With no fabulous iPhone 5 to tinker with and scant interest in the baseball playoffs, we're left to either mull over the implications of dark energy or speculate about who will be the next savior for the GOP presidential nomination. Instead of contemplating atoms or Bachmanns, we're reading an article from the excellent online sports magazine, Grantland, that toys with the idea of a renegade basketball league. The article reads more like fantasy than reality, but even for a non-NBA fan, the idea is juicy in its possibilities. If the NBA indeed ceases to play the 2011-12 season, could the tattooed legions of hoop stars be persuaded to field teams in places like Kansas City and Las Vegas? Could the egotistical David Stern be replaced by the egotistical Larry Ellison? The vision of a rogue league put forth by authors Jay Kang and Bill Simmons would feature personality clashes ripe for reality TV. Larry Ellison (of Oracle and America's Cup fame) would head up the league. Eight teams would be created in cities hungering for NBA sports credibility - Anaheim, CA, Hartford, CT, Pittsburgh, PA, and Baltimore, MD. Star players would be chosen to lead the teams and draft the players. There would even be a relegation model where a traveling band of second-division wannabe teams would try to fight their way into the first division. Sure, it's not likely to happen, but it's fun to think about. To follow the latest on the basketball drama, check out Trove’s NBA channel.