For much of the 2017-18 Boston Celtics season, much of the focus was on Kyrie Irving’s incredible basketball skills — the absences of which clearly cost his team in the playoffs.
But now that the season is over, and the Golden State Warriors once again are NBA champions, we can return to focusing on what truly matters: the “constitutional” shape of the Earth.
Irving, as you’ve probably heard, is one of those people who aren’t entirely convinced our round, life-giving miracle is, well, round. At one point, it appeared as if the 26-year-old had changed his tune on the bizarre debate, but a new story from The New York Times’ Sopan Deb suggests otherwise.
When asked to clarify his position on the topic once and for all, Irving said the following:
“Can you openly admit that you know the Earth is constitutionally round? Like, you know that for sure? Like, I don’t know,” Irving told Deb. “I was never trying to convince anyone that the world is flat. I’m not being an advocate for the world being completely flat. No, I don’t know. I really don’t.”
Science textbooks obviously are tough to track down. So, let us help you out, Kyrie:
22:17 on Thursday October 12th, over the South Pacific Ocean pic.twitter.com/JD14oiuZLp
— DSCOVR:EPIC (@dscovr_epic) October 14, 2017
Isn’t she beautiful?
The funny thing about that planet, of course, is that if you began at the center (tough to do, seeing as you’d be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean) and started walking east (or west, just for fun), you’d end up where you started! You know, cause the thing is round!
Anyway, Irving isn’t here to offer a concrete take on the Earth’s shape. He just wants to start a conversation, then remove himself from it and watch the carnage unfold.
“It’s fun to have that conversation. It is absolutely fun because people get so agitated and mad,” Irving told Deb. “They’re like, ‘Hey man, you can’t believe that, man. It’s religious, man. It’s just science. You can’t believe anything else. O.K.?’
“Cool, well, explain to me. Give me what you’ve known about the Earth and your research, and I love it. I love talking about it.”
When asked whether he believes astronaut-taken pictures of the Earth (like the one above) are real, Irving offered this gem:
“No, I’m actually — yeah. Like I said, I do research on both sides,” he said. I’m not against anyone that thinks the Earth is round. I’m not against anyone that thinks it’s flat. I just love hearing the debate. It’s fun to talk about.”
Listen, Irving is entitled to “believe” anything he wants. But when he, a self-proclaimed “generational leader,” starts influencing children to abandon facts, then criticism is warranted.
But hey, facts currently are M.I.A. in the most important places in the United States, so whatever.
