<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Did you watch the little TV production called the NBA Draft Lottery on Monday? Did you hear Lakers executive Jeanie Buss break up the studio when she joked that she'd rather have a wedding ring than the lucky rock that Phil Jackson sent along with her? Did you see the Milwaukee Bucks' general manager tremble like a drama-school freshman as he showed off the lucky fishing lure some Wisconsinite gave him? Do you still wonder if pro basketball really needs championship contenders in sexy big cities like Los Angeles instead of just not-ready-for-prime-time backwaters like Milwaukee? From all accounts from the arenas still lit, the playoffs are going along just fine. Detroit, Miami, San Antonio or Phoenix, somebody will be the NBA champion next month. But something is missing. Call it big-city cool. Call it large-market might. Call it a traditional power. Call it a villainous giant. There's no Boston or Chicago (each knocked out of the playoffs in Round 1), no New York (missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row), no Los Angeles (missed the playoffs for the first time in 11 years). And everybody else, you know, is Fresno. I mean, what's an NBA postseason without a "Beat L.A.!" chant?</div> Source
