Work obligations prevented me from posting much last week, but it did give me a unique opportunity to talk to sports fans from around the country. I was in Las Vegas for five long days (and four short nights) attending my company’s annual customer conference. In between training sessions and evening social events, conversation would often turn to someone’s favorite sports action.

Obviously the MLB playoffs occupied many people’s hearts and minds. The Boston/ Cleveland series had just completed, and not that I am accusing anyone of jumping on an available bandwagon, it did seem funny to come across so many “diehard” Red Sox fans all in Vegas at the same time. I pretty much lost interest in baseball after the ‘94 strike, but I saw more people craning their necks at the big screens than throwing down money at the tables. I guess baseball has made a pretty good comeback.

Still, football seemed to be an even bigger passion with most folks. Not that anyone was very interested in talking about dog fighting or play stealing. It was more about waxing poetic about their beloved college guys or how even their struggling pro team was just a week away from turning it around. While I was gratified by the congratulations I received about the way my man Favre was carrying the team on his back, I was more interested in talking basketball.

But the disturbing thing I discovered was that most other people were not. More than half the people I talked to said they had completely quit watching the NBA. Reasons ranged from those convinced that the games were all rigged anyway to simple disgust with the inconsistency of the calls, and traveling fouls in particular. The players were all brawling thugs, or a bunch of overpaid whiners.

Even the few avid fans I came across did not seem as enthusiastic about the start of the season as I would have expected. Believe it or not, the ecstatic fan award went to a guy who got to shake the hand of his favorite golfer outside one of the lounges. I am not disrespecting Fred Couples by any means, but really-it’s hard to fathom that a 30 second chance encounter with Fred is a sports fans dream.

So while I am really looking forward to Tuesday, I think that David Stern better give some serious thought on where his league is headed. Though Lebron is an incredible talent, he’s only 23 and probably not gonna win a championship by himself anytime soon. While Kobe has many fans, he probably has a pretty equal number of haters. Perhaps instead of trying to crown the next Jordan, Mr. Stern should focus on the team aspect of the game rather than the individual. Not the ball they are playing with, not the clothes that the guys on the bench are wearing, but the game itself.

A good place he could have started was with this year’s opening day schedule. The Cinderella aspect of both the Warriors and the Jazz last year actually got a lot of casual fans excited. The playoff series rematch and budding team rivalry should have been worth some spotlight. But even though this is the only game the two will play in Oakland this year, there is no national coverage. Instead (remaining?) fans can watch an Oden-less Portland playing the reigning champs (can you say blowout?) and the re-made Rockets playing the unchanged Lakers. Being the homer that I am, I will certainly watch every single Jazz game this season. But it seems to me that when even steroids and signal stealing don’t dissuade fans from following their sport, Mr. Stern should be worried.