<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It started with a simple question for Malik Rose about who is better, the Spurs or the Heat. It ended up as a stern indictment of the way the NBA is organized, packaged, presented and discussed, and it comes from one of its most thoughtful participants. Rose loves basketball and many aspects of the NBA, at least the game on the court. But parts of it, either because of the sheer volume of seemingly meaningless games, or the way it is presented to him, has turned him almost completely off. Sounding very much like one of the many formerly devoted NBA fans who have drifted away in the post-Jordan era, Rose said he can't watch regular-season games on TV anymore, and he doesn't even watch highlights. "The NBA is great and I love it to death," he said. "It's the best game in the world. I just don't get caught up in the stuff on the TV and the stuff the reporters and the commentators hype up. I just hate listening to it. I hate seeing it. I don't like it, and I stay away from it." That is why, when he was asked which team -- Miami, which he has seen twice in five days, or San Antonio, his former team which comes to Madison Square Garden tonight -- was better, Rose couldn't, or wouldn't, say. He said he hasn't seen the Spurs since he was traded last month, and he hasn't read about them, either, although by now he knows that Tim Duncan almost certainly won't play tonight after spraining his right ankle yesterday in Detroit. Perhaps it was just a ploy to avoid the subject of facing his former teammates for the first time. But even if it was, he also made a point. "I don't watch basketball," he said. "I don't watch SportsCenter, I don't watch any of that (junk). I don't read anything. ... I just don't get caught up in a lot of the stuff the NBA perpetuates, or the NBA builds up and hypes up. There's just a certain amount of hype that comes along with this game that tuns me off about it." By contrast Rose, a devout NFL fan, watches every Eagles game he can, reads up on them and watches all the highlights. He insists he isn't burnt out on hoops, but like so many casual fans, he doesn't start paying close attention until late April. </div> Source
