Hooray NBA
- Wade
Among other things, tomorrow brings us the first NBA game of the season. The Tracy McGrady-led Houston Rockets travel to Detroit to take on the world champion Pistons on TNT, tomorrow night at 7:00.
Why am I pimping the NBA, a league that I've slandered frequently as being selfish and thug-like?
Two reasons.
One, for the first time ever I'm participating in a fantasy basketball league. I have a feeling I'll do horribly. Especially after reviewing fanball.com's bust list, which features 90% of the team I drafted. That's okay, though. It'll be interesting to see how the season progresses, given that I know very little about pro basketball and (particularly) how to judge it from a fantasy perspective. But it's different, a good learning experience, and something to concentrate on given that the sun now disappears from view at approximately 3:46 p.m.
Two, I am SO sick of baseball. I had no idea I could ever feel this way, but boy... I can't change the channel fast enough when I start to hear someone say Schilling, curse, 86 years, Pesky, or Papi. The fervor around the Red Sox reached unbearable proportions very soon after they won the ALCS, and got worse from there. Every Sports Guy column was a minute-by-minute breakdown of the prior night's game... which wouldn't have been so bad if every other feature on espn.com hadn't been about the Sox. All three ESPN channels featured specials about the team, its history, the curse, and its chances to win the Series. ESPN2 even televised a call-in show, moderated by Jeremy Schaap and featuring Dwight Evans and Wade Boggs. I'd hoped that after they won the World Series (of which I watched less than an hour) things would die down a bit... but no. The parade was huge... Police shot a drunk celebrating student... Where's Pedro going next season... Buckner's still in Idaho... Schilling pitched while bleeding... Schilling endorses Bush... Schilling's an idiot. (wait, I threw that last one in.)
While I can't say I understand what this euphoria must be like for Red Sox fans, I hope they realize that not everyone is as excited as they are. Sure, it's great you beat the Yankees and won the World Series. Swell. But I don't think Bill Simmons, Peter Gammons, and the sporting media as a whole realize that, to me, this isn't much different than the Florida Marlins winning the Series. Basically.. we're happy for you. Now (quickly) fade into the background.
And God help us if the Cubs win the Series next year.
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feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
