LA Lakers

The post-season has arrived for the National Basketball Association. The NBA Playoffs are upon us, starting today on ABC and ESPN, and tomorrow night on TNT, and that means the networks are shifting into overdrive to present all the games, all the action, and -- especially -- all the stars to the viewing public. Shaq, Kobe, LeBron, Dwayne, Dirk, Rajon ... if you're a fan, you don't need the last names. That's how big the star power is for NBA elite players.

It's perhaps even bigger than the NFL or any other major league. And that's one reason why the NBA is not the number one sport in America, but it is the number one marketed sport. That's a point illustrated in the new promo for the TNT broadcasts featuring music and movie stars Jamie Foxx and Justin Timberlake extolling the virtues of the NBA playoffs.

Both the World Series and the start of the NBA season brought in big numbers for their respective networks this week. The MLB faceoff between the Yankees and the Phillies score Fox a 6.3 rating share or 19.3 million viewers in their timeslot. The NBA's doubleheader opener on Tuesday helped TNT score a record-breaking 3.7 million viewers.

Stories like these make me long for the Yoda-like wisdom of baseball's Yogi Berra. Just think of the grammatically incorrect gems he could conjure.

"People watch sports because it's easier than playing it."

"Sports has a big following because so few people follow it."