By Craig Kwasniewski

Here's a call out to you, the readers of The Association, Intelligent NBA commentary from the two biggest basketball fans on the planet.
Why should I care about the Western Conference Finals?
On one side you have the San Antonio Spurs, which y'all should know by now... is not necessarily our favorite team. Then on the other side you have the Utah Jazz. Look, I like alcohol, a shitload of coffee (with caffeine) and having one single solitary wife so I'm not really a fan of the Jazz either.
So, why should I care about the Western Conference Finals?
Looking at the Eastern Conference Finals, you have the focused, veteran-laden Detroit Pistons versus the Cavs, a bad team with a horrible coach, led by LeBron James who lucked themselves into the perfect playoff seed (Magic and Nets are you kidding me?). Talent-wise the Cavs are an eight seed in the west. Through six games I thought Detroit might put together a 2001 LA Laker run and sweep their way into the finals. They're deep at all positions and their line-up of Weber, Wallace, Prince, Hamilton and Billups all have high basketball IQ's with the ability to drop 20-plus any night. I really enjoy watching the Pistons play, the way they work the ball around offensively and the sheer coolness they exude in the clutch (especially Mr. Big Shot, the modern day Clyde Frazier).
TNT is carrying the Eastern Conference Finals this year and they always put on a good show. They realize that their audience is males aged 15-45 and gear their programming toward them with slick highlights, humor and cool intro music. They clearly have the best studio show in all of sports with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson and the occasional guest spot of Mr. Ferengi Reggie Miller. (Though Magic Johnson tends to kill all studio chemistry when he spends 10 minutes talking about a 5 second highlight. Hey Magic, feel free to understand the whole "wrap it up" signal from the producer!)
Again, why should I care about the Western Conference Finals?
Utah Jazz versus the San Antonio Spurs.... can't you feel the excitement? Seriously... put you hands on the TV screen, you can literally feel the excitement... FEEL... THE... EXCITEMENT... DAMMIT!!!
Besides that you have the team that eliminated THE storyline of the 2007 Playoffs in Utah versus the team that benefitted from the Nash-Horry skirmish based on an outdated NBA ruling. (Like many people out there, the way the Suns-Spurs series ended seriously put a bad taste in my mouth. I feel cheated and I don't even like the Suns.)
Plus you have ABC/ESPN covering the series. Unlike TNT, they believe their audience is 30-55 year old housewives. We get a showtunes themesong from The Pussycat Dolls, a bajillion promos for chick-TV (Desperate Housewives and Dancing with the Stars) and announcers calling the games like we've never watched sports before.

BTW - Can ABC/ESPN please stop rolling out "that guy" from Desperate Housewives who "knows" sports. You know who I'm talking about, that dude that keeps creeping on Monday Night Football, NBA broadcasts and local sportstalk radio. His name is James Denton (damn you ABC/ESPN for making me check this out on IMDB.com! I hate your shows and I hate you for trying to dupe men into watching that crap. I don't care if Dancing with the Stars has random hot chicks shaking their asses with random ex-jocks. There's a thing called the internet and if I want to see hot chicks shaking their asses all I have to do is google "hot chicks shaking their ass" and I'll get more than I bargained for!)
Back to my point... the only thing going for ABC/ESPN's coverage is better HD quality. Of course that also means Hubie Brown in HD so BUYER BEWARE!
So I leave the convincing to up to you the respect readers/commenters like Basketbawful or Dave or some of the others out there because I really want to know:
Why should I care about the Western Conference Finals?

How do you say "bored" in French?
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