If sports aren’t your forte, maybe you haven’t heard about the Golden State Warriors or Stephen Curry, the NBA’s first unanimous (and eleventh back-to-back) MVP. After taking the title last season for the first time in forty years, the Warriors and their fan base, Dub Nation, are back in the Western Conference Finals fighting for a chance to be back-to-back champions. Down 3 games to 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder just last week, the Dubs rallied and tied the score this past Saturday, forcing a seventh and final game for a shot at taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Since the Warriors’ more recent success, Dub Nation has grown exponentially, welcoming thousands of bandwagoners across the Bay Area and the nation. I’ll be the first to admit that I am one of these individuals. Coming from the Bay, I couldn’t imagine supporting any team but the Warriors. While I attended several games years before Curry’s arrival, I wasn’t much of a fan of the sport until just a few years ago. Call me a bandwagoner, but it doesn’t make my support for the team any less real than the support of a fan who’s been to every single home game for years. However, with these new fans comes the industry and media’s need to feed their excitement for (and obsession over) the Dubs.
If you were to check ESPN’s site at any point during this past regular season, nine out of ten times, the Warriors—or Steph—would be featured on the home page, front and center. It’s also likely that every other one of those featured articles was completely irrelevant or clickbait (because it’s all about the view count these days, right?).
ESPN Network wasn’t any different. Turn on the TV at any time of day, and you’re likely to hear about the newest record the Dubs broke the night prior. I’m not saying the team isn’t incredibly talented. But even as a fan, I’m tired of hearing and reading about the Warriors everywhere I turn. Where’s the appreciation for playoffs individuals and duos other than Steph Curry and Klay Thompson? Can we talk about Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant for a second, and how their team is one game away from stealing the Warriors’ spot in the Finals? How about Kyrie Irving, or anyone on the Cavs that isn’t LeBron? Let’s talk about him.
The Warriors are something else entirely. But that doesn’t mean we need to hear about them constantly. Am I happy to see our team on the front page of the paper when we come back from a 3-1 deficit and completely crush Game 6 in the final minutes? Of course I am. Those are the moments worth noting, and those are the articles and videos I will read and watch. But don’t give me a bogus article about 50 facts I probably don’t know (but more importantly, don’t care to know) about my team. It’s a waste of space and time, and frankly, there are other players and teams worth talking about.
