The Vipers in their road... whites?

Anyone else notice that? The Vipers wearing white uniforms, despite being designated as the home team, today? Well, consider what time the Vipers reached Boise after playing in LA on Sunday, and what time the Vipers had to play on Monday? With such a tight turnaround, there was no time to do laundry... so the Vipers wore their home whites, despite being the road team.

It speaks to perhaps a mistake in the schedule-making. There four games on Sunday. Half of those teams played on Monday. Back-to-backs are fine and a part of the NBA, but when the second half of that back-to-back is an early game in another city, it can get really difficult.

Consider this - the Vipers and LA D-Fenders both caught the last flight out of LA to Boise. What if they had missed it? Shoot, they cut it close as it was thanks to overtime. And of course there was the laundry issue.

But wearing the wrong uniforms speaks to something a bit beyond scheduling. More about the need to count NBA Development League Showcase games as neutral site games. If you've been reading the game notes, you know that's what I put at the top. I may even add a column for neutral site games in the records breakdown because that's what these are. The only exception would be when the Vipers played Idaho in their first ever showcase game in Boise in 2008. That was a road game. Call these games what they are.

Why does it matter? Well, the stats say the Vipers were 12-13 at home last year. Well, actually, they were 12-12 at home, 0-1 as the home team at a neutral site. It doesn't really matter if you're the home team or the road team at a neutral site game, so it shouldn't factor into the statistics for home and road games.

On Wednesday, the Vipers take on Bakersfield at this neutral site in Boise. If the Jam pull off the upset (they did recently win at Maine), are you going to tell me that's the end of the Vipers six-game home winning streak? And if they win, are you going to be satisfied with me calling it the Viper first-ever seven-game home winning streak?

Dodge Arena is home. Not Qwest Arena. And regardless of what the official stats or uniforms at the Showcase say, that's how I'll mark it in my book.