WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, CIRCA 1996
Who didn’t skip school for this?
Elephants in Thailand have done everything from fighting wars in crazy elephant armor to logging the forests so that cities and towns could be constructed. Their intelligence allows them to remember literally hundreds of commands, which was what made them so good for battle. Now it’s what makes them so good at balling. Today, a select group of Thailand’s 2,600 elephants, the ones not farming lumber or wandering the streets of Bangkok, perform shows for tourists at elephant camps across the country. The camps take care of the elephants and train them to compete in sports like soccer and basketball, play musical instruments, paint pictures and perform complex dance routines. I can’t decide whether this is awesome or sad…but I think I’m going with awesome.
Back in February, sports writer Dan Shanoff made the connection between Gilbert Arenas and Barack Obama: “Both are grassroots, internet sensations… Both deliver an aura of accessibility… Both have critics who point to the fact that they are untested on a big time national stage… And then there’s the “Black President” Factor: Obama would like to become the first black president. Arenas actually calls himself ‘The Black President.’”
I guess I must’ve had this article in the back of my mind during Summer League this season because as I watched the Knicks go undefeated, it hit me: Nate Robinson is Dennis Kucinich.
Enclosed in the watery vitrines, the basketballs become idealised objects which may refer to nostalgia or ambition – either way they are unattainable… Over a period of six months the balls gradually sink to the bottom of the tank and have to be reset. Because of this, they may be seen as representing transience, human frailty and vulnerability to change in fortune.
-Elizabeth Manchester on Jeff Koons’ seminal 1985 basketball “sculpture”
