[pac-man]

Small market is a misnomer. San Antonio is the 7th largest city by population in the country. It's a market that doesn't command national attention, and the working class mentality of the team doesn't capture people's imaginations. Hence, they get no ink. Nobody likes hard workers in America, and yes, I can throw in a Simpsons reference: the Frank Grimes episode. Homer command's attention, but Frank is the better worker.

Boring basketball has been the NBA's mantra since Jordan left the Bulls for good. We just watched a playoffs in which home teams dominated and almost all the games were decided by wide enough margins to make them pointless to watch past the 4 minute mark in the fourth quarter. NCAA b-ball has been the basketball of choice for a solid decade now. NBA stars sandbag their asses off.

Of course people are going to talk about the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks. But other than market shares, people talk about them for all the wrong reasons. LA wouldn't be here without the Gasol trade, period. The Knickerbockers are a god damned disaster and we love our disasters. The Celts bought their way back to the finals, and let's face it, Mass. has been ground zero of great sports this past year. Between the Sox, the Pats, BC, and the Celtics, Boston has had a phenomenal year. I've spilled enough Haterade on the subject, but it's hard to deny. If Tim Duncan flapped his pussy then San Antonio would get some press; he doesn't, so they don't.

Don't hate the game, hate the players. The flopping, the refs, the bitching/fighting/arrests/pot smoking/sandbagging has made this series less relevant than it should be. Not the Spurs, not the markets, and (as one) certainly not the fans.