NBA vs. college basketball

With the NBA kicking off it's season last night, I'd like to rip on a certain kind of sports fan that bugs the heck out of me. That would be the "I don't watch NBA basketball because is sucks, I only watch college basketball" fan.

First off, how can you say the NBA sucks when you don't even watch the games? That's like saying that you've never eaten ham because you've never tasted it.

And secondly, how does a lower-tier (college basketball) have a higher quality of basketball? Sure there might be more passion from the fans (something else that might be debatable if you go to Boston or Portland), but have you watched college basketball lately? Not only do the best players leave in about a year in school meaning you can never develop an attachment to a team before the stars are gone and the team unity gets all screwed up. The end of the games usually turn into free-throwing contests and while there's plenty of fundamentals (the WNBA), there's not a whole lot of flair.

The main digs against the NBA - no defense (not true) and the players are thugs (absolutely ridiculous and racist) are horrible arguments. Anyone who's watched the league in the past three years knows what I'm talking about. I'll agree that the regular season is much too long, but every game holds a slew of storylines since every player came from somewhere and was the best player from somewhere. You can find some nugget of interest in any NBA game.

In the college? Sure there's Duke and UNC but the only thing fans really latch onto is the school names rather than the players. The storylines and background of the sport aren't nearly as developed since there's so much turnover. Nothing wrong with rooting for just the team, but you'd be kidding yourself if you think the individual players don't matter. Dwight Howard vs. Lebron, Dwayne Wade vs. Kobe ... ect. ect. very interesting matchups.

While I do love college basketball during March, to say that it's a better product than the NBA is short-sighted and ridiculous.