I don't want to come across as the suspicious one here.
I'm reluctant to think about the notion that an already spectacular NBA Finals will now have an added tinge of societal woes attached upon it.
But that's exactly what we have after news came out Wednesday morning that the Los Angeles home of Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James was vandalized.
According to a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department, an unidentified person spray-painted racial slurs on the front gate of his home in Brentwood. Police are investigating the crime as a possible hate crime as well as an act of vandalism.
James, who spoke Wednesday about the incident at an NBA media event, used the opportunity to once again talk about the plight of the African-American community, saying at one point that "being black in America is tough."
And while I cannot in any way dispute that position, I can -- and will -- suggest that no matter how heinous this incident appears to be, the last thing sports fans needed from this championship series storyline was more divisive and polarizing social rhetoric.
“Racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America, and hate in America — especially for African-Americans — is living every day. And even though that it’s concealed most of the time, people hide their faces and will say things about you and when they see you they’ll smile in your face, it’s alive every single day." LeBron James
We're clearly becoming a society of sides, of equally disturbing and widening gaps where one's preferences or tolerances of color, religion, sexuality and personal choices are open to diatribe, debate and ridicule.
I wish I could snap my fingers and return us all to a state of utopia where these gaps didn't exist, or where we could at least put them away for a week or so to enjoy a sporting event.
But that's not the world we live in anymore.
Sports -- you've heard me say time and again on the radio, or read on these pages at one time or another -- is supposed to be our stupid. Our means of escaping the horrors or murky realities of the outside world.
We're still going to learn more about the incident at James' home. We're sure to find out more information in the coming days about what took place and perhaps the identity of the person or people who committed this crime.
And while we sit here and wait for this news, followed of course by the hours and hours of debate and discussion about the fallout from said crime, sports fans will once again be faced with the prospect of having to mix the "real world" into our daily dose of stupid.
This isn't a plea for the sports fan. We're not entitled to anything except a game.
And I sincerely hope the perpetrator(s) of this crime are caught, and they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
But I remember a time when the game, the series, the matchups, the excitement and anticipation for a thrilling renewal of this great rivalry was more than enough for anyone.
To steal a line from James, being a sports fan in America is tough.
It surely wasn't always this way.
Game one of the NBA Finals starts tonight at 9pm Eastern.
I hope we'll all get to enjoy it.
That's all.