NBA Playoffs - What's Next?

Well, Lebron and the Cavs are out, and the Celtics and Lakers are making the NBA Conference Finals look like a mere formality. Both teams are walking into the weekend with a 2-0 lead, and are looking like they are exploiting a clear mismatch. So under the assumption that both the Celtics and Lakers should move easily into the Finals, what's next?

If we end up with a Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals, casual NBA fans will get 2 teams that they know and feel comfortable rooting for. The series should be a good match-up and a repeat of the 2008 NBA Finals which the Celtics won easily. Will the same thing happen this year? Probably not. The Lakers are bringing tools that will match up well against the savvy veteran Celtic team. Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom create mis-matches for Celtics bigs, and will leave room for Kobe Bryant to do his thing all over the court. With a Celtics/Lakers series - expect a Lakers victory. Casual fans will release a collective "Ho Hum" as the Lakers hoist the Larry O'brien trophy.

With 3 weeks left in the NBA season, where will we all go? Baseball is a fledgling sport for casual fans. If you don't have an MLB franchise in your town, do you really care about baseball? Football is one of the greatest marketing machines in recent history, but much to the chagrin of ESPN, nobody cares about pre-season workouts, scrimmages, and pre-season games. If it weren't for fantasy football, there would be no scrutiny of off-season trades, injuries, and steroid/HGH accusations.

So sports fans are looking at about 10 weeks of...playing sports! Yes, it is summertime, and the weather, hot as it may be, is well-suited for organizing scrimmage and pick-up games. During a recent trip to Goodwill, I found myself perusing the sports equipment aisle, and I found footballs, basketballs, baseballs, golf clubs, bike helmets, knee and elbow pads - all the equipment necessary to start your own sports franchise! And, of course, it was all cheap.

There have been many studies done recently to examine the individual as alienated in modern American society(see Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, for one). Sports are great for helping to reconnect our culture while building team work skills and helping to get us back in shape. It is no secret that Americans are falling out of shape on a regular basis due to sedentary lifestyles.

So pick up a bat and ball, call your friends, and get a game going. Lord knows the satisfaction we get from watching a great game is nothing compared to the satisfaction of actually playing a sport with your friends. It's summertime, get outside and enjoy yourself!