Basketball?

It felt like just yesterday that the Spurs cheated their way to the NBA title, but apparently it's time for the new season to start. More attention should be paid to hockey (I'm currently missing the Pens game because there's still no basic cable in State College that carries Versus), but since television likes to cram it down our throats, and I'm a consumer whore, here we go!

Basketball is by far the most boring of the four major sports, but is still intriguing to me because it is the only one where I am not bound to local interests. There is no NBA team in Pittsburgh, and Penn State hoops is so beyond hopeless that seriously following them is a waste of time. The team I love more than any other is the Phoenix Suns, mainly because of their 2-time MVP at point guard, Steve Nash. He's a pale skinny Canadian guy, about my height, but skinnier, and he's one of the best basketball players in the world. Plus his name landed in a Nelly Furtado song, which really shows you've made it in this world. Behind Nash's fantastic passing (and shooting), the Suns are the highest scoring and most fun team to watch in the league, and that's why I like them.

In the playoffs against the big bully San Antonio Spurs last year, I feel they got jobbed 3 different times: In the Game 1 loss, Nash got a huge cut on his nose late in the game and had to sit out portions of the crucial final minutes of that game (Suns lose); in Game 3 Tim Donaghy was one of the officials (Suns lose); and in Game 4 thug Robert Horry bodychecked Nash into the scorer's table, and when Amare Stoudemire (team's 2nd best player) and uhhh, someone else ran off the bench to check on him, THEY got suspended for a game (Suns lose Game 5 without them. The Spurs then won Game 6 fair and square.

So since we now know the Suns are capable of beating the Spurs in the playoffs, we have to wait a few months to find out. Their first game is not until Thursday against Seattle (and Kevin Durant). I'll write something more about it then.