Game Seven NBA Style.

       I'm not a big basketball guy.  I watch a little here and there, usually by accident or when there is nothing else on.  I grew up a huge New York Knicks fan and as a kid I was a monster college hoops junkie.  But then instead of Syracuse, I ended up going to Emerson College (not exactly a sports hotbed, to say the least) so my love of the college game kind of withered and died over time.  And since the Knicks have sucked in grand fashion for the better part of the last decade, basketball has easily become the 4th of the big four for me.  But tonight is one of those wonderful nights for any sport: Game Seven.  I covered the joy of baseball's ultimate game in this post last year for the World Series. Alas, I am not quite the historian for basketball that I am for baseball, so let's just see what I have.

I don't really keep many whole 9 player pages for basketball, they mostly are 3x3. 

Here we see two of the three main players for the Heat, LeBron and Dwyane Wade.  I doubt I have ever owned a LeBron card of him on the Heat.  I don't think I have bought a pack of basketball cards in 5+ years.

Here we see Mr. Consistency, Tim Duncan.

I have a good friend who looks a lot like Dirk Nowitzki, though about a foot shorter.  And the less said about Kobe, the better.  I am not sure why I even have any of his cards.  Kobe Bryant is a Grade A Asshole on and off the court. 

I do have a few whole pages of players:

Here is one of my favorite player as a kid, Patrick Ewing.  I actually have 5 pages of his cards but I think one will make my point here.

I have Michael Jordan too:

I have two of his pages, but once again, one will do.

I try to keep my 3x3 basketball pages somewhat themed.

Here are the Big Three from the last Celtics' title.  I actually really enjoyed that team. 

Here you see some residue from my love of the 80's, Larry Bird...

...and the rest of the original big three...

With arch nemesis Magic Johnson there to boot. 

Wow. My basketball post is rambling.  I was hoping to find a page with some kind of interest...

...instead I only found a page with silly names.  My, I so enjoy pages with silly names, don't I?  If your name was Koko Archibong, you would to.  I mean, come on, that sounds like a character in a Cheech and Chong movie. 

Aside: I mentioned before where I went to college and it reminded me of a great little anecdote.  I shared a bedroom with my brother my entire childhood and it was a small room which necessitated bunk beds.  The only time I was without a sibling roommate was when he went into the army so I saw college as my chance to, if not have a room to myself, at least have a separate single bed.  I got my room assignment for my freshman year and I was put into a triple.  I saw my chance.  I could get the single bed and all would be right with the world.  So I arrived the first day and when I got to my room, I noticed one of my roommates had gotten there first.  He wasn't there but his parents were there unpacking his things.  He also had taken the only single bed.  I decided to speak up and I firmly yet politely said "excuse me, I know you got here first, but I have slept on bunk beds my entire life and I was hoping to get the single bed.  Not to mention I am very tall and don't quite fit well on a standard bed."  I figured I put it very nicely and succinctly. The mother immediately spoke up, also very politely, and said "Well, our son is 6'10"..." and as the words of that sentence hung in the air, I simply looked at her and said "I'll take the top bunk."  Turns out my roommate Kenny was the center for the basketball team.  Aside to my aside, our other roommate was 6'5" so I was actually the shortest person in the room.  I doubt the housing office could have possibly known, so I mean, what are the odds they would put over 19 feet of human in one tiny triple? 

Well, this post sort of went off the rails but to bring it all back around, tonight I will actually go out of my way to watch a basketball game, hopefully a very exciting basketball game since it is the ultimate basketball game: Game Seven.  I have no rooting interest but I really kind of despise LeBron James, so I will be rooting for the Spurs. I think 5 titles in 14 years makes for a nice little run. Plus, seeing a stoic, quiet team stick it to a team that is mostly bombast and braggadocio is always nice. Maybe I'll just watch the Mets lose to the Braves again.