before I start anything, is anyone interested in basketball?

No.

No.

A passive interest in the Newcastle Eagles, but apart from that, no

I know not many people seem interested, but it was the allstar weekend just gone, (a feature they should introduce to football ) the highlights bieng the slam dunk contest, 5ft 9 nate robinson won it for the 2nd time in a row, and the all star game in which the best players come together and show off some skills, they played in the dallas cowboys NFL stadium in front of 108,000 people, an all time record for basketball!
http://www.nba.com/video/highlights/
highlights there ^

Netball

It's no wonder that Americans love basketball:
- there's lots and lots and lots of points
- the players are so big they might almost be called freaks

I find this second point interesting.
It seems all the popular American team sports involve larger than life participants, indeed in American 'football' they wear those stupid shoulder pads and helmets making them look super-human.
Perhaps this is one reason why 'soccer' hasn't caught on very well over there - it can and is played by normal size, or even small, people.

Um, American footballers don't need stupid shoulder pads to look big. They are massive - some well over 20 stone.

yeah but american football is crap, basketball requires way more skill and fitness

Not really a fan of basketball, but I did watch this enthralling film recently, about the relocation of the Seattle Sonics basketball team to (I think) Oklahoma. It is pretty shocking that this sort of thing is still going on over there - of course in football we've had the Wimbledon/MK Dons scandal, but the difference in the US is that there is apparently no relegation from or promotion to the top league. So when the club is gone, that's it as far as top level sport is concerned.

It also shows how corrupt American sport is. The people who run the NBA are perfectly happy to see clubs change cities, as long as it brings in more money. In fact, they encourage it and play cities off against each other in order to get the most lucrative deals. It's not based on merit, just pay-offs.

Thats how they make their money, if one of the teams is not bringing in enough cash for the league, they tell them to move on to a city they think will attract a better crowd.

But its not only the league that decides for teams to move cities.

The most controversial one I know of was an NHL (Ice hockey) team that were known as the Minnesota North Stars, they were the most successful team in the history of the NHL and enjoyed a large home following, but the new franchise owner (a Texan oil billionaire) was determined to take the team to Dallas which is where they are now. The fans there in Minneapolis went feckin ballistic and the NHL tried to veto the move but failed.

At least for Minneapolis, they got a new team when the NHL expanded to 30 teams (Minnesota Wild)

It makes me appreciate our system more, but it only keeps reminding me that my town that's suffered this "franchise" thing TWICE, Back in 1930, South Shields were a FL team in the old 3rd division but the directors decided to move to Gateshead in the hope of getting better gate reciepts (which they did not get), the local press here and the fans reformed South Shields in retaliation in 1936 but yet again in 1974 when they were a Unibond League team, thr directors bought the ground off the fans promising to develop it, instead they sold it immediately to a property developer and moved to Gateshead international stadium. The current South Shields i go to watch now was formed by the fans in 1974 in response to that move.

Nope not bothered in the least its like tennis left right left right

LA Lakers crowned champions for the second straight year after beating Boston Celtics 83-79 in the final game for a 4-3 win series, highlights here.

I know not many people are bothered, but Dallas are crowned NBA champions after beating the Miami Heat 4-2 (best of 7 series). LeBron James and Dwayne Wade fail to win their first championship after being James' move from Cleveland last year. Good to see them lose, the Heat are pretty much the equivalent of Man City.
Highlights Here.

Was a great series. Delighted for Dirk, Kidd and Terry. Team basketball won it. Lebron played below par throughout the series and scored only 16 points in 6 4th quarters. Can't do it when a game is on the line.

Felt sorry for Dwyane Wade though.

Aye you could feel sorry for him, he's been with the heat his entire career I think, has'nt he?

But really happy for Dallas, its their first title

He already has a championship though, so no need to feel sorry for him. Interesting to see how Dallas do next year, can't see them getting beyond the first round.