Though many seem to try, no sane sports fan lives on football alone, and that’s why God created basketball.
And not the modern NCAA brand tainted by one-and-done freshmen and rosters that rotate names quicker than cherries on a slot machine.
No, He blessed humanity with a league built by names like Russell and Chamberlain and perfected by the likes of “Magic” and “MJ.”
Without the NBA regular season, there’s nothing to hold sports fans over from one weekend of football to the next. There’s also nothing to fill the SportsCenter highlight reels on those random Wednesday nights in January when college football is finished and two more days remain before the next NFL playoff game.
A world without NBA basketball sounds like a miserable place filled with long periods of waiting between sporting events and littered with depressed fans whose football teams are tanking.
The NBA strides in on a white horse at the end of October every year, wielding its superstars, alley oops and dunkfaces to save baseball fans whose teams petered out weeks ago and football fans who’ve already given up on their team.
Its timing is perfect. It enters saving the day, and it gracefully builds steam through the course of Christmas, New Years and spring, ending in the middle of summer when it takes center stage — where it belongs.
With the start of the NBA regular season this week comes everything to love about sports.
The game of basketball played at its highest level is beautiful. It’s physical, technical, fast-paced and dramatic. On a nightly basis, it plays out like a Shakespearian play.
Heroes are abundant, and not just any heroes. The NBA breeds the kings of heroes. There’s a reason Michael Jordan’s name is still synonymous with the game. No other professional league celebrates individual greatness quite like basketball.
Villains are equally present. Americans love to hate, and the NBA provides fans with plenty of ammunition to throw in the direction of the LeBrons and Dwight Howards of the world.
Then sometimes those heroes and villains fall victim to the unknown guy off the bench who comes in and provides the underdog story. Looking at you, Jeremy Lin.
More so than usual, this season should provide all of the above drama and more. Regular season NBA storylines abound this year with the Miami Heat’s big three searching for No. 3 on their quest to “not three, not four, not five.”
Brooklyn sold its soul and all chance of relevance five years from now for one shot to compete in the Eastern Conference. And for the first time since 2004, the vaunted pinnacle of franchises, the Lakers, could finish the season with a losing record.
Even a few minutes down the road, New Orleans has new everything: new name, new colors, new players and a new hope of being relevant.
But if Shakespearean drama and storylines don’t spark an interest, NBA basketball still holds up because it consistently provides more mindless entertainment than any of the other professional leagues.
Every night presents the possibility for LeBron to drop 40 on some unsuspecting foe or for Blake Griffin to posterize some poor defender who should have just walked away.
It’s understandable that the NBA’s eight-month season can run a bit dry on intrigue at times for some people. But most people don’t know a good thing until it’s gone, and any shortening of the NBA season’s perfect length would no doubt diminish a good thing.
There’s a long way to go from this opening week until the NBA Finals, but just like every season, I will eagerly watch all eight months to see where the next buzzerbeater or poster dunk will come from.