Where Amazing Happens

The NBA's current marketing tagline is "where amazing happens".

And today, that really came to pass. In a big way.

It's sometimes hard to get excited for first-round match-ups in the NBA playoffs. With, you know, 16/30 NBA teams making the playoffs, juggernauts up against pathetic squads, and teams half mailing it in, it's usually not a great product.

Today, that was not the case.

First, you had Gilbert Arenas doing his best A-Rod impersonation. You know ... if A-Rod is Mr. April because he shows up big in April and then fades in October, than we need to call Gilbert Arenas Mr. First Quarter, because he came up clutch with a buzzer beater there, but was nowhere to be found when his team needed a big shot in the fourth. Throw in that amazing dunk by LeBron (you know, this one) and that game was awesome.

Then you had arguably the greatest game one of a first round series in NBA history. That Suns-Spurs game was simply phenomenal. The foul trouble, the clutch shots, the poor decisions, the amazing individual plays, the strategies and counter-strategies. If you want to convince someone to become an NBA fan, I think you'd show them that game. And it might be enough.

Throw in an amazing meltdown by the Mavericks and a road win by the Jazz (who if they can win on the road can be the best team in the league ... oh, and **** you Carlos Boozer), and this was just an amazing day for the NBA.

I hear a lot of people wonder if they can follow the NBA and wonder if it can capture their attention and imagination. Today, that answer was a resounding yes. And I've no reason to believe it wasn't simply the first of many days like that over the course of the playoffs.

Baseball is my first love, and it takes quite a bit to get me to focus on a sport other than baseball this time of the year. But today, the NBA did that.

And while it is where Amazing happens, I think they could also steal baseball's tagline today:

I live for this.