Win or go home...

I was watching the Spurs/Lakers game tonight and highly enjoyed it.  Although the Spurs got robbed in the end, it made for good drama.  I consider myself a Mavs fan, but I hardly ever watch the NBA until the playoffs come.  The players highly step up their play and I think I've always watched it due to nothing being on in the summer.  I think that's why I have always enjoyed sports in general.  Football will always be king, but sports provides a never-ending human drama all year long.  I wish I could go back to the days where sports were much more pure.  Now everything has so much to do with dollar signs.  People complain about the modern athlete, but sometimes I don't blame the athletes for seeking out the huge contracts if they are being offered to them.  I go back and forth between what really hurts professional sports, the owners or the fans.  The fans create the demand, and as long as we are willing to pay the price of half our pay check to go to a game, it's going to be there.  I totally see the argument over which is better, college vs. pro, but there's the aspect of seeing the best of the best that I always enjoy.  I hate that sporting events are so expensive these days and that less privileged people are forced to watch a big game from their couch, but as a fan, how do you stop it?  If you have any ideas, I'm curious, and I'll be thinking about it as I wear my Tony Romo jersey to work tomorrow.