What is it about this leather globe accelerating against shining panels that captures the spirit so much? There are so many sports that are significant to cultures and traditions around the globe - soccer has a wingspan over the oceans and lacrosse stems from the Native Americans. And of course, football’s presence in the USA is an unequivocal force, but then there’s basketball. I am convinced that the structure and the landscape of this game is credited with its draw. Raw, no padding between athlete to athlete, and a goal, haloed in braided nylon. There is a certain drive, a passion that propels masters of the dribble up and down; a testimony to athleticism and adherence to hustle in a pure form, no shrouds, no excuses.

The floating, the almost celestial moments where players are gliding in between universes, in between stretching toward victory and attaining achievement in dominating that moment, destroying that ounce of a doubt, by compelling the ball to his or her will.

Players dance in between the lines, this sort of fiery yet simultaneously smooth ballad; strategies cause eyes to flicker for opportunity and shoes to squeak in a familiar way- the tease of offense to defense and the hypnosis of body language before a surge of human motivation manifested in quick, strong, skillful movement. Watching from the outside and slipping into the court with the players the dynamite speed and the soaring ball as defense is guarding more than the person in front of them but all that lies behind them, their personal drive, team, their home, their city. Players themselves, thanks to the game’s miniature platform, are very tangible to fans and viewers, and their effervescence emanates and stays with those that follow not only the journey through brackets but the journey toward bettering oneself through trial and triumph.

Then there is undoubtedly the fact that basketball’s blaze is just as fiery on a smaller scale as the bigger scale; hooping is the same no matter where one lets their fingertips glide over the leather braille, abandon the sense of the everyday to jump into the pinball machine, listen to the heartbeat of the game and the calls of teammates.

I’m telling you, basketball is just beautiful.