Hoops History for Dummies

Yesterday I stumbled upon Spike TV's marathon of the 52 Greatest Moments in NBA History. It's the type of show that's perfect for a Memorial Day afternoon- you know you're gonna get sucked in, so you don't even try to fight it.

The list was great, if only because it didn't make any sacrifices to attract a younger audience. So while I was worried that it would be heavily weighted to NBA highlights of the last 10 years, I was pleasantly surprised. There was no Shaq, no Allen Iverson, and mercifully, no Vince Carter. The special only had the good stuff, great highlights from the '70s and '80s (plus a healthy dose of Jordan classics). The best aspect was that there were several moments that I had read about (usually from the Sports Guy waxing nostalgic) but I had never actually seen. So I was glad to finally watch highlights of Jerry West's 60 foot shot, the Bird-Dominique shootout in '87, and The Greatest Game Ever.

This is a great time capsule of when the NBA was a completely different game- everyone made their jump shots (even without the three point line), teams actually passed the ball while on the fast break, and the refs didn't blow their whistle every posession. What I saw yesterday made me wonder how great it must have been to be a fan in the golden age. I wish I were old enough to actually remember the good old days.