Leather be!

Some NBA players are complaining about the new basketballs David Stern has unleashed upon them this year. And you know what? I - for perhaps the first time in my life - am going to side with the overpaid, whine-prone players.

When it comes to basketballs, you go leather or you go home. I say composite, smhcomposite.

This is the NBA. The top of the game (allegedly). Don't skimp on the round ball.

I can remember my days as a high school gym rat scrutinizing each basketball that my team had in its ball cage until I found that perfect, amazing ball that would grace my fingertips in ball handling drills.

Shaquille O'Neal said the new balls feel like indoor-outdoor balls, and any basketball purist can tell you, an indoor-outdoor ball should stay outdoors and never feel the bounce of a hardwood floor.

Steve Nash isn't pleased with the balls either. This from a guy who dribbled a tennis ball all throughout college to improve his skills. I'd say he knows what he's talking about.

So Mr. Stern. Ditch the new age of composite and stick to what a basketball should be: pure, unadulterated leather.