Kyrie Irving is either a phenomenal troll or the most 'woke' player in the NBA

The Celtics are good this year, and Kyrie Irving is still good at basketball. But Irving is still waging a war on not only science, but common sense as we know it. It all started last season with Irving's comments that the Earth was flat, which bizarrely spread in the sporting world until we had actual flat vs. round camps. But then Irving said he was just trolling the media. And then he kind of wasn't?

It all started in February when Irving said that the Earth is "undeniably flat." A bold statement that he doubled down on by adding "this is not a conspiracy theory." The thing is, saying that this isn't a conspiracy theory is much like how your friend's new Facebook obsession isn't a pyramid scheme. It is, and it is. People can believe what they want, the problem being that Irving is a role model to a lot of people, and this has literally affected some teachers' educations. Imagine having to explain to a gaggle of 9-year-old kids that "no, Mr. Irving is wrong, this photo is two-dimensional because it's a photo."

But OK, so his beliefs regarding the world's shape are a bit out there. Then, Irving came out and said that he was just trolling the media, with one of the most infuriatingly smug quotes of all time.

Look, look. Here it is. All I want to do is be able to have that open conversation. It was all an exploitation tactic. It literally spun the world — your guy's world — it spun it into a frenzy and proved exactly what I thought it would do in terms of how all this works. It created a division, or, literally stand up there and let all these people threw tomatoes at me, or have somebody think I'm somehow a different intellectual person because I believe that the Earth is flat and you think the world is round. It created exactly that.
It became like, because I think different, does that knock my intellectual capacity or the fact that I can think different things than you? That was the intent behind it. Do your own research, don't come to me and ask me. At the end of the day, you're going to feel and believe the way you want to feel. But don't knock my life over that.
When I do something, I know my intent. And it proved what I thought it would.

Doing a bit to prove a point is always annoying. Doing a bit to prove a point in a way that undermines all rational thought and science is absolutely obnoxious. There's a difference between saying "my opinion is that 'The Big Lebowski' isn't that funny, deal with it" and saying "the Earth is flat, why are you mad at me for having that opinion?" The difference being, thinking differently is different from ignoring any and all evidence you've ever gotten.

THEN Irving redoubled down on the flat Earth comments, saying in an interview with Geno Auriemma that "the whole intent behind it, coach, it wasn't to bash science. It wasn't to like have the intent of starting a rage and be seen as this insane individual. When I started seeing comments and things about universal truths that I had known, like I had questions.

"When I started actually doing research on my own and figuring out that there is no real picture of Earth, not one real picture of Earth -- and we haven't been back to the moon since 1961 or 1969 -- it becomes like conspiracy, too."

So, OK, a few things here. A.) I thought that this flat Earth thing wasn't a conspiracy theory and B.) You definitely said that it was with the intent of starting a rage. But, Irving has just said little things that make me raise my eyebrows and go "wait, what?"

On top of this, Irving has been moving towards veganism, which isn't inherently weird. In Tom Haberstroh's Bleacher Report piece on the diet, however, Irving had some suspect quotes. "It works," Irving told Bleacher Report on his diet. "I mean, I'm not eating a whole bunch of animals anymore. Once you become awake, you don't see that stuff anymore." Irving isn't "very much woke" anymore, he's just awake, so someone should make sure that he doesn't fall asleep again.

Irving also claimed that it wasn't some kind of external force causing him to go vegan, just his own wokeness. "Nah," Irving said when asked if the documentary "What the Health" contributed to the change. "I started becoming more in touch with myself. I did my own research." As Irving does.

Oh, and he said this. "Steak? Nah, I don't eat that. It doesn't come from anything natural, so why would I eat it?"

Irving might be a phenomenal troll. But cows aren't synthetic, in case you're curious. Neither are any other animals. We don't have that technology -- yet. Whether or not Irving is messing with everyone is impossible to say. But if he isn't, who knows. Maybe Kyrie Irving is the only person in the world that's right. He's just that very much woke.

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