What we’re missing tonight with the lockout

I can’t wait. Three games to start the season. It should be great after all that excitement still so palpable from last season’s playoffs.

Oh, that’s right. We’ve got the lockout. We’ll be missing three games. Two of them would have been televised, and the other one would have been available on my free preview of NBA-TV like always.

Chicago and Dallas would have started things off tonight at 7 p.m. Derrick Rose vs. Dirk Nowitzki. For good measure we would have seen the Mavericks’ championship banner raised to the rafters of the American Airlines Center. And after that, we could have seen Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In between those breaks, we could have switched over to watch Houston at Utah.

Instead, we’ll be able to watch “The Biggest Loser,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “Body of Proof.”

My wife will be happy. She usually doesn’t get too excited for NBA basketball much before Christmas.

But missing these first three games really drives home the point that we’re really missing games now.

Enjoy those reality shows tonight.

And don’t curse David Stern and Billy Hunter too much while you’re watching them.