Basketball

Remember when “Free Tibet” was a mainstay of the cool, hippie subculture that dominated the Nineties? Back when Hollywood cared about the fate of Buddhism’s Holy Land? Few will even remember that Disney — yes, the same Disney that recently filmed parts of the live-action Mulan in Xinjiang — produced a film, Kundun, about the early life of the Dalai Lama. China then retaliated by banning Disney films, causing the company to backtrack and attempt to bury the Scorsese-directed biopic. Disney's then-CEO even traveled to China to apologize. This series of events should sound familiar by now in the age of Western capitulation to China. Less commonplace these days is the sight of a celebrity sporting imagery of the Dalai Lama and any quaint talk of “freeing Tibet.

The mainstream media has spent months dancing on the graves of political personalities and normal people alike who refused a COVID-19 vaccine and then succumbed to the virus itself. They've created a totem of who these unwashed masses of zombie-horde anti-vaxxers are: MAGA hat-wearing, Boomer hicks more interested in their ‘free-dumb’ than their health. But as basketball season approaches, that caricature is about to vanish. According to NBC Sports, about 90 percent of all NBA players are vaccinated. But a small number of players are speaking out against vaccine mandates, offering nuanced opinions on the vaccine as it pertains to natural antibodies in those who have contracted COVID already.

Orlando, Florida The life of an NBA player is defined by constant travel: crisscrossing the country for away games and spending half of the year in dozens of different cities. So it’s always a great experience to play with home-court advantage before the Celtics’ fans, as well as under pressure in away games. The type of experience we were used to having pre-COVID was unparalleled, and nothing could ever replace that. Despite the 140-day interruption to our passion, the NBA has done a tremendous job creating a safe haven in Orlando for the players, coaches, staff and referees. Housing hundreds of players in a sports complex, arranging safe workout settings and creating a home-court experience for games is no easy feat.