The scent of popcorn and nacho cheese filling the air. 

Looking your opponent’s fanbase in the eyes as one of your players dunks, scoring the tie-breaking point after three overtimes. 

All of these are things that the live, in-person basketball experience provides better than watching basketball on a boring TV screen. 

I watched basketball a lot as a kid. I would beg my mom to let me stay up past my bedtime on school nights to finish the game. I kept notebooks full of strategies and plays that I learned from watching the NBA and NCAA March Madness to try out with my team. I even had a custom basketball jersey with my last name on it. 

To say I was obsessed was an understatement. 

Now, I didn’t exactly end up playing professionally. I honestly didn’t even make it through high school with the sport. But there’s something to be said about the fact that I still remember everything. My favorite days of middle school were game days, hands down, but not because I got to leave school hours early or even the fact that I got to play. 

I got to watch. 

After I played my stint during the A-team game, I would stay and watch the B-team. While the other girls went to get a well-deserved dinner break, I would take stats for the games after mine, just so I could have an excuse to pay close attention to the game. 

I begged my coach to let us stay to watch the boys’ game because there’s just something about being swept in the thrill of the crowd that excites me. 

When I first went to a Wichita State basketball game back in middle school, I was ecstatic. There was a rowdy, drunk man next to me and my mom, and the height of the nosebleeds made my head spin. All that was forgotten the moment the opening tipoff happened. 

You can’t beat watching basketball in person. I mean, all sports are better to watch in person, but basketball is just magical. The energy and excitement rippling through the crowd is something no commentator can compare to on a screen.

Simply put, watching basketball in person is the closest thing to watching poetry in motion. If you have any interest in watching basketball, or you’re just really bored, I highly encourage you to go fill the Charles Koch Arena stands instead of making another dent in your couch.