THE NBA PLAYOFFS: No matter how it shakes out, every Western conference matchup feels like it's going to be epic. Even Nuggets-Spurs, if it happens that way--I don't give the Nuggets much of a chance of winning, but I'd be shocked if they got swept. And we should all be praying for a Lakers-Rockets first round series and the accompanying Yao-Shaq hype of the past two years magnified to the nth degree. This will all be must see, grade point average-destroying television. I cannot afford to watch, yet I cannot turn away....

Meanwhile avoiding the Eastern conference playoffs will not be difficult. Every first-round matchup will be a chore to watch. There's at least two teams with losing records going in; there's the possibility of three .500 teams going in. We'll probably have to wait for the conference finals to get something decent out of this stinkburger of a conference, though comedy value is probably pretty high in the first few rounds. I expect the Knicks to go on some kind of run, leading to the usual incoherency from the pathetic Knicks fans--Steph is our LATEST SAVIOR! Isiah is a GREAT GM! We can trade Houston for Kobe STRAIGHT UP!--before cruel reality sets in. I would love a Knicks-Nets series, one which the Knicks could conceivably win, just for the goofy media posturing.