The NBA is way more exciting than you think

That might have been a tall order, but it was one of my roommates’ 21st birthday, and since the previous night he got ritually plastered off Patron, the five of us took this night for an excursion to the Meadowlands.

We had pretty good seats — lower level, behind the visitors’ bench. Only when you see NBA players live, standing next to the basket and next to ordinary people do you realize how absurdly tall these people are. More importantly, I actually found myself getting into the game and rooting for a team — the Nets — which I previously had no reason to root for.

Here are several positives from the night.

The game was actually entertaining

The game was close through the first half, but during the third quarter Richard Jefferson went off. Earlier, I was actually thinking about how bad Jefferson was, about how he jacked up bad shots, about how he didn’t play defense — just about how selfish a player he was. But during the third quarter he came alive — hitting threes, moving on offense without the ball, leading the break after turnovers or missed shots. This doesn’t refute the notion that he is selfish, but needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Speaking of being pleasantly surprised, I had similar notions of a me-first Vince Carter, but in Jason Kidd’s absence Carter became the Nets’ most active passer on offense. He threw in a couple of nice dunks, too.

The halftime show was awesome

The halftime “show” was a big game of Simon Says. Yes, you read that correctly. Simon Says. A young man with a Richard Simmons-like temperament was brutally honest to 10-year old boys and 40-year old women. “Are you kidding? You’re out,” young Richard Simmons said to one young Nets fan. “I saw you put your hands up — don’t make me get security!” The eventual winners, one from each sex, were a very, very attractive woman and the smallest boy out there — and this wasn’t on purpose, you can’t cheat in front of 15,000 people.

I giggled every time Mike Dunleavy, Jr., screwed up

Really? This guy was drafted third overall? While someone as tall as he is with the shooting ability he had in college might seem like a great pickup, the pasty former Duke standout was clanking free throws. He finished with 19 points — better than his average — but was one of six from downtown and only four of seven from the line.

Now, the 2002 draft wasn’t exactly loaded, but here are a few names who went after him: Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler and Tayshaun Prince. And Carlos Boozer, but he went to Duke, too, so I don’t care for him.

We stopped at Chipotle along the way

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And it was awesome. Half steak, half carnitas, 100 percent tasty goodness.

By the third quarter at least one of my roommates was drunk

Not only was he drunk, but he was high-fiving the little kids around us and imploring our entire section to get loud for the arena’s fake decibel meter, which came on during most of the timeouts but was suspiciously not analogous to the actual noise level of the crowd.

So while there are many NBA-haters out there, it seems a simple case of skepticism is cured — shockingly — by attending a game.