This Just In - They're Playing Basketball!!

The first few weeks of the NBA season have flown by, and not a single word has bubbled to the surface of the Toooast soup. Well, after collecting the numerous napkins, backs of receipts, scraps of paper and various mental notes that I've scribbled on, it's time to break the NBA cherry and open the bball floodgates, and what better way to do so than a wild, random scatter shooting of observations on the haps of the L.

So, with the highly-anticipated first meeting of the Suns and Lakers this season going on in the background, awaaayyyy we go.....

One City's Loss is the Nation's Gain:

The loss of the Seattle Supersonics actually has had one massive positive impact on my NBA viewing experience: I now get to listen to my favorite TV play-by-play guy in the league, the GREAT Kevin Calabro, do national games on ESPN. He was the longtime voice of the hapless Sonics, and when it was announced the Sonics were moving to Mars, Calabro said he wouldn't move with the team. It went as far as him taking the job as the Seattle Sounders PXP guy (that's SOCCER!!). Well good golly, miss Molly, ESPN came to their senses and grabbed him by his golden throat and placed him in his rightful seat.

It is now the middle of the second quarter of the Suns-Lakers game, in Phoenix, and there is a more than noticeable cheer and "Oooh ahh" every time the Lakers score. Even the Suns fans themselves know that this is the Lakers' year.

Which brings us to this:

The Passing of the Torch:

Never has there been a season where the proverbial "changing of the guard" was as pronounced and obvious as it is this year. The Western Power Trio of Mavericks, Suns and Spurs have all passed their prime and descended closer to mediocrity than championships at the same time. The age and mileage on the Spurs stars and bench (Parker and Ginobili are already hurt), the lack of depth on the Suns, and the confusing hodgepodge of players and styles on the Mavs, have all been thrust to the forefront and it's painfully evident that none of these three teams appear likely to get past the first round of the playoffs this year.

Basketball is a young man's game, and this year, LeBron, Bynum, Paul, D-Will, the entire Hawks roster, Derrick Rose, Bosh, Granger, Stoudemire, Al Jefferson, Brandon Roy, Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay, Carmelo, D-Wade and Aldridge have politely shown Duncan, Shaq, Dirk, Nash, Iverson, Carter, T-Mac, Jermaine O'Neal and Kidd the door. It's their league now. The only player who can straddle the fence is Kobe, and KG to a certain extent (although his ridiculous antics lately have put him on my shit list). The new day is here.

(meanwhile, during tonight's game, the Lakers bigs are simply running past Shaq down the floor and the Big Fossil is looking so gassed that he can barely get off the floor and misses a point-blank layup. Case in point.)

Random stuff to file away:

-New Orleans losing Jannero Pargo to some team in the Russian Super League will end up hurting them in the long run this year.Pargo was a monster in the first round series last year when the Hornets eliminated the Mavericks. New Orleans doesn't have a backup point now, so look for Paul to show some wear on the tread by playoff time.

-The Clippers actually have Baron Davis, Ricky Davis and Tim Thomas on the SAME ROSTER. If you're talking NBA with friends, and someone says "Could you imagine having the three biggest head cases in the league on your team?", well now you can. Hell, I even saw the three of them on the floor at the same time a few games ago. When Cuttino Mobley is your stabilizing veteran, you are in a world of shit.

- Adam Morrison still really sucks, but he looks far less ridiculous doing so now with his head shaved. It's like he's just some no-name random white guy now and we've already forgotten the shaggy-haired "Ammo" from Gonzaga crying on the floor.

-The new NBA TV pre- and post-game shows BLOW AWAY the inanity of TNT's Inside the NBA. Barkley and Kenny Smith have grown intolerably lazy and stubborn and offer little but the most obvious observations. I almost feel sorry for Ernie while he tries to keep this rudder-less bus on the road.

(update: after the Lakers-Suns game, they actually rolled the fake footage of Kenny Smith trying to duplicate Kobe's jumping over the Aston Martin viral video, for, like, the billionth time. It still isn't funny.)

The NBA TV crew features a rotating cast of Eric Snow (who is more interesting than you might think), Chris Webber, Antonio Davis and Gary Payton, breaking down the nightly action and trends in the league. These guys are more recently retired and have firsthand experience with many of today's stars. While Barkley quotes Paul Silas and TNT rolls out yet another ridiculous, blathering John Thompson "serious" sit-down interview, the NBA TV guys break down film and offer insights in to the players thought processes. What a concept!

TNT- Very Finished.