Ok, so I like watching NBA games. I have since I was a kid, enamored of the Celtics and the Knicks, and later, Dr. J, David Thompson, and a long list of amazing players and revered teams. The end of season playoffs to determine the overall professional basketball champion was a time to look forward to, and to treasure as the best battled the best for the crown.

Unfortunately, over the years, NBA officials have seen fit to include more teams in the playoff draw, watering down the competition and extending the playoff run to a mind dulling two months each year. Including teams that barely break .500 is absurd - only the National Hockey League, a tragic joke whose death draws near, held the distinction of including a majority of its teams in post season play.

An additional and cynical change was to convert the first round of series play to a best of seven format, as opposed to the earlier best of five. My memory may be fading, but I seem to recall somewhat distant past when best of three was the opening round format, but don't hold me to it.

On top of playing 82 regular season games, NBA players who make it to the championship series will have played over a hundred games,, and more if they are taken to seven games in more than one series.

Ridiculous, in my view. Sure, they make mad cash, but the point of post season play is to pit best against best to determine the king of the heap for that year. Watering it down with irrelevant early round series by adding teams who don't deserve a shot at the championship is nothing more than a ratings ploy that serves to undermine the credibility of the entire playoff system. It also serves to wear out the players, leading to sometimes uninspired play and multiple injuries.

Kinda reminds me of baseball, where teams used to have 162 regular season games to get their shit together to make it into the post season, and one step from World Series play. Now there are preliminary rounds of play, longer post seasons, and falling TV ratings. Sports are, by their very nature, an arena for competition, victory and loss. Those who excel in regular season play ought not to have to wade through a sea of also-rans just to get to one another to determine who is truly the best.

'Nuff said.