April, that spirited time of year known for phantom showers, the promise of May flowers, sunshine coupled with warming winds, and NBA playoff basketball. After the toil and turmoil of a fatigued regular season, April presents a moment where the league's weaker teams step aside. The flowering trees on my block open their limbs. A race towards June begins on court.
I could easily talk about last night's game, but instead I'll point you here, here, and here. If, somehow, you've yet to read a single recap and this piece is your first news out of Dub-land, here's the tl;dr: Warriors cruised, Stephen Curry scared the crap out of all folks in the Bay Area and around the world. Things got physical, but the scariest moment of the game happened on a non contact play.
I am willfully choosing to ignore that development, and instead will go ahead -- eyes to the sky and head in the clouds -- praising springtime.
Ah, spring, you fickle creature. Here in New York, trees that have been seemingly forever-browned by the endless winter are throwing out shoots and spindly green buds. The magnolia trees, always the first to bloom, are already dropping their psychedelic-inspired pinkwhite leaves. The grass in the parks is tentatively checking the air, hoping for a sustained warm spell. Dogs and their walkers are out early each morning, still bundled against the early morning chill, but with a backpack ready to stash that jacket the morning the sun crests the brownstones. I saw a Cardinal in the tree outside my window the other morning and oh God, is Steph going to be alright??? Please oh God is he hurt?! Will he survive this playoff run? Can he hold up if hobbled? And, what if...what if...Wait, wait, hey now, okay back to our walk around springtime, in all its glory.
The farmer's markets are selling seedlings and baby plants. Gardeners all around the world are preparing their plantings. You can go outside without a thick jacket, you can turn on your TV any night of the week and see quality basketball. Players are shutting down their social media accounts -- going "dark," as it were -- in preparation for an extended push through a complicated series of sports-and-media-related engagements.
Zero Dark Thirty- 23 activated. #StriveForGreatness
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 17, 2016
The sunlight shines brighter earlier, the wind is less harsh. The clouds dance gaily upon the sunrays and holy smokes I'm gonna have to deacivate my twitter and my facebook accounts and climb into a deep, dark hole in the deepest, darkest corner of some far away jungle if Steph isn't gonna be able to play meaningful minutes throughout this playoff run damnit damnit damn everything why do I invest so much of myself into this sport that has no actual meaning outside of my own relationship to it and because it has defined certain relationships I've had with members of my family and a few friends but why am I saying this out loud and no, no, everything is most certainly going to be just fine.
Just.
Fine.
Springtime: The best of all the times.