Okay, so it doesn't have the same ring as that Hank Williams Jr. Monday Night Football theme song. But goshdarnit, if you're even a casual watcher of sports, let alone basketball, you should consider tuning in to the 2008 NBA Finals, beginning tonight at 9 on ABC.
I'm a huge basketball fan, as anyone who's followed this site for even a couple of weeks knows. I don't talk sports here, because I know where my bread's buttered[1], but how could I resist saying something about what could well be the most compelling Finals post-MJ?
You have the sport's two most storied franchises. You have former and current league MVPs on both sides. You have pageantry. You have tradition. You have Craig Sager (on the right) and those Superfly-style leisure suits!!!
In one corner you've got the Lakers. Kobe Bryant has risen to the top of his game and taken a focused crew of castoffs and rejects on his back. He's reinvented his game and despite the loss of the team's second most valuable player for most of the season (Bynum), has his squad on the precipice of their first post-Shaq-era title.
In the other corner, you've got a trio of longsuffering stars who could never make it this far alone, but have subjugated personal stats for team success. Boston's Big Three of Garnett, Allen, and Pierce are seeking to return Beantown to the glory days of Bird, McHale, Parrish, and uncomfortably short shorts. Yep, it's been that long since the Celtics mattered.
I'm not a fan of either team, and I am usually still crying in my cereal[2] when the Finals rolls around, but best believe I'll be glued to the set the next couple of weeks as this thing plays out. And for those of you who've written the NBA off as a league full of underachieving, oversexed, overpaid, criminal-minded, whiny thugs who only play hard the final 5 minutes, I hope you'll join me and dispel a few misconceptions of your own in the process.
I've got Kobe Bean and Company in 6.
Question: Does Craig Sager get dressed in the dark? Assuming you care, who's your pick to win it all, and in how many games?
[1]Negro Nonsense, which is only about 3 degrees removed from the NBA if you really think about it.
[2] You know, cause my team always loses in the first round for some reason. And Ciara, please spare me any sideways comments about the Wizards. I'm not in the mood today.
Bonus: A Craig Sager Suit Moment
Double Bonus: Another Craig Sager Suit Moment
Penalty: More Fun With Sager
