Why do older fans treat the players they grew up watching as untouchable?

[AirBonner]

It’s almost like their fandom didn’t grow past their 10 year old self

[Shooter]

They're those Wrestling Fan "its still real to me dammit" types :lol


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvd3aEsThbc

Too afraid to let go and face reality

[Spurs m8]

They don't.

Why do new fans get caught up in the moment and let themselves be manipulated so easily?

Why are today's youth such pussys too?

[Mauzah]

I get that revisionist history is a thing but sometimes there are pockets of time where things were crazy good. I really feel like the NBA 80's through 00's had established something really beautiful. Like there was a code that players lived by and that code was pure and built off talent and respect. Vets meant something to a team and it was an honor to grace the hardwood every night. Players just played the game and left it at that. I still love the game of basketball but we lost something along the way.

[baudkarma]

The same reason that players from past eras hold modern players in contempt. Ask pretty much any player from the 80's or 90's what they think about todays players, and you'll hear "soft". They'll tell you that todays players could not have competed in the NBA back when they were playing, and they're right. Modern players would get obliterated by the hard fouls that were routine back then. But by the same token, players from that era would foul out in five minutes if they tried to play with the same physical style they employed back in their era.

All sports change and evolve over time. Fans want to believe that the years they recall most fondly were the best in the history of the sport. It's human nature. You, OP, will in 20 or 30 years be talking about these disrespectful kids in the NBA today and how they're not as good as LeBron or KD or Kawhi or Curry, even if there's some freak of nature who's 8 feet tall and is putting up 80 points a game.

[kenneth_griffin]

I have Kareem, Russell, magic, Wilt all ahead of kobe and I never saw any of them play

I'm almost 40. I'm basically closing in on being senile and incontinent

maybe people just respect every generation that came before this one because the nba became a banana boat bubble buddy mess

[Axe]

If you're a true basketball fan, you would not despise nor stan any atg.

[BigShotBob]

Why do younger fans treat the players they grew up watching as untouchable?

[Walk on Water]

It's because the modern-day players just aren't very good. How many posts up? How many have good mid-range games? How many have hook shots?

[Axe]

It's because the modern-day players just aren't very good. How many posts up? How many have good mid-range games? How many have hook shots?
By that logic, you're also basically saying that curry isn't that good as well. :(

[elementally morale]

Same answer I gave in the other thread.



_________________

I watched tape from the 70's and 60's. Didn't help me much understanding Wilt or Kareem. I kinda knew they had to be good players... but a few games or a few minutes or highligts weren't nearly enough.

If someone started watching in 2013 he would have a hard time with, say, the 2002-3 season. Especially hard if said person was born in 2001. I'm not saying you can't have an opinion on 90's basketball if you are 18 or 22 years old now but your opinion will not count that much.

________________




'Quote Originally Posted by AirBonner View Post
Tired of old ass fans thinking players are untouchable because they saw a player when they were 10 years old.'

____________________


You have a point. Watching as a 10 year old is not the real thing. However, I was born before Kobe was and played competitive basketball for 10+ years. One of my teammates made it to the NBA. (He was a scrub by NBA standards but an NBA player still.)

You have another point: most memories hit hardest in your late teens and early 20s. Everything you experience then gets magnified a bit. You remember more... and you don' always remember correctly. ;-)

Still, I'd listen to someone's opinion on 70's Kareem more eagerly if the person is a basketball fan since 1967 than I would if he was born in 2002.

[Overdrive]

It’s almost like their fandom didn’t grow past their 10 year old self

Shaq was my fav player. Absolutely not untouchable. His game had some glaring holes. I liked KD prior to his move, still like his game, like alot of other modern players. I pretty much hated Reggie Miller, MJ and Karl Malone, but some of the attacks are pretty stupid. Especially when it comes to the Lebron-Jordan debate.

[hateraid]

Because they live in the past when they actually had things going for them. It's the only thing they have of value

[hateraid]

They don't.

Why do new fans get caught up in the moment and let themselves be manipulated so easily?

Why are today's youth such pussys too?

My case in point

[elementally morale]

Because they live in the past when they actually had things going for them. It's the only thing they have of value

If you want to know things about the past better ask an older guy. If you want to compare the past with the present... still the older guy. If you want to understand the present better... young ones you should ask.

[Kblaze8855]

Presumably The same reason modern fans are so convinced of the inferiority of players they never saw. Generally speaking I value the opinion of someone who saw everyone in question more than someone who only saw one side and generally speaking older fans saw then and now and young fans only now. Both are biased. One side is biased while having seen more. Obvious which side to lean towards when bias can’t be eliminated.

[elementally morale]

Presumably The same reason modern fans are so convinced of the inferiority of players they never saw. Generally speaking I value the opinion of someone who saw everyone in question more than someone who only saw one side and generally speaking older fans saw then and now and young fans only now. Both are biased. One side is biased while having seen more. Obvious which side to lean towards when bias can’t be eliminated.

We are both 47, I think. ;-)

[Kblaze8855]

Also we unfortunately live in a world that equates legacy and ability to play so retired players will always have the advantage. I made a topic in 2002 on Kobe and Tmac obviously being as good as guys in the top 10-15 even if their careers don’t play out that well and there were absolutely people who didn’t agree. I said then that in 20 years 03 Kobe or 87 Bird would be an argument so why can’t it be now and people were upset. Though at the time there were way more people who really remembered Bird. I wasn’t the old guy 20 years ago. The old guys in those days were like....people who watched Doctor J in the ABA. Aabinilla from back then has to be 65 by now. He was 50 on my board.

[elementally morale]

Also we unfortunately live in a world that equates legacy and ability to play so retired players will always have the advantage. I made a topic in 2002 on Kobe and Tmac obviously being as good as guys in the top 10-15 even if their careers don’t play out that well and there were absolutely people who didn’t agree. I said then that in 20 years 03 Kobe or 87 Bird would be an argument so why can’t it be now and people were upset. Though at the time there were way more people who really remembered Bird. I wasn’t the old guy 20 years ago. The old guys in those days were like....people who watched Doctor J in the ABA. Aabinilla from back then has to be 65 by now. He was 50 on my board.

It's absolutely interesting te become the old guy.
I remember aabanilla and WigNosy and miles berg... There is an oldhead who rarely posts here psileas... but there were many many more.

[hateraid]

If you want to know things about the past better ask an older guy. If you want to compare the past with the present... still the older guy. If you want to understand the present better... young ones you should ask.

The difference is some are stuck in the past. We evolve and so should our minds. People like 3ball still has the mind of an infant because he can't let go and embrace change.

[elementally morale]

The difference is some are stuck in the past. We evolve and so should our minds. People like 3ball still has the mind of an infant because he can't let go and embrace change.

Some are more struck, some less.

To an extent we all are. Our brains work that way. Memories from your teens and early 20s shape your brain. It happens to all of us. Some try fighting against it a bit, some don't.

[HoopsNY]

While there are some elements of nostalgia in this conversation, I never saw the masses of fans during any given era praise their current stars the way this generation does, to the point that this generation of fans wants to write off the first 70 years of league history all together.

We hear it all the time, "today's players are more skilled, athletic, better..." etc, as if this wasn't necessarily true in 2002? or 2005? or 1999? or 1995? Modern fans put specific elements of the game and athleticism, i.e, showboating, fancy dunks, and three point shooting, over leadership, physicality, and basketball IQ.

It's why they spent so many years shitting on Bird, but now praise Luka. It's why guys were "unathletic" in the 80s, but guys like chubby Harden can dominate.

Just ask any fan their top 10 of all-time. Then you'll see them really be disingenuous because it will be laden with guys from the 80s, 90s, and 00s.

Guys who grew up in the 80s or 90s, or were fans of the 00s, didn't dismiss all time greats. None that I know of spent their every waking moment shitting on Wilt, Russell, West, Baylor, Dr. J, Kareem, Oscar, Moses, etc.

This is something you see from modern fans with revisionist history. It's almost a consensus amongst them.

[2much_knowledge]

Its simple. People like us never stopped watching the Nba from the 90s till now. So we actually watched then and now and we can compare and have an imput. Youngins wanna talk about stuff they didn't see or lived and act like its facts

[Thenameless]

I have Kareem, Russell, magic, Wilt all ahead of kobe and I never saw any of them play

I'm almost 40. I'm basically closing in on being senile and incontinent

maybe people just respect every generation that came before this one because the nba became a banana boat bubble buddy mess

I have all of them easily ahead of Kobe.