ESPN NBA

You could make a pretty damn good argument that, on the court, these are the best days in the history of the NBA. Shaq, Kobe, KG, Duncan and Iverson are already among the realm of "best players ever." Wade, LeBron, Nash and Dirk could eventually join them.



So why isn't the world singing the praises of the NBA? Why isn't today's NBA outperforming the NFL, NASCAR, and Major League Baseball, all of which have been rocked by scandals large and small over the last few years? Simple. Because today's NBA scares the unholy [expletive deleted] out of white people.



The NBA stands at the dead-center intersection of two rampant social dynamics: the ascendancy of the hip-hop culture and 21st-century marketing's sworn duty to segment every individual in this country into an easily definable demographic group.



Think about it.



Break yourself down into your most generalized demographic qualities: gender, age, race, economic class. There's a full range of music, TV shows, movies, and websites explicitly designed to keep you warm and toasty in your comfort zone, free from sharp edges.



The NBA as it stands today has plenty of sharp edges, at least for the segment of the population accustomed to the way things have always been.