It annoys me when sports fans complain that they don’t like a certain “style” of play. For example, people complain that too many basketball teams focus on defense because that’s what wins in the playoffs. So we wind up seeing games like the Celtics-Pistons game last night.

Or they complain that too many teams have no inside game — they live and die by the three. Needless to say, these folks are misguided. As Bob Ryan pointed out in a recent column, the NBA has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. “The Celtics launch, therefore they are,” Ryan writes. More to the point, they have two gifted three-point shooters in Pierce and Walker — why should they try to build some kind of inside game when that is not their strength?

Teams have to work with their personnel. If the Celtics had drafted Tim Duncan the way Rick Pitino thought they would, I’m sure they’d have a much stronger inside game. But things didn’t work out that way. Likewise, defense is what wins in the playoffs. If that’s what it takes to win, that’s the way teams will play. Their job is not to make the game look pretty; their job is to win. Coaches are only playing by the rules of the game and working with what they have been given by management.

The sooner fans realize that and get over their ideal of what their team “should” play like, the sooner they’ll enjoy the game actually being played on the court.

And, as Ryan points out in another column, things are actually looking pretty good for the NBA. The style of play is becoming more up-tempo and the number of young and exciting stars is astounding. But it’s a natural development, not the result of coaches dictating a certain style.

Well, either that or a firing. The oldest cards in the sports columnist’s deck. The Tribune’s Phil Rogers says the Cubs should deal for a catcher.

Yes, the Cubs’ current output from the catcher’s position is pathetic, but the alternatives aren’t much better. In a way, it’s a good thing that Hundley‘s on the DL with his sore thumb. The only advantage he theoretically offers is a left-handed bat with power, but it’s all theoretical. He doesn’t call a particular good game and his defensive skills are subpar.

So why not just write off the position as an offensive contributor? Just let Machado catch most of the games and throw in Girardi once or twice a week. Bill Mueller is back and looks like he will contribute. Bobby Hill is up and will add some offensive power. Yes, it stinks that McGriff and Alou haven’t done much so far, but those are positions we can’t do much about. So let’s just consign the catcher’s spot as a defensive specialty. A deal is not advisable. Here is what Rogers suggests:

There’s no GM sneaky enough to find a team to take Hundley. So unless Tribune Co. agrees to write off Hundley as if he were an oldies radio station in a college town—not a bad option—MacPhail will have to use Girardi in a trade to upgrade at catcher.

One immediate possibility is to send a starting pitcher, Matt Clement or Jason Bere, to Seattle for talented backup Ben Davis or even regular Dan Wilson. Kansas City’s Brent Mayne and the White Sox’s Sandy Alomar Jr. could also be made available.

It’s a long shot, but Texas might cut the cord with Pudge Rodriguez now that it’s playing better behind backup Bill Haselman. If that is pie in the sky, sorry, but grim reality is the mother of implausible dreams.

Clement has way too much upside to trade for a slight upgrade in the catcher’s slot. As for Bere, I’d be behind that deal — especially with Prior itching to come up — but who realistically will give up much for a guy who’s making last year look like a fluke. He’s 1-5 with a 6.62 ERA and really hasn’t had a good start all year. Why not throw in Fassero into the deal as well? I’m sure teams will go for that.

As for the Pudge trade — yeah, keep dreaming. A Hall of Fame catcher for Jason Bere and Joe Girardi? This isn’t one of those video baseball games where you can trade Ken Griffey Jr. for Damon Buford. Pfft. Sports columnists.

If you ever happen upon a Buffalo Wild Wings location, please do yourself a favor: do not order the blazin’ sauce on your buffalo wings. The description for the sauce is “Taste the pain.” There are five little fires next to it. But I was a hot shot. I ignored the warnings. By the last two wings of my dozen order, I was wiping them down with a napkin to get the sauce off. The entire area around my mouth was swollen and red.

It makes for a funny story, but it was truly painful.

If you know the tune that goes along with those words, you’ve seen “Chuck & Buck.” And the memory of the tune may bring a smile to your face or it may make you squirm — if you’re like me, it makes you do both.

“Chuck & Buck” is a remarkable movie. Not only because it is a stalker movie without any violence. Not only because it wrings laugh out of painfully awkward situations. But because, looking at who worked together to make the movie, you’d wonder how it ever got made. The star and screenwriter, Mike White, got his first big break in the movies by writing the screenplay for “Dead Man on Campus.” Exactly.

OK, so he’s also written for “Dawson’s Creek” — a good show in its early seasons — and “Freaks and Geeks,” which unfortunately did not stick around long enough to get bad. How about the director? Miguel Arteta directed “Star Maps.” Precisely.

But here’s what’s especially surprising: it co-stars Chris Weitz as Chuck — or Charlie. Weitz was the producer of “American Pie,” wrote the screenplay to “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps,” and directed and wrote the new Hugh Grant clunker, “About a Boy.”

It just goes to show that you never know what gem will be produced by people who are otherwise Hollywood hacks. You may not like “Chuck & Buck,” but it is definitely a moviegoing experience you won’t soon forget.

I bet you didn’t know that. Sure, they may have won four World Series in the last six years, but they suck on a moral level, you see. Express your hatred by buying Yankees suck gear, here. A man wearing a t-shirt from this site was tossed out of Seattle’s Safeco Field to satisfy their family-friendly policy.

In my mind, nothing could be more family-friendly than expressing the truth about the evil, evil Yankees (26 championships, 38 pennants, 52 human sacrifices).