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Editorial: Grizzlies’ Impact Goes Beyond the Court
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You used to hear it about Tigers basketball.
These days, you hear it more about the Memphis Grizzlies. It goes something like this:
“Nothing brings Memphians together like the Grizzlies.” Or, “Memphians have their differences, but they come together for the Grizzlies.”
(With some on-court improvement for the University of Memphis next season, perhaps we’ll include the Grizzlies and the Tigers together in the adage.)
It’s a platitude many of us use to begin describing a deceptively complex city and culture.
There’s even been some pushback on the idea in recent years.
Critics say it’s an oversimplification that conveniently forgets one key fact: The basketball games that temporarily consume our attention are entertainment. They shouldn’t be used as a barometer of progress on the serious challenges Memphis continues to face, the argument goes.
And there is nowhere near a consensus among Memphians on the path out of a historically high poverty rate and long tradition of violence. If you really want to plumb the depths of our city’s divide, start a discussion about the link between poverty and violence. If you’re really feeling saucy, throw education into the mix.
Memphis’ well-documented problems are a lot for a winning season to overcome, even one with a journey to the second round (or the Conference Finals, as was the case in 2013) of the NBA Playoffs.
There is, however, a case to be made for allowing ourselves to be encouraged by what has happened among this current group of players. For the most part, they came as strangers to our city and will likely leave at some point to pursue their professions and lives in another city.
Let’s face it. We are not the easiest audience to impress. The worst thing you can be in Memphis is “not real.” We can smell it like fear. We don’t bluff.
This team of professional athletes passes the smell test in a professional sports era of impersonality as a defense mechanism. If we identify with them, it’s because they identify with us. They explain us and defend us throughout the season.
Where we go wrong with this is when we put too much weight on that chemistry.
It works both ways, too. A whole generation of athletes – professional and college – are now trained by their forebears against the temptations of believing the adulation and acclaim will still be there once the playing days are over. These are tough lessons.
They speak to heart and exposure in short episodes that last a season. They are played within the lines of a basketball court in an allotted time with plenty of rules.
If you can find something from that controlled environment to take with you when the game is over, we say use it to grit and grind your way through your own personal challenges.
But don’t be afraid to wave your growl towel next May.