@LebronJames? @Swish41? @jjbareapr? @ReggieMiller31TNT?
Twitter, ladies and gents. it has bridged the seemingly uncrossable gap between fan, and celebrity.
The NBA has not been exempted from the power of social media. The NBA brass can post circulars banning use of Facebook and Twitter during games, but really, is it practical to spend time trying to curb player-fan interaction? Should David Stern even bother?
Make take is, no, the NBA should not bother. It would be better served beefing up security in arenas, ensuring that game fixing is eradicated, and slap heavy fines on players who act more like barbarians as opposed to athletes.
In the book "Pacific Rims" by Fulbright Scholar Rafe Bartholomew, the author commented on how Filipinos seem to have more access to their hoops idols, hinting that it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see a toothless geriatric man pose for pictures and share conversation about each others' families with a team's starting point guard, or, for cagers to attend regular "fans day" events set up by diehards whose devotion to the game is, at least overtly speaking, 10 times more rambunctious that Jack Nicholson to his Lakers on his best day. Are Asians- Filipinos in particular- just a warmer bunch? Are Western cultures predisposed to placing celebrities on pedestals that are meant not to be reached, much less, even gazed upon?
Those in the NBA community have, for the last few years, discovered something that Filipinos have known for a very long time. To "love" the games is to go beyond marketing slogans. It is to be "amongst the people"- at the venues, in a personal capacity, in an obvious caring manner. This isn't to say that NBA-ers who help those in need aren't sincere. It's just that those in the Philippine Basketball Association, for example, tend just not be themselves, without a hug from a fan, without going to a fan's kid's baptismal celebration, or, dancing for spectators during a team party organized by fans club officers. To Pinoys, interaction is part and parcel not only of being a fan unto an athlete and vice-versa. Such also permeates the very fabric of being seen as either snobbish, or, upright. To "interact" to Pinoys is to be humble, and such is a valuable trait in Philippine society. Even if an athlete, or actor, or politician in Manila isn't the most "courteous" sort, so long as he or she makes an effort to show even a wee bit of warmth, all sins tend to be forgiven. It's both a boon and a bane- depending on who you're talking to.
Twitter and Facebook have made the NBA more "within reach". It's a positive, I think, and those who know better should capitalize for a healthier synergy between fans and the league's superstars. No supression, no regression.
MC
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