It should be at the top of every team's reason to be excited. Drop the color, cue the piano, begin feeling chills. It is the NBA playoffs. It is where every team wants to be.
The Hawks are not playing for tonight or tomorrow or a great first road trip. They are playing for that moment in April and maybe May and miracle on miracle June where the same highlights we saw in December becomes something else. Something bigger. Something special.
These commercials are so great because they articulate the transcendent moment in a sporting event. The weight, the hope, the ability all rolled into one. It is a pure expression of rising above.
Now, we stand on the eve of the season. The projections are in. The previews written are written. And all that talk says the Hawks may have a few nice wins, a couple good scares, but the team is playing to be the 8th or 9th best team in the league. That talk may all be right. The stats say so. The experts give weight to the stats. It is inevitable it seems.
But those people are writing in reality. And when push comes to shove, I hope this Hawks team says screw it and drains the color, cues the music, and rises above the moment.
Go Hawks!