NBA Playoffs, Now on Soapnet

It's only fitting that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon stole the spotlight, albeit briefly, from the Lakers and Denver Nuggets in the NBA's Western Conference Finals with his little scheduling conflict.

McMahon, who has actively participated in some of the longest running male-oriented soap operas (WWE's "Smackdown" and "Raw"), served as a foreshadowing for the week to come in my sports watching schedule.

With Saturday looming and Game Three coming between the Lakers and the Nuggets, I had to pry the remote of my high definition TV away from my girlfriend, who has committed Saturday as the high holy day of catching up on the week's soap operas.

Fresh out of promises and IOU's for foot and back rubs, I did the only thing possible when backed in a corner to get a chance at watching the game.

Convince her that the NBA Playoffs are the ultimate soap opera.

After several minutes of arguing that Andrew Bynum's knee surgery was somehow related to "Grey's Anatomy" and that I will be just as sad to see Lamar Odom leave town as much as she will be when Lauren Conrad leaves "The Hills," my girlfriend took pity on me and reluctantly agreed to watch Game Three.

With chips and soda in tow, my significant other chose the Lakers because the purple and gold look a lot better than the white and powder blue of the Nuggets. While I couldn't agree any more, what happened over the course of the game was a subtle conversion from sinner to believer. After all the sportscasters explained the paths that players like Kobe Bryant, Bynum, Odom, Chauncey Billups, and Carmelo Anthony have made, where they are now, and how they stand on the precipice of history made each shove, hard lay-up, and technical foul became that much more important. The baptism truly began when she jumped and shouted at Kobe's clutch three with a minute to go.

That moment alone explains the essence of watching sports live. It's the intensity of the players, the natural drama of the situation, the spontaneity of watching it in real time. All those cliches fortunately ring true and any basketball, or sports fan has been lucky to have an amazing NBA postseason so far.

While my initial goal of watching the playoffs as the only form of soap operas in the house failed, she did agree to watch the series which is victory enough. If women truly are from Venus and men from Mars, then it is divine intervention that we live on the middle ground of Earth, and the NBA playoffs is the perfect blend of sport and drama. Now, if I can only get her to watch the Cavs and the Magic in the East.