This is the story of a special game. It's between the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets, and it happens right after the two teams have made a trade. Because of this, the game really becomes an evaluation of that trade, and thus of the two teams' organizational department. Because while this hinges on the play of the sportsmen, yes, it is also assumed that the players had an objective "playing ability," and that it is possible, if skilled, to propose swaps that bring more "playing ability," if not plain more players, to the team.
The game doesn't matter anymore. The implications of the nature of sports organizations, and their distinct presence in our society, amount to total slavery. Think about starting a basketball team, and especially try to think about what it would be like if basketball were a big part of your life, too. These are your best friends, maybe. Neighborhood kids, who you can trust. To not take advantage of (for show), and to assist you when you find yourself overextended. "Teammate" is only a sports term now, but it has different origins.
First of all, to think that we learn the words of a small group of white men in Britain is mind-blowing to me. We all learn it, why? Because it's beautiful? Becsuse it gives us a sense of pride? Or because it's the easiest to talk to authority figures with?
A team was an adjective for a woman. "team woman" meant one who was childbearing. And 'team' was also a noun, meaning a set of children, or animals. The word 'team,' then, stands for things which were important to men's lives when they were created, pets and women. Fellow creatures. Maybe this term is patriarchal, but our history is our history.
Later on a variation of the word appears in German, 'Zaum." T-Z and ea-au have other occurances in in english and german words: the english 'two' is equivalent to the german "zwei," and the german "traum" corresponds to the english "dream." Seriously. D-T-Z is big shit in linguistics. And that german word means "bridle." Now the earlier situation, where both a sense of detachment and communication of feelings were generated by having a word for one's companions, is changed to a term charged with authority, with the ability to hold a bridle and thus steer whatever was bridled.
Sports teams no longer choose with whom they play. Only the very successful ones, like Lebron James or Kobe Bryant, are able to use their position also to craft their own identity; the vast majority of players remaining important mostly as imperfect machines. Producers of statistics. It's all so scienced up now that you know it's nothing like a family- the players don't have the ability to represent themselves anymore, except through flashiness, the courting of your attention.