20 REASONS WHY COLLEGE BASKETBALL IS SUPERIOR TO THE NBA
Factors that make NCAA hoops better than the pros
1. Cheerleaders in college actually lead cheers. Have you ever seen the Laker Girls or the Knick City Dancers lead a cheer?
2. $20 can get you a decent seat at most college games. In the NBA, $20 puts you behind the basket in the nosebleed section. At best.
3. College basketball has John Wooden's Pyramid of Success. And he won with class. The NBA has Red Auerbach stinking up the Boston Garden with his victory cigar.
4. And speaking of Wooden, this greatest sports coach of all time wanted nothing to do with the pros; he turned down offers from the Lakers more than once. That should say something.
5. There are no Ron Artests (by the way, he now calls himself Metta World Peace) running into the stands and punching people in college.
6. In college hoops, it's all about the team. In NBA hoops (except for maybe the Spurs), it's all about who's the man.
7. In college, it's all about the passion. In the NBA, it's all about the money.
8. No bling-bling in college - you won't see college players decked out in gaudy jewelry like they are Mr. T's son. And no entourages neither.
9. The Lakers and the Celtics, the greatest rivalry in the NBA, are over 3,000 miles apart. North Carolina and Duke, college basketball's best rivalry, are only eight miles apart.
10. College basketball has the Cameron Crazies. The NBA has celebrities talking on their cell phones.
11. College has the Midnight Madness to start the season at many schools. I don't think the Summer Pro League compares.
12. College basketball has Dick Vitale shooting hoops before the game and talking about his "Diaper Dandies". Unfortunately, Chick Hearn is no longer with us, so that leaves the pros with...who?
13. There are 30 NBA teams. There are more than 300 NCAA Division 1 teams - ten times as many teams to root for.
14. Women's hoops - Pat Summit. Enough said. Her teams at Tennessee outdrew the Memphis Grizzlies while she was coach! And now Baylor's 6' 8" Brittney Griner is considered the best college player in the country; male or female.
15. Dennis Rodman never dyed his hair all the colors of the rainbow, go to book signings in drag, posed naked on book covers, or kicked any cameramen in college.
16. If you don't play defense in college, you don't play. If you don't play defense in the NBA - but can score - they'll work something out.
17. In college, there are actual bands playing actual instruments. The NBA - except for the Lakers - wouldn't dare allow something so archaic.
18. The Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City because their owner didn't like Key Arena. Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles is being renovated as we speak, but you haven't heard the UCLA Bruins talk about relocating to Bakersfield, nor will you ever hear about such an absurd thing.
19. Two words: MARCH MADNESS. Three weeks. 68 teams. One loss and you're out. Millions of dollars spent on office pools. Schools with barely 500 students beating schools with 50,000 students on last-second buzzer beaters. The championship being decided over one weekend in the Final Four - the greatest thing that basketball has to offer.
20. The NBA Playoffs: Two months during the baseball season - by the time it ends it's almost the 4th of July. Teams with losing records participating who have no business being there. Every round is a best-of-seven; you can lose more than 10 games and still become the champs...
Did I mention that they're held during baseball season?
