Basketball On The Internet.

PART 1: THE NBL launched its new vision today in front of assembled media and all the teams here in Sydney, and, no question, there's a buzz in the ranks.

For starters, the league's new offices down in the Fox Studios precinct - the Entertainment Quarter - are ideally located and today's glorious Sydney weather made for a terrific day.

Interim CEO Steve Dunn gave the annual rah rah speech but, unlike the past where the words have meant little and the platitudes even less, it is clear he cares and so do his colleagues.

To see all eight teams in their colorful uniforms - yes, as the home team the Kings wore purple so every other visiting team should have been in white! - was terrific and highlighted the foolishness of always having one team in light threads.

The color clashes are few - Perth (red), with Wollongong (red) and Cairns (orange) would require an alternate set, and Adelaide (blue) and Sydney (purple) is a little close. Beyond that, it would be excellent to once again have color in the stadiums and discernible differences in visiting teams - not ALL in white.

(Who even thought of that? John Logie Baird?)

Today only emphasised that again and so keep your fingers crossed wiser NBL heads can prevail and recognise no-one needs a color-V-white contrast in this century.

Dunn spoke well and even a little inspiringly and it was rewarding, as it is anytime, to see the inimitable Leroy Loggins again walk among the players who today continue his great legacy.

Cal Bruton, the other legend who has leant his name to the Blitz Preseason Trophy - the Loggins-Bruton Cup - was his customary effervescent self. These guys never get old and neither does seeing them back in the fold.

There is a great sense of "one-ness", for want of a better word, because even "unity" doesn't quite nail it.

Everyone seems to be embracing the new direction, everyone genuinely cares about the product and everyone is excited about what is in store.

The games will be back on Network Ten/One HD as per last year's arrangement and NBL.TV will also return, though why it isn't broadcasting Blitz games is a mystery.

So far, they have been good spectacles and, to garner a fresh audience, that's a product NBL.TV could be helping get out there early.

That would equal more subscriptions so you wonder whether that's even a priority.

It will all work out eventually, they tell me.

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

*That the reason Melbourne wears yellow now is this simple. "Have you ever seen a red tiger?" It was a good point by Tigers coach Chris Anstey. The red strip was a holdover from the days when the club was Melbourne Church (red uniforms, gold numbers), with black added in when the Tigers name arrived and "Church" quietly disappeared.*

*That you should know your interview subjects before you bring them on stage. New NBL media man Paul Cochrane's valiant attempts to interview incoming Perth import James Ennis, to paraphrase, went a little like this. What are your thoughts of the NBL (after one game)? The referees call too many fouls man. They should just let the guys play. You've come from the NBA, tell us about that. Never played in the NBA man so can't answer that. (You get the general idea. The good thing is, it got worse from there.)*

*That Shane Heal should get a quiet "thank you" from the NBL for saving the previous situation by telling Ennis (and the audience) he would like the referees more when he was shooting a lot of free throws.*

*That in going forward, sometimes we are still a little backward, the evolving and soon-to-be-spectacular new NBL office featuring action posters of Tom Garlepp, Ayinde Ubaka and Ian Crosswhite on its windows for passing eyeballs. That's one role player, an import who is no longer here and a retired player. The pictures inside the office are Andrew Gaze (fair enough), CJ Bruton (no issue) and Simon Dwight (long retired but still by the phone in case Charlotte Hornets ring back.)*

By the way, did the players know there was free food at the launch?

PART 2: CAL Bruton opened proceedings at the evening launch with a heartfelt reading of what basketball means and how those in the room can restore it to former glories.

Considering "the room" at the EQ housed every coach and player currently on the active rosters for all eight teams (yes, that's how I got around the Cody Ellis question), it was a poignant moment.

Sponsors, CEOs, GMs and referees abounded and it was a positive to see Basketball Australia chief exec Kristina Keneally in attendance. It was akin to having your ex-wife at your next wedding ceremony but it served to reinforce while the NBL and BA will be independent of each other, they still need each other.

"Bring It" is the league's theme and catch-cry this year and even WWE's The Rock is happy, having immortalised the line: Just Bring It.

It wasn't hard to smell what the NBL is cooking, with positivity, hope and confidence the key ingredients in returning the league to the "let's try that" menu.

Bruton, Leroy Loggins and Ray Borner - that's The Black Pearl, Leapin' Leroy and Ray-Ray - spoke eloquently, and clearly are on board with returning the league to its past pedestal.

Other than 2Hard2Guard and Homicide, nicknames such as those, and a host of others - Alabama Slamma, Mean Machine, Amazing Grace, Hammer for a quick few off the top of my toupee - have disappeared and with them, the color they create.

Maybe it's all these bloody white uniforms but the sanitisation of the game in Australia, in conjunction with the descent into overt and unattractive physicality and endeavoring to fulfill FIBA requirements, were the cornerstones of the league's suicidal path.

It is time for nicknames to come back into vogue. Of course to have nicknames, you need characters and those characters are the ones who best showcase their skills in a league based on skills.

That's what's NBL Pty Ltd wants to give us, the fans, back, in return for our passion, patience and persistence through so many lean years.

But hey. You can't have good times without the bad so let the good times roll and (just) bring it!

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

*Steve Dunn may be "interim" CEO but it is great to again see such genuine passion for the NBL, and so too his three running mates Nick, Richard and Adrian.*

*That "one-ness" I spoke of earlier? It is every bit as true of the new NBL than it was untrue of the whole One-Basketball concept.*

*How entertaining it is to see former teammates catch up, especially those such as former Blaze brothers Anthony Petrie and Chris Goulding, who had their famous grapple in the first round last season. After they were banished to the locker-rooms, they spent the rest of the match texting each other.*

*That Luke Schenscher and Daniel Johnson are very tall, even sitting down.*

*That Russell Hinder, Ben Madgen, Dean Vickerman and Michael Aylen should consider post-NBL careers as a comedy troupe.*

*That it is SUCH a relief the NBL PR department picked up the typing error in the press release going out about the Ray Borner Medal (for Blitz MVP) before it ever saw the light of day. Otherwise we may have seen very different media reports about basketball's new Boner Medal. (I am not touching that, even though starting a sentence about it with the line: Imagine if David Stiff was still playing and he ...) Suffice to say, it was a great save by someone in the office!*

GOOD luck to our WNBL stars all bedded down in Melbourne tonight preparing for a run at the inaugural Spring Shield.

If you subscribe to the theory preseason form is meaningless, take a moment over at Dandenong Stadium to ask the Harrowers what they think.