Thoughts on the NBA...

- Congrats to the Lakers. Good series against the Kings... as a basketball fan I'd say that the quality of competition in this series showed that this country will sit up and take notice when some compelling basketball is being played. No matter how much I think I resent the Lakers and think that it'd be nice to see someone else win for a change, the glory days of the NBA was when there was a high level of competition, and basketball became part of the public consciousness. I'm all for that as a basketball fan. Sure, it'll mean I need to deal with more bandwagoners, but that's not so bad. I can just stay on my smug "I'm a real fan" throne. Speaking of which..

- I think I have a certain NBA arrogance in the sense that I hold myself to a higher "level" of fandom... i.e., I consider myself a "real fan" because I've supported my teams (Warriors and Spurs) in both good times and bad (in the former case, REALLY bad). If I'm talking basketball with, say, a Laker fan, I need to remind myself not to feel superior to them as a fan just because they've only become interested in the game b/c of Kobe, Shaq, and Phil. Even if I think Shaq is bad for the game, I certainly think that the sport's better off if people are interested in it.

- Gonna nominally root for the Nets in the Finals, just to see someone other than the Lakers win (and Phil Jackson's arrogance really bugs me - he never loses, it's always the refs or some other thing), and gotta root for Kidd - Cal solidarity, you know.