There are baseball fans who will talk for hours on the finer points of the double switch, who drone on about playing the percentages, who will point out the seemingly endless moves of infielders on a squeeze bunt. We're not here to compare sports, just to point out that the NBA, for all its troubles, deserves a place as one of the best games around. The game and the people who play it have plenty to work on. There are too many timeouts. Tickets are too expensive, players too aloof.
Arenas are too loud, and so are many players.
But the beauty and rightness of the game itself can't be denied. Maybe the players and the owners, after losing millions of dollars during the lockout, should remember that. It's really very simple. Pro basketball is fantastic, especially for those who know the game. It's the NBA that's screwed up.