I hate the NBA...and ESPN

[Surfah]

I watched the end of the Jazz game last night and think that TNT is still much better than ESPN's NBA coverage.

I agree. TNT is king of NBA broadcasts. 75% of which has to do with Inside the NBA with EJ, the Jet and Chuck. ESPN/ABC is okay. NBC was much better though than both. I miss the NBA on NBC theme music. ESPN/ABC is much better than NBA TV's broadcasts. Lots of times they do a PIP with Kevin McHale and Chris Webber commentating from the studio before going back to the game and their commentators. It's so annoying.

[BoylenOver]

I really like watching college ball a ton more than the NBA. I think it is a better game.

Totally agree.

[cougjunkie]

I still love the NBA. It can be annoying at times the ticky tack fouls and the superstar treatment but it is still very appealing to me. Just like the sloppiness and slow, plodding play of the college game can be annoying.

[The_Tick]

I enjoyed the NBA in the 80's and early 90's. You did stupid shit and someone punched you for it.

Today it seems like there is no such thing as travelling, a carry...the rules just aren't enforced.

Unless....you are a superstar. And then you take 20 free throws a game. Because anytime you drive to the basket you are fouled.

But...if you are a rookie, or someone that my daughter has never heard of...you can get practicly murdered during a layup with no foul. Unless it was another rookie or no-name that hit you...because then it was a foul.

The superstart treatment is terrible. How many times has Kobe of Lebron fouled out of a game this year?

I just have no taste for it anymore.

[TripletDaddy]

I wish it were like back in the 80s, when no-name players were getting all the calls and superstars received no special treatment. I fondly refer to that utopian period in NBA history as the Magic Bird era "era in which all things were equal and refs made all the correct calls." How many times did Wilt Chamberlain ever foul out? Oh how the game has changed....

[Surfah]

Also, the NBA is infinitely more enjoyable when your team wins. Might I suggest you guys start following the Lakers?

[TripletDaddy]

Also, the NBA is infinitely more enjoyable when your team wins. Might I suggest you guys start following the Lakers?

Good point.

There is no time to hate the NBA when you are too busy dominating it.

[il Padrino Ute]

Also, the NBA is infinitely more enjoyable when your team wins. Might I suggest you guys start following the Lakers?

The post-Showtime Lakers are one of the reasons I hate the NBA.

[TripletDaddy]

The post-Showtime Lakers are one of the reasons I hate the NBA.

Really? Sedale Threatt, Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, Doug Christie....what did those guys ever do to you?

[cougjunkie]

Really? Sedale Threatt, Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, Doug Christie....what did those guys ever do to you?

I think he means Travis Knight, Corie Blount, AC Green, Slava Medvedenko and Anthonly Peeler. Those guys got all the calls.

[il Padrino Ute]

Really? Sedale Threatt, Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, Doug Christie....what did those guys ever do to you?

I think he means Travis Knight, Corie Blount, AC Green, Slava Medvedenko and Anthonly Peeler. Those guys got all the calls.

As I said, the post-Showtime Lakers which would be everyone of 'em that played after those days. And if Travis Knight attending the same high school that I did doesn't give him a break, why would I not hate the others?

[Surfah]

I think he means Travis Knight, Corie Blount, AC Green, Slava Medvedenko and Anthonly Peeler. Those guys got all the calls.

I loved AP.

[I.J. Reilly]

Last night I realized why I don't like to watch the NBA during the regular season, but I really like watching the playoffs.

The regular season has no urgency. Players mail in their performance and the nature of the NBA makes selfishness de rigueur for the regular season. Scoring is a zero sum activity, even among those on the same team, and there is no acceptable statistical proxy for how much better one player makes a whole team. Consequently, the regular season is the time that players "get theirs."

The playoffs, the playoffs, that is the time that teams happen. There is a different style of game, at least from the teams that win. You'll always have your superstars, but the ones that go all the way are surrounded by other great players, and they play together. It makes the NBA 10,000% more enjoyable to a casual fan (I don't have a team, as my mild affinity for the Supersonics was wiped out when they moved).

[fusnik]

Last nights games were great. So superior to the NCAA games.....the athleticism, physicality, skill all trump the 'preferential' treatment.

[TripletDaddy]

I think he means Travis Knight, Corie Blount, AC Green, Slava Medvedenko and Anthonly Peeler. Those guys got all the calls.

You can go even further back to the 70s when the NBA had no superstars or big egos. It was all a team game back then. No ball hogs or a bunch of dunking, just a bunch of passing and sharing the ball and jumpshots galore...