It's Basketball SEASON!

This is easily the best time of the year. Baseball is over, Football is getting more exciting, and the basketball seasons have begun. Prep, college, or pros, I love it all. The transition from the baseball season (which makes ESPN hard to watch) to basketball has been made much smoother due to the fact that football is again relevant in Detroit. It hasn't been since Barry left town. Seeing this team 6-2 this year is something I would have never predicted, not after what I've seen from them. I find myself watching the games waiting for them to blow it, and they haven't. They either get baptized by a random NFC East team (outscored 100-24 against Philadelphia and Washington) or pull out the victory. It's amazing. The Denver game was one of my happiest moments as a Detroit sports fan. For once I was embarrassed for the other team. It's a great feeling. Boston most be loving it right now.

Back to my point, this is the greatest time of the year. While the NBA has gotten off to a better than normal start to the season, my focus will be on college ball for the next couple of months. There are so many questions that I need answered. Will Kansas finally stop underachieving? Will Michigan finally do better than annual trips to the NIT? (While they probably won't this year, Beilein is a much better coach than Amaker) Can Oakland make it back to the NCAA's? Who is the better freshman: Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, Kyle Singler, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon, etc.? Is Kyle Singler the next really good Duke player people love to hate? What random team few people have ever heard of will win 20 games? How badly will my NCAA bracket look at the end of the year? There is more where that came from, and I'll be sure to write about it during the upcoming season.

College ball may be more engaging, but the NBA has it's own appeal also. I'll tell you right now, I don't think the Wizards will make the playoffs. Toronto, New Jersey, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Orlando, and Miami are all better teams in my opinion. That's my "surprise" pick of the year. Gilbert Arenas is talented, but his shot selection is reminiscent of Antoine Walker. A team I hope makes the playoffs in the West would be the Hornets. If they can stay healthy, they could make a little noise this year. Chris Paul is something special, and the team around him can ball. Tyson Chandler got out of Chicago and finally started playing, or started playing with a distributor instead of a scorer. Whatever the reason, I like his game now. A 6th or 7th seed for this team isn't out of the question at all.

My prediction for the championship this year is........The Detroit Pistons. Yup! (Okay, that's a lie. But as long as I receive a check every week, they won't get bashed excessively.) If I'm not lazy, I'll write my little preview for the season. It'd be nice if I got League Pass so I could give a better opinion, but this'll have to do. Only about 2 people read this blog anyway.

That's all for now. Enjoy the season, this is a beautiful time of year. My journalistic prime. If I can't blog now, I can't blog. Hopefully those 2 people come back and enjoy this thing I'm trying to do right here. Until next time....