Just sat down from the national anthem at RFK for the Orioles-Nationals finale, and it's still jarring, two full seasons later, to hear "O!'' shouted out, followed by boos. Looks like this will be, for the time being, the defining symbol of the still-building rivalry. The fans are still feisty about it, and intend to be for a long time to come. And there are a lot of orange-and-black-clad fans here today, and have been all weekend. Maybe more than there were in Camden Yards when the Devils Rays were in town.

Full disclosure: Unless this game is played at breakneck speed, similar to last night's (you can only complain so much when an 11-inning game still comes in at 3 1/2 hours - thank you, good pitching and National League rules), I'll be tipping away around the sixth inning to catch at least the start of the Spurs-Jazz Western Conference final Game 1.

The guess here is that you have to be a real hardcore NBA fanatic to watch the rest of the playoffs, East or West. It became pretty clear after the Suspension Game in the Spurs-Suns series that there are a lot of casual bandwagon-jumpers who got passionate about these playoffs only when the Suns started taking an edge. The Spurs, of course, have made a habit of going deep into the playoffs every year and turning off audiences all along the way. The Post's Mike Wilbon touched on this nicely in a column last week. The Spurs play exactly the way critics swear they want NBA teams and players to play, but when it's time to tune in, they get seduced by teams like the Suns, who, it should be mentioned, still haven't reached the Finals in their current incarnation. True, they are tons of fun to watch, and it would mean a lot for that style to be validated with a trip to the Finals, if not a championship. But it hasn't been; the Spurs' way has, and so here they are.

And they face the Jazz, who are equally low-buzz, overlooked for a gritty comeback from 0-2 in the first round to win Game 7 on the road, and for subduing the Cinderella team of the postseason, Golden State, in five games yet. Again, the Warriors had a high entertainment value, except they're worse closers than Danys Baez. So, here also are the Jazz.

I say, watch anyway, because both teams really do play basketball as right as it can be played, even if it's not as much of a high-wire act. Then again, I'm a little tired of begging for a little NBA respect, so if you don't wanna watch, go ahead, stick with the emerald chessboard or the beautiful game or the sport of kings or whatever else might be on.

Too bad about the Suns, though. If you get a chance, try to send Amare Stoudemire a rule book during the offseason, and some video of the league's real superstars, the ones who don't lose their heads and lose playoff series for their teams.