I wander thro’ each charter’d street – MAFAzine Issue 4 – Reviews
Sports and Art in the Basketball Hall
By Lanhe Sun
Under the influence of the pandemic, the new NBA season has begun on December 12, 2020, which was about two months later than the start of the previous season. The players resumed briefly during the offseason to enter the game. Although audiences are not allowed in the basketball hall, they can still watch their favorite basketball stars through the screen, and the players did not reduce their enthusiasm for the game.
These are incredible phenomena. As early as the NBA game on July 31, 2020, there were not audiences in the basketball hall. Many NBA players felt uncomfortable with this and have even forgotten the last time they played in an unattended environment. They were accustomed to showing their excellent skills and talents to the audience, but the pandemic made their performances lose their targets and changed their utilitarian purpose.
A basketball game without audiences is likely to be spontaneous movements of players and reduces their external motivation for movements. NBA star Anthony Davis was interviewed during the pandemic:
“It’s going to be very different not being able to have them by our side during this time. It’s going to be more of a mental thing than anything. If you’re having a bad game, there’s not going to be fans there to get you going. As we say on the team, you gotta bring your own energy… I think we’re motivated as a team, and self-motivated to win.”
Players show their non-utilitarian goals in the form of the play. To the degree that people’s pursuit of art is similar to play. However, art can be used as modes of expression, it is the communication between the artist and the audience in the theory of expression. Art conveys a sense of color and form, an explanation of specific human activities. Artists need audiences but they are sometimes forced to do without.
Although modern professional sports include the economic relationship between the live, the audience, and the television network, sports can exist without an audience at this moment. The basketball player’s movement does not have to be shown to the audience and seems to be a way of the play.
References
Guttmann, A., 1978. From Ritual To Record. New York: Columbia University Press, pp.11-12.
Los Angeles Lakers. 2020. Fully Healthy Anthony Davis Is Ready For NBA’s Return | Los Angeles Lakers. [online] Available at: <https://www.nba.com/lakers/news/070220-fully-healthy-anthony-davis-is-ready-for-nbas-return> [Accessed 17 December 2020].