take precedence because of the prestige and money.

Teams lower down the table or in the lower divisions are actually likely to throw their best lineups out there in what is usually their best hope of winning some major silverware or at least getting in the headlines with a giant-killing or two.

And besides, football team rosters are much, much larger than NBA teams’. NBA teams would have to expand their rosters considerably to make competing in such a cup competition any sort of worthwhile endeavour. Otherwise, you get key role players like Shaun Livingston and Fred VanVleet putting in heavy minutes during the regular season. What would that do to rotations and these players’ ability to contribute in the playoffs?

Expanding roster sizes brings its own set of trickle down effects and side effects that have to be addressed, such as salary cap structure, quality of play, and G-League assignments, among many, many others.

All this to ‘singe people’s eyebrows off’ and to have LeBron in a knockout tournament because it’s ‘fucking sick’ (Ryan’s words). Maybe think for a second before asking for things now now now because we gotta go to Mount Splashmore right now.

The lack of attention paid to the nuances of both topics was disappointing, placing simplicity ahead of accuracy for the sake of making bold statements. But the biggest issue I have is actually how matter-of-fact Ryan made them out to be.

He speaks with the confidence of an expert, but either doesn’t know about or leaves out important details. Regarding the second point, for example, any casual fan who doesn’t know much about European football (understandable, considering it’s a basketball podcast) may be misinformed.

The thing is, I don’t necessarily think he’s doing it on purpose, and that’s the scary part. We should all be more mindful about the words that we choose to speak and the ideas they represent.

Hot take culture is fun, but can be damaging. Thankfully, we’re just talking about sports here, but get too used to it and it could spill over into more serious domains.

Our language shapes the way we perceive reality, so the least we could do is to think a bit before we say anything.

Dad Joke #4: Heart attack

May 29, 2019 / Winston

I was on vacation in Spain with my wife.

In the evening of the second day, I started to feel funny. I had some pain in my chest and felt short of breath. I chalked it up to the long day we had just had, but I continued to feel worse. As we got out of the taxi and walked into the hotel, I collapsed.

It became apparent to my wife and I that I was having a heart attack. I thought for sure I would die because the nearest hospital was half an hour away. Suddenly from the back room came a woman wielding defibrillators. She shouted to the other staff to help and they ripped off my shirt and restarted my heart right there in the hotel.

The ambulance arrived 20 minutes later. Thanks to this amazing woman my life had been saved. I spent the night in the hospital but I got out around noon the next day. I went back to the hotel to thank this woman.

I said, “I’m amazed that a hotel this small has a full-time doctor as skilled as yourself!”

She replied, “No one expects the Spanish Inn physician.”

The Golden State Warriors: Why the hate?

May 27, 2019 / Winston

Maybe hating on the Warriors is its own form of bandwagon-ism.

Thanks to Kawhi Leonard’s magnificent efforts, we have a new challenger from the Eastern Conference to face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

Just about everyone is looking forward to a Toronto Raptors win, a byproduct of the hate for the Warriors that came to life as soon as Kevin Durant made his decision to play in the Bay Area.

And yeah, I get it. Most people tend to pull for the underdog, and I’m no different. The Raptors have never even been to the championship round before, and having them around is just – put simply – refreshing.

As someone who consumes (and writes) NBA content, it also opens up so many new discussion points. Hell, just typing ‘the Toronto Raptors are in the NBA Finals’ is kinda fun!

#Toronto is roaring! #Raptors #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/DIpG9ksT05
— Alejarez Alvandro (@AAlvandro) May 26, 2019

But therein lies the difference. I like having the Raptors at this stage, and it would certainly be cool if they could win it all. But that’s me wanting the Raptors to win, not wanting the Warriors to lose. There’s a distinction there.

Why the hate for Golden State?

It’s not even about having a non-Warriors champ this year. As a Dallas Mavericks fan, the only team I really didn’t want to win was the Houston Rockets. Anyone else would’ve been alright or great by me, including Golden State.

I’d say that this is largely down to the fact that they’ve played pretty aesthetically-pleasing basketball all along. Even before the recent throwback to the pre-Durant days (which has brought up all kinds of ‘aRe gOlDeN sTaTe BeTtEr WiThOuT kEvIn DuRaNt???’ hot takes), they’ve always been fun to watch.

(For the record, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe has written, the Warriors are a championship-level team without Durant; with him, they are nigh invincible. So, the answer is no. The Warriors are objectively not better without KD.)

How could you truly dislike a team that entertains like the Warriors do?

I guess the hate stems from how they’ve made the season a journey with an inevitable end the past few years? But take a step back and think about it: It’s only been five years of GSW in the Finals.

Of that five, they lost one after being up 3-1, and were the darlings of the basketball world for the first title win. So, people are getting mad over just three years of dominance stemming from the smartest team building and fluid basketball this side of the San Antonio Spurs.

Come on, man.

Maybe it’s because I have a higher tolerance for periods of dominance, coming from a childhood of following football (soccer for any Americans in the audience). Football is a sport defined by whole decades of super-dynasties, from the Liverpool teams of the ’60s to the ’80s, to Manchester United in the ’90s and 2000s, and the ongoing virtual monopolies in Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue Un.

What I’m saying is, it could be so much worse! I drifted away from football and fell in love with basketball largely due to the existence of a salary cap.

(And, you know, Dirk. Of course.)

A salary cap means that no team can ever pull a Paris Saint-Germain and ensure a title every year. It means that even the very best teams in the NBA break up after two to three years as costs begin to outweigh production.

GSW has done a great job working within the rules – why are we hating on smart and ambitious management?

I hope that NBA fans can look forward to the Finals this season in a positive way. The hate for the Warriors is unwarranted.

Root for the Raptors, or root for Golden State, whichever team you prefer. Just make sure you’re cheering for someone to win, and not for someone to lose.

Dad Joke #3: Definitions

May 22, 2019 / Winston

A man goes to a funeral and asks the widow:

Mind if I say a word?“ She says: “Please do.” The man clears his throat and says: “Plethora.” The widow replies: “Thanks, that means a lot.”

John Wick 3: A change of heart

May 21, 2019 / Winston

There was more here. It’s gone now.

(Note: this post contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum)

It’s usually the ones you love that hurt you the most.

Alright, that’s an over-dramatic way to begin. Especially since I didn’t hate John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum by any means.

I was, however, disappointed.

(I’m miserable when it comes to movies, aren’t I?)

That said, I can’t bring myself to blame the movie too much for my disappointment, because I think it comes down to my expectations and how I managed them.

And I suppose I should have known the franchise was going towards the ‘violence for fun’ route when the marketing for this film included Keanu Reeves answering fan questions while playing with puppies:

Nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves. Nothing wrong with puppies. Nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves playing with puppies.

But everything’s wrong with having any marketing material have this tone leading up to the movie.

You see, my disappointment stems from this: I brought up the phrase ‘violence for fun’ earlier – and that, as a concept, is totally fine. Mortal Kombat has gone on for as long as it has with that as its main shtick.

The problem is, John Wick wasn’t about that when it started. It was about a man on a mission, doing only what was needed to get to his goal. The means didn’t matter, only the end. The first movie was so breathtaking and refreshing because it didn’t mess around with fun and games.

I’ll offer an example:

He’s been chasing Iosef the whole time, finally gets to the son of a bitch who took everything from him – and he just shoots him in the gut and finishes him off with a head shot. No torture, no sadistic glee, no triumphant monologue. Doesn’t even allow him to finish his last sentence.

That’s what John Wick used to be about.

Instead of ‘violence for fun’, the first movie was ‘violence as art’.

You might argue that this statement doesn’t jive with what I just mentioned about John being all about the results, but this art I speak of had more to do with how the fight scenes were filmed, and not what actually happened during the fights.

During the fights, John just did what he had to to get out of there alive and work towards his goal. It just so happened that the most effective way of going about things involved fancy judo flips and realistically-beautiful (beautifully-realistic?) gun kata.

Far and away my favourite action scene of all time

I felt a slight deviation from this formula in the second movie, but I based that more on a weaker motivation driving his actions. It wasn’t as good as the first, but I was still good with it.

This third one however… let me just quickly list the few ways (that I can remember off the top of my head) in which it went off the rails and tipped the scales too much in the fan service, ‘violence for fun’ direction:

1. Zero

This is the Japanese assassin guy played by Mark Dacascos. He jokes around way too much. Even though he’s obviously very proficient at his craft, the fact that every other sentence he utters is some kind of wisecrack just ruins him. Even his dying words were used to make jokes.

Ninjas are very, very serious people, not Deadpool wannabes. Have some pride.

2. Action movie one-liners

Speaking of Zero’s death, it was played for laughs, with John Wick himself providing the punchline:

Zero: “I’ll catch up to you.”

Wick: “… No, you won’t.”

Let me just state that I LOVE stupid action movie one-liners. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando is one of my favourite movies exactly because of its stupid one-liners.

COMEDY GOLD I TELLS YA

But, once again, this isn’t what John Wick is supposed to be about. What makes this point even sadder is that his one-liners weren’t even all that funny. *Price is Right sad horn sound*

3. Guest stars from The Raid

In case you didn’t know, the two Indonesian assassins John fights near the end are played by actors from The Raid and The Raid 2. I didn’t watch the second movie, but the first The Raid was an intense AF action movie with some amazing (and brutal!) fight scenes.

Watch it if you haven’t.

They’re popular movies, famous for their fight choreography. Well worth a gander.

Sadly, the fight scene in Parabellum with the two Indonesian assassins was fan service at its worst: at the expense of the integrity of the John Wick character and world. The fight featured two points where John got knocked down and should have been killed. Instead, the two assassins let him stand up in his own time, laughing and joking the whole way.

This was a friendly spar, not a life and death battle. And John didn’t even kill them in the end! What happened to shooting everyone in the head to make sure?

Parabellum is still a really great film. The realistic gun usage and fight scenes are all still peerless, and although I have some minor gripes with the story, there’s nothing I really mind that much.

And despite all my criticisms, I am still looking forward to the next sequel (although I do hope it’s the last one – the story is ripe for ending, and dragging it out further would reek of desperation).

What makes me so sad is that by taking this turn towards fan service and just having fun, the franchise has thrown its heart and soul out the window.

I can have lots of fun with movies – they don’t all have to be some deep, life-changing thing to me. I’ll enjoy a fun Home Alone or Back to the Future romp any time. But John Wick – the first one specifically – inspired me and made me fall in love.

I went into the theater looking for fun, and left with art.

Unfortunately, this third installment took me on the return journey.

Detective Pikachu: Wasted potential

May 18, 2019 / Winston

Great look, blah story, potential springboard.

I’m not a massive Pokemon fan.

Sure, I still play Pokemon Go, and I’m always going to check out the new mainline games as they come out. But the franchise doesn’t hit the spot like it used to in my childhood.

The thing is, back then, it hit the spot so good. So good that I’ll have, at the very least, a mild interest in Pokemon for life.

(Pokemon Gold/Silver is still the best in the series, don’t @ me)

All of which to say: I knew I had to go watch Detective Pikachu as soon as I saw the trailer.

It was almost like a reflex. I didn’t know anything about the actors involved (aside from Ryan Reynolds and Ken Watanabe), and the trailers revealed close to zilch about the story, but I had to watch it anyway.

Reality is often disappointing

Unfortunately, the trailers represent the movie too accurately.

What do I mean by that? Well, the movie has barely any more story than the trailers. I thought that it was stellar trailer work at first – getting people hyped for the movie without spoiling anything – but it turns out… there’s pretty much nothing to spoil.

The plot was a vehicle to show more Pokemon and to set up jokes, nothing more. In that sense, the movie was disappointingly mediocre.

Coming to life

However, being like the trailers isn’t all bad. The movie delivered on its promise to show us a ‘live-action’ world where Pokemon and humans co-exist. They did it so well that I wish that was the whole movie.

A Pokemon ‘documentary’! Tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that would be a great follow-up.

And maybe that’s all this movie is really good for: setting up the ‘Pokemon Live-Action Universe’ (or whatever you want to call it). The story possibilities are virtually endless.

But they definitely could’ve made a stronger first impression.

At the end of the day, I don’t actually dislike this movie. In fact, I’d still (lightly) encourage people to spend the money to catch it in theaters. But this sentiment is heavily dependent on a lifetime of liking Pokemon, and the goodwill that the franchise has built up over time with me.

Still, as someone who is almost always story-first in my media consumption preferences, even all the good vibes and nostalgia in the world couldn’t save this movie from being a letdown for me.

Seeing Pokemon ‘in real life’ was really cool – let’s hope they do something better with it next time.

Networking events and my love-hate relationship with them

May 16, 2019 / Winston

They’re really cool, but also not. But they kinda are.

Today I attended a networking event I signed up for a week ago. It wasn’t something I was prepared for.

I’m quite the introvert, so I can’t do these things at the drop of a hat. Sure, I had a week to mentally prep, but I didn’t really – it’s been a very busy couple weeks and I didn’t have time to think about such things. Because of that, the event had the ‘crept up on me’ vibe to it.

So I went more in hope than anything. It helped that a colleague of mine, Imran, went as well. He’s been in sales for a few years, so this sort of thing is way more up his street. I just followed his lead, really.

I’ve been to such events before, I’ve managed events before, and the energy this time around was the same as always. And really, it’s that energy that makes these things so cool to me. It’s the feeling of opportunity – but what that means exactly depends on you.

And here’s where I tend to get done in.

As someone who likes reading and writing stories for the sake of it (not every piece of writing needs to be selling something), I’m more interested to get to know people – why they’re here, what they’re trying to achieve, what their journey has been. What they’re like as people, even. But of course, chances are most people are there for business, some more straightforward about it than others.

I just want to talk about the things that make them laugh, or infuriate them. Memes, anyone?

In that sense, I do feel a little out of place at times. I prefer slow-paced, in depth conversation, not the professional equivalent of speed dating.

(It doesn’t help that I’m terrible at thinking on my feet.)

That said, I feel like it’s just a matter of getting in more reps. I’m new in my place in life, and there’s something definitely to be said about how being more comfortable in where exactly you stand plays a part in how you project yourself. You are what you feel.

With time, reps, and some fine-tuning, I believe I’ll get there one day soon. I want some of that energy; it really is quite addictive.

Oh, and free pork katsu sandwiches don’t hurt either.

Zion Williamson on the New Orleans Pelicans is dead boring

May 16, 2019 / Winston

Let’s gear up for another few years of mismanaging a superstar, I guess.

So, the 2019 edition of the NBA Draft Lottery has concluded.

The 2019 #NBADraftLottery order is set. pic.twitter.com/PEbqipMVFL
— NBA (@NBA) May 15, 2019

As a Dallas Mavericks fan that had more or less given up on keeping our pick from the beginning, I am virtually a neutral in looking at this lottery. So I’m not being sour or trying to drop a hot take when I say the New Orleans Pelicans getting the top pick and likely choosing Zion Williamson in the upcoming draft is probably the most boring possible result from the night’s proceedings.

You know why? Because Anthony Davis. Because of how they tried and failed to build around Davis for so many years.

I’m not at all condoning Davis’ behaviour in trying to force a trade out of New Orleans this past season, but you can at least see why he felt it might be necessary to do so. And what has changed with the Pelicans to assure that they won’t mess it up with another No.1 pick again?

Zion Williamson is one of the most exciting draft prospects in recent history, and we’re probably going to see a rehash of the botched Anthony Davis era, ON THE SAME TEAM NO LESS.

And therein lies my personal dissatisfaction with the lottery results. From a neutral POV, Zion on the New York Knicks or the Phoenix Suns or the LA Lakers would’ve been infinitely more interesting, even if I don’t feel like any of those clubs remotely deserve him.

Any of those alternatives would’ve made for a fresh set of stories and angles to follow.

Well, this was interesting at least.

Still, the Pelicans definitely deserve Zion, after Davis decided to shit all over the franchise (and his own standing in basketball fans’ eyes). They needed the good vibes, and got them. But their team is still the not-good-enough mess it has been for the past few years, and new GM David Griffin is the only hope that they’ll do things right this time.

Who knows? He did help bring the Cleveland Cavaliers their first ever title. So it could work out.

But right now, man… it all just looks so disappointingly boring to me.

The 3.5 times I cried during Avengers: Endgame

May 13, 2019 / Winston

I shed tears. Well, almost did, anyway.

Avengers: Endgame is out, and the spoiler ban was lifted on 6 May. All the reviews and Easter egg hunts are done and over with, and now I think it’s time to look at it through more personal lenses.

Apparently many people shed tears watching Endgame. I mean, the Google results for ‘cried during avengers endgame’ speak for themselves:

I wasn’t too different – I didn’t straight up bawl, but my eyes did get watery at a few points, each of them for quite different reasons. Let’s get into them.

(Why am I trying to be clever by saying ‘3.5 times’? Well, you’ll see.)

1. Guardians of the Galaxy, Redux

The first instance… prompted happy tears. War Machine and Nebula’s trip back in time (and through space) to Morag gave us a different POV on Star-Lord’s little trip to get the Power Stone, and the opportunity to relive the beginning of what is probably the happiest corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The GotG are hands down the best part of the MCU for me, and I’m looking forward to a third movie for these goofballs, now with 100% more God of Thunder.

2. Iron Man and Spider-Man meeting again

This was the easy one. I bet everyone cried here.

I went back to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming after Endgame, and it was plain to see that their relationship and how it played out was planned out meticulously from the very beginning. Tony Stark was pretty clear in saying and showing that he was taking a huge bet on Peter Parker back then – it was a leap of faith for him that you could tell he was never 100% sure about. He was always worried for Spidey.

Peter was pretty much his biggest motivation in coming back to the Avengers after initially brushing them off. He had a family and a quiet life away from all of that business. He totally could have chosen to stay away and it would have been fine and completely understandable. But losing Peter was the one wrong he absolutely had to right.

Their relationship, from the overall arc and down to the littlest details like the hug, was very well done. Very neat, very *chef’s kiss*

2.5. The cavalry has arrived

Probably another easy one. When the Dr. Strange sparky circle thingies started appearing and all the various heroes and armies showed up at the final battle, that was just great timing, in terms of the ebb and flow of the fight.

I started tearing at this but caught myself, thinking ‘nah this is just cool, not emotional’ – that’s why it gets just 0.5. But yeah, still pretty sweet.

The ‘Avengers Assemble’ line was pretty much compulsory, but I always felt it to be a clunky line, so its impact is lost on me.

3. Thor is still worthy

This one. This one is the one I feel like only I really felt.

I’ll be the first to admit that I never found much of the Asgard stuff very interesting – I don’t think the Thor movies did a good job of showing why we should give a toss about the place. We only ever saw the ‘highlight’ characters (Thor, Loki, Odin, etc.), and we never got the chance to understand what life is like for the Asgardians. We never had the chance to relate to them, so there was no way we would feel too much for them even as their home world got destroyed.

They did a damn fine job with Thor though. Changing him from a serious, straight man into a joker goofball was a great decision, and they didn’t do it at the expense of the integrity of his character.

Anyway, I think the reason I felt most strongly about this scene was because I relate to it very much. As with everyone else, I’ve had my share of ups and downs; during the valleys, I sometimes wonder if the peaks were all just illusions – whether I deserved any of that happiness.

When you’re at the lowest of the low, getting affirmation that you’re still a person worthy of respect, of love, is the greatest pick-me-up you could hope for.

I’ve felt like Thor before; I’m sure I’ll feel it again. Keeping the faith that I’ll always be worthy as long as my heart doesn’t lose its way is sometimes all that keeps me going. Seeing Thor get affirmation via Mjolnir was the cinematic, fictional representation of that. I understood it.

I felt it.

***

I do, of course, have other thoughts on Endgame, but I doubt they’re too interesting to get into. Suffice to say, I enjoyed it, and I’m now curious about how they intend to continue the MCU.

Just give me more Guardians and I’ll be happy.

Dad Joke #2: Only ’90s Kids…

May 8, 2019 / Winston

A woman had 100 children.

She sadly did not have the creativity to name them all unique names so she named each one a number from 1-100. One of them was named “One”, the next was “Two” and so on all the way to one hundred.

But, in a tragic accident, 99 of the children died. The only one who survived was the one named “Ninety”.

Ninety eventually grew up an lived a whole life and she even had a few children of her own. One day, while Ninety’s children were playing outside, they stumbled upon a stray dog and they decided to keep it. Ninety did not want the children to have a dog so they hid it and named it “This” so that they could talk about it around their mom without her knowing. They would say “Let’s go take This outside” and things like that behind their mom’s back.

One day, while Ninety’s children were not paying attention, This walks out into the middle of the street and gets hit by a car. This eventually dies and the children don’t tell their mother even then. No one else ever hears about This ever again.

Only Ninety’s kids remember This.