Lingerie League Puts 'Fun' into Fundamental Basketball

If the looming NBA lockout has bred anything but thoughts of NBA stars playing overseas, watching games live on ESPN at 3 a.m. and long winter nights yearning for a Blake Griffin dunk highlight, you're wrong.  No Lakers, no problem.  Mix a little Kobe Bryant and Kardashian sisters and you get the Lingerie Basketball League.  Only from the beaches of California could an idea like this make you forget about David Stern.  It's similar to Lingerie Football-- only with even less padding.

The professional women's basketball league debuted July 23 and, as the league's slogan says it's, "Where Beauty Meets the Hardwood."

The players wear little more than brightly-colored panties, garters and sports bras.  Even a flagrant foul is pretty easy on the eyes and 'driving the lane' just got a whole new meaning.

The Los Angeles-based league has four teams:  The Beauties, The Divas, The Glam and The Starlets-- and the girls can play.  See for yourself:

The league uses most of the same rules as traditional women's basketball.  There is a 35-second clock, two 20-minute halves, but uses a high-school 3-point line.  A held ball results in a jump ball between the Amazonian beauties and the "Red Light Special" gives a player 60 seconds to score bonus points.

Trash talking is rampant although there hasn't been a dunk yet.  That's OK, because the fans are there to see good, fundamental basketball skills.

Some women's rights groups have already condemned the league-- so what else is new-- but the league has shown to be gaining popularity pretty fast.

How the LBL expects to gain fans around the country when all four teams are based in L.A. is a mystery--oh yeah, they play in their underwear.

Still can't see the WNBA following suit.