I kind of sort of hate basketball (but I love the Thunder)

I kind sort of really hate basketball. It's loud. The shoes are squeaky. The game moves too fast, and I always forget which color I'm supposed to be cheering for. And don't they switch ends of the court sometimes?

But, last night, I ate dinner with James Harden.  If James Harden were three years old, three feet tall, and had no hope whatsoever of ever scoring a three pointer. (I do know there's some curvy line that, if you stand behind it and hit the basket, it's three points rather than two.).

You see, nearly every night, RJ becomes James Harden, and his playmate (be it mommy, daddy, grandma or Boo Kitty) becomes Kevin Durant: "I gonna be James Harden. You gonna be Kevin Durant. We gonna shoot hoops." And the game is on. The hoop isn't regulation--it hangs from the closet door. The ball isn't regulation either, but it is yellow and blue with a fancy Thunder logo.

Which brings me to my point. I kind of sort of really hate basketball. But, I love the Oklahoma City Thunder. For once, there is a team that we all like. There are no familial allegiances. There is no history. It's a new team, so there seems to be very little for us to dispute.

The players strike me as decent role models. I've watched a lot of games, and I've yet to see ugly sportsmanship, ugly attitudes or even ugly tattoos. I hear Kevin Durant drives a van (and I'm secretly jealous). I've seen players at the mall, and they actually talk to little kids. And take cell phone pictures. And sign autographs. In fact, they seem like big kids themselves--not quite believing their fame just yet.

My three year old James Harden wears his Thunder colors with pride. He watches games with his daddy, and they talk about rules of the game--an important concept when you're just learning that there are rules everywhere.  He finds confidence in his own three pointers. He talks about Rumble like they're old friends: "You remember last week (everything is last week in his memory) when we saw Rumble? He's a really hairy guy." Somewhere in there, I found a team to cheer for--even though I kind of sort of really hate basketball.