<p>The National Basketball Association</p><p>We go through sports cycles in this Country. You don’t have to be a fan of the sport to enjoy the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the Master’s golf, the tennis Open or the Kentucky Derby.</p><p>You don’t have to be a big basketball fan to get interested in the NBA championship series coming up and for those of you who don’t normally follow the game, I have some basic information about the teams and the players.</p><p>There are a lot of numbers here so pay attention.</p><p>There are twenty-nine teams. Each team has twelve players. </p><p>More than half of them make more than a million dollars. Michael Jordan has the highest salary, $30 million for eight months’ work. During the season, Jordan scored 2,431 points. That means he was paid $12,341 for every point he scored.</p><p>Jordan doesn’t have to scrape along on that though because he also does endorsements for a lot more than that.</p><p>Of the 348 players in the NBA, 280 are black, 68 are white.</p><p>All but ten players are more than six feet tall. Thirty-two of them are at least seven feet tall.</p><p>The shortest American player is Muggsy Bogues. He’s five feet three inches.</p><p>The tallest American player is a Mormon named Shawn Bradley.</p><p>One of the biggest problems a basketball player has is finding a comfortable hotel room. The bed is never long enough for Shawn. Taking a shower is a problem because he’s taller than the shower head. Wherever he walks, he’s ducking his head.</p><p>Shawn’s team, the Dallas Mavericks, isn’t in the playoffs this year but it doesn’t matter. It is such a certainty that the Chicago Bulls will win the championship again this year that I am going to make another offer. You may recall I offered $1 million reward to anyone who found the murderer of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald </p><p>1 Goldman. I have not had to pay that amount so I’m in good shape financially and if the Chicago Bulls do not win the NBA championship, I will personally write a check for one thousand dollars, made out to O.J. Simpson, to help him pay the $33 million judgment against him.</p><p>From Andy Rooney, Years of Minutes, pp. 364-365. </p><p>2</p>