I’m thankful that I’ll never miss another NBA highlight

Nov 24, 2014; Charlotte, NC, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) goes up to dunk the ball during the first half against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Growing up, we all heard stories of incredible basketball feats: Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game, the wild stories of the ABA, all those stories your dad told you about his favorite player growing up. There are lots of great stories from the past that add to the NBA’s mystique. But I, for one, am glad that era of the NBA is over.

As great as it is to recount the stories of great moments in the past, there’s always going to be gaps in our collective memory of those times because it was impossible for everyone to see the big moments from every game. And sure, it’s nice to hear well-told stories about the great highlights of days past, it’s better to see them with your own eyes, and now, that’s easier than it has ever been. When I see something happen during a game that I know I want to share with someone, I know that I’ll be able to find it the next day because everything is on YouTube, Vine or or somewhere in the play-by-play videos on NBA.com. If it happened on an NBA floor, it’s somewhere on the internet.

Now that we have such easy access to the great highlights the NBA has to offer, the only real challenge is finding ways not to see the latest highlight making the rounds. You can’t even check in on the latest Facebook drama without seeing Gerald Green’s latest affront to the laws of gravity. How long were you able to avoid seeing Paul George’s 360 dunk against the Clippers? If your answer is longer than 48 hours, you were either making a conscious effort to avoid electronics or you were drifting through space with Sandra Bullock in Gravity.

Sure, it’s a little unsettling that great NBA highlights are almost completely unavoidable, but I’m thankful that the easy access we have to great highlights ensure that no one gets left behind.  Knowing that everyone is on the same page when it comes to highlight plays helps raise the level of discourse among NBA fans, which in turn leads to better basketball discussions. Instead of trading stories about things that only one person has seen, we can start discussing what we’ve all seen together.