There, I said it

FreeDarko needs to keep it movin', if nothing else so the world can see that we can think up the same shit as
Scoop and Eric Neel days earlier, for far less money, and in a manner far less likely to make you punch through your laptop. But honestly, I'm not sure how excited I am about the playoffs at this point. Don't get me wrong—still enthralled by the Suns, who basically took five of my favorite Association-ites and asked them to play the only style of ball that can hold my interest for a full forty-eight minutes. Nice to see the Wade-mania dampened a little, since we should probably be appreciating him for what he is—a absolute stud of a shooting guard who is still growing into what should be an era-defining talent. And as dastardly as those Spurs are, as long as Ginobili's in a starring role, I can only complain so much.

Quite honestly, though, the Spurs and Pistons bore me. Kill me. They make the NBA disposable; unless they're taking on a team brimming with talent and charisma (e.g. the Suns), they are the large, efficient motor that blots out the sun (no pun intended, since that would make it a mixed metaphor, actually, a blatantly contradictory mixed metaphor). If I'm at home anyway, or out in public with a tv on, sure, I'll pay attention. But no way am I planning my night around these Eastern Conference Finals, like I did for some of the earlier serieses. I respect and appreciate how the Pistons took Wade out of his game, but without him running wild, it's just the Pistons fighting off Shaq and some finely-tuned role players. At this point, I've watched enough of this playoffs that I'm getting impatient. Perverse and backwards as this may be, I think it's in keeping with at least my personal take on FreeDarko's means and ends.

You can skewer me if you want, but I'm the kind of person who will freely admit that I like football best when a running back goes for 200 and 3 touchdowns. Not an evenly-distributed passing attack. Or a defensive trench-war. Don't even try to tell me that watching the Suns' offense going at full-throttle, Wade doing his thing, or Ginobili unchained isn't a markedly different experience than some other thing involving the Pistons or Bruce Bowen. This isn't a matter of cheap thrill, excitement, or shallowness. It's that I watch the game to be astounded and really, I worry that the Spurs and Pistons might exist largely to take that away from me.

One point of order: why do I reserve the right to isolate Ginobili from the rest of the Spurs, while Wade makes watching the Heat worthwhile? The Spurs have an identity that doesn't rely on Manu; he can play a much smaller role without compromising their offense, or affecting their chances of winning. But if Wade isn't soul controller, Miami is in trouble. They can stay close, but it's him, not Shaq, that's going to put them over the top down the stretch.

I'm not trying to convince more responsible fans of anything, but I think that, in the spirit of full disclosure, I should admit all this before I write anything more or go silent until further notice. I love this game and I refuse to keep the somewhat tawdry nature of this love a secret any longer!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Draft lottery tonight! The most crowded, middle-to-bottom-heavy draft in the history of the world, finding the stars more difficult than ever to find, mpre politics bound up in this one than ever before, Euros on the wane and high schooler's likely to be fool's gold again (okay, maybe "fool's silver") (somewhere on ESPN's draft site, there's a brief paragraph about all the former high school stars that never made it to the Association but would have been lottery picks in today's day and age). Last year's draft was deceptively solid, despite the lack of fireworks; this time around, brace yourself for several months of inconclusive hand-wringing and trade rumors. This one really won't pan out until four years later.