I WAS GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH HIM. COMFORTABLE ENOUGH THAT I HAD TO ASK ABOUT THE SECRET: I'm only about two hundred pages into the tome, but I do want to confirm that Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball is really, really good. This is the part of Simmons I respect most -- the NBA geek who's willing to do the homework and dive into the history (seriously: his history of the NBA from 1946-1984 is fantastic), the avid fan (okay, a little too much on the Celtics) who shares his passion, the provocateur who doesn't want to stop reminding you just how bad Rick Barry's toupee was (1:45 in). My only complaint thus far is that there isn't more -- the book ought to come with a DVD full of clips, or access to a website with all the video compiled, because you want to see exactly what Simmons is writing about sometimes. Still, text-wise you can sample five excerpts here.
All that being said, and even with everything Simmons does to get fans excited about this NBA season, there's remarkable consensus about five of the six divisions, with only five teams out of 30 perceived as having a realistic chance of making the Finals. Neither of the other two major professional sports leagues are so predictable, nor are college football or basketball, and it leads to a regular season which now constantly fails to engage me. The league's current combination of guaranteed contracts, weighted lottery and salary cap have led to a situation where to become great you must seek awfulness first, and being in the middle just stinks. Annually. I don't know whether Simmons' book will address this, but I look forward to the next 500 pages of finding out.
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