Some of you might wonder what an NBA finals game and last weekend's USA vs. China women's softball game have in common. Answer: they're both jokes.

My prediction is that Game 3 is going to be a tremendous blowout by the Lakers (note: I'm a diehard Celtics fan). The reason for this is the ridiculous state of NBA officiating. People make a lot of noise about last night's game where the Celtics had 38 free throw attempts to the Lakers 10.

Folks, it doesn't matter. Were there some fouls that should have been called against the Celtics and weren't? Yes. Were there some incredibly obvious traveling calls against the Lakers that weren't called Yes. Calls are missed. But when you have a player like Leon Powe who is really attacking the basket like an incredibly hungry animal jumping for a steak, then you understand why he goes to the foul line a lot.

The ridiculous thing is that you know the officials in Game 3 are going to give the Lakers a huge advantage in foul calls. This is the current ridiculous state of affairs in the NBA. Can't we train NBA refs to just call the game and forget about where it's being played?

And how exactly are the refs supposed to call fouls when every play looks like a foul? Point guards on both teams are getting mugged and there are no calls. Ball handlers on both teams are using their free hand to constantly push back defenders and there are no calls. Palming has become part of mainstream basketball, travelling has to be egregious to get called, and as we saw from last night's game, even incredibly overt acts of travelling aren't always called. It's a joke.

Now for women's softball. I happend to watch the first part of the USA v. China match. One of the reasons is because I like Jenny Finch (the U.S. pitcher). What I saw stunned me. First, players in the field area allowes to wear no hat,  a visor, or a regular baseball hat. Both teams had a variety of headgear they were wearing in the field. What ever happened to the idea of playing and looking like a TEAM?????

The second incredibly ridiculous thing is the rule that if a coach sends in a pinch runner, it does not mean tha thte pinch runner plays the field in the next half ot he inning. Instead, the original runner reenters the game and continues. Can someone explain that rule to me?

In the end, both women's softball and the NBA finals are going to be lessons in ridiculous behavior.

P.S. letting the Lakers come back last night was terrible, especially because it was evident that Bryant found his missing stroke.