Utah, the NBA isn’t Winning Back Old Heads

Shower Thought - October 22, 2025

I'm not the biggest soccer fan, and sometimes I poke fun at people who like soccer because nobody scores and a lot of the biggest games come down to penalty kicks. They play 90 minutes of meaningless grown men running around, and then they say, 'Okay, let's stop this game and play another game where we just kick it in the goal from 5 feet away and just get this over with.' The last World Cup was decided by PKs [or was decided on penalty kicks]. Argentina and Messi beat the French with the PKs. The year before that in the Euro League final, Villarreal beat Manchester United in PKs. The Olympic final a couple of years ago, Brazil beat Germany in PKs. Soccer is lame; it's even lamer because of PKs deciding so many big games.

But I've realized I need to give soccer a break because there's a new contender for the lamest sport, and of course it's the NBA. NBA opening night was last night! A return to NBC, John Tesh, 'Roundball Rock,' 'Here's M. Jeff!' Mike Tirico! OKC, the defending champs, against Kevin Durant, in a double-overtime thriller! Back-and-forth lead changes, but at the very end of the game, OKC wins not with a buzzer-beater but with PKs (free throws). Last possession, OKC down one, it's SGA, your MVP, vs. Durant! Does SGA fade away and hit a big shot? No! He foul-baits Durant, gets him in the air, flails into him, and goes to the free-throw line and wins the game in the most anti-climactic way possible. Not a buzzer-beater—a buzzer-baiter. Enough of the fouls and free throws. I'm grumpy.