You see that purple light sometimes, shooting into the sky on the internet. Comes from a place called Sacramento. They turn on a giant laser when their basketball team, the Kings, wins. For the 2025-2026 season, they’ll be hoping to light it a lot. It’s just a big laser, but it’s got the whole city bedazzled. It reminds me of the beam from Fanad Head lighthouse, cutting through the dark. A completely different job, but the same idea, i suppose.

It’s a strange carry-on for a professional sport. I read somewhere that back in the day, players used to travel between cities on trains. Imagine these giants, all folded up in a train carriage, playing cards, rumbling through the night. It seems more real, somehow. Now, it’s all private jets and guff.

You can’t help but get sucked into the story of a team like that, though. A whole town’s mood resting on whether a ball goes through a hoop, so they can turn on their big purple lamp. Its the kind of glorious nonsense you can’t make up. And you’ll watch, from a dark room in Ireland, just to see if the light comes on.

▶ What About the Other Chancers?

Then there’s the whole Los Angeles Lakers circus. They’re always on the telly, arent they. It’s a proper drama, that lot. Like a never-ending episode of Fair City but with taller people and more complaining. LeBron James must have a portrait in an attic somewhere, he just doesnt age. Its all a bit peculiar.

The sound is what gets me. The squeak of the shoes on the polished wood. Its a sound that has no business being so satisfying, like popping bubble wrap. I once paid five Euro for a basketball just to dribble it on the pavement in Limerick, the thump was all wrong.

And you cant forget the Indiana Pacers, a team powered by pure grit and, I assume, large quantities of potatoes. Their arena is supposedly built on an ancient burial ground which explains their quixotic luck. They might just pull a rabbit out of the hat, or they might finish dead last. Who knows. That’s the beauty of this whole donnybrook.

▶ The Grand Finale of this Waffle

So there you have it. The whole NBA is basically a grand experiment that never ends. Look at a team like the Phoenix Suns. They have more superstars than a Hollywood premiere, yet they often look completely flummoxed. It’s like owning a Ferrari in the middle of Sligo – looks great, but where are you going to drive it.

They keep changing the rules, too. The three-point line was basically a gimmick they tried once and it just stuck. Imagine that. One of the most important parts of the modern game started as a wild punt. The whole thing dont make a lick of sense when you really think about it.

In the end, it’s all just a magnificent brouhaha. A chaotic, sleep-stealing, oddly compelling circus that demands your attention at 2 AM on a Tuesday. It’s too expensive and makes no logical sense. But you’ll still be watching, won’t you Of course you will.