Why are many basketball fans so obsessed with rankings?

[QUOTE=SuperPippen]Of all of the sports I've followed and have been a part of informed discussions/message boards, it seems like basketball is the sport with the fan following that's the most obsessed with RANKINGS.

Why?

Why is it that this sport inspires so many "fans" (at least, those on this website) to blindly sing the praises of their favorite player(s)and to aimlessly bad-mouth and and criticize others?

Many of the people on this website seem to not actually care about discussing basketball; rather, they seem to be content rambling on and on about any certain player's placement on "the GOAT list," a completely abstract, hypothetical type of ranking system, which many people seem to regard as some sort of omnipotent, end-all be-all final judgment of a player's true merit.

I ask you, is this constant arguing ever going to accomplish anything? When did the fans become so fixated on mindlessly comparing every little facet of one player to another?

Why do we continue to endlessly over-analyze these players to the most minute, inconsequential detail, only to use these observations and details to belittle other players and posters with differing opinions?

Why is it that no other sport seems to have this problem (at least, not to the degree to which it is manifested on this board)?

Will we ever be able to simply appreciate all of the great players that have impacted the beautiful game of basketball in their own ways, without devolving into constant argument?[/QUOTE]

Most of these "player" type fans are failures in real life and live through the accomplishments of their favorite NBA player. They get all pissed off when there hero gets put down, because it effects them personally.

This is rather entertaining for me, watching all these meltdowns take place on here. :lol

[QUOTE=Rameek][B]Again laddy you obviously dont know what a debate or argument is.... google it. Obviously you dont have the necessary reading comprehension....[/B]



[B]There is no argument there is no debate.... But you can run along assuming victory thats what pure NBA fans do anyways. Everything is an argument or debate. [/B][/QUOTE]
Everyone copes differently, don't take it too hard. It was never meant to be malicious, I was simply giving the OP a hands on example.

[QUOTE=COnDEMnED]Everyone copes differently, don't take it too hard. It was never meant to be malicious, I was simply giving the OP a hands on example.[/QUOTE]

You're not mindfuking anyone son, you can't even comprehend the difference between fact and opinion. Run along now before I L0ngcat this thread.

[QUOTE=LBJFTW]You're not mindfuking anyone son, you can't even comprehend the difference between fact and opinion. Run along now before I L0ngcat this thread.[/QUOTE]
******* it, I haven't seen one of those in awhile.

It can be fun and makes for interesting debates.

pretty sure it's because in no other sport can one player score 29 of the team's last 30 points of a game and single handedly won their team the game or 8 points in 35 seconds. Basketball is simply just affected by a single player more than the other sports.