NBA Finals: So what?

But for whatever reason, the Lounge just isn't psyched for the NBA Finals. It's been years since the Lounge actively watched any professional basketball game other than the Warriors. I was turned off by the way the game had degenerated from the uptempo, share-the-ball style of the '80s and early '90s game to the slow-it-down, isolate one-on-one, dunk or shoot-the-3 game it is now.

The San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons, however, play the type of game the Lounge likes to watch - skillful players, willing to share the ball and push it up the court when they get the chance. In the conference finals, the Spurs and Phoenix Suns had track meets disguised as basketball games as they routinely broke the 100-point barrier - the level at which the Lounge decides a game is "good."

The Detroit-Miami Heat Eastern Conference final went seven games, with the Pistons winning the last two - including Game 7 on the road - to return to the finals.

And yet the Lounge still can't get excited. Maybe because I've been away from the game for so long, I just don't care anymore. Maybe it's that my team - the Golden State Warriors - have sucked all the joy out of the game for me with their decade-long playoff drought. Maybe it's because I'm working while the games are being played and can't watch them live. I can't really record them because as editor, I'm responsible for choosing the wire stories that appear in the Daily Journal and I already know the result by the time I get home.

Maybe I'm just bored with sports. After dealing with sports all day at work, maybe I just don't want to plop down on the couch and watch more sports.

Maybe I just really don't care any more. It seems I'm more excited about the new Elmo video Baby Lounge got because it keeps her occupied and quiet. I don't get into discussions with people about sports too often any more. It's not like I hang out at the bars all night and discuss who was better - Dan Marino or John Elway (and I've had that discussion.)

It seems that I've gotten older and my priorities have changed, some things in the sports world have lost their luster in my eyes. I can't just sit down and watch just any baseball, football or hockey game. My team has to be playing. Maybe that's why fantasy sports are so popular. Most of the time you wouldn't care about the Cleveland Browns but you have their starting wide receiver on your fantasy team. Now you can't get enough Browns' info and you'd be willing to sit through an otherwise meaningless game.

I never thought of myself as an "event" kind of sports fan. I used to know everything pertinent about a respective team or player and what it took them to get to the big "event." But now, it appears I've fallen into that bandwagon-type fan, only watching the culmination of a season.

But not the NBA Finals.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.