I don’t know if it is all this cold weather or a Halloween hangover, but there has been an eerie feeling surrounding the NBA since the season started last week.

It reminds me of that “Seinfeld” episode about the bizarro Jerry world that Elaine went through when she finds an opposite side to her life.

After further investigation I’ve discovered that the NBA is in fact experiencing a bizarro effect.

Compared to how things have gone the last few seasons, this season has gotten off to an unusual start.

I can’t figure out exactly why this bizarro NBA has struck this year.

It could be how the planets are positioned or some weather effect.

Or maybe the whole world is off since Justin Timberlake admitted to smoking pot with Nelly.

It could be the fact that the massive man known as Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t played yet this year due to injury, so that could be throwing everything off.

Another option is that I’m really reaching for a column idea since the NBA is only five games into the season.

But I think I’ll go with the planets thing.

Here is how life is in the bizarro NBA.

Grant Hill of the Orlando Magic is not injured and actually helping his team.

After playing just 14 games last season and only four the season before that, Hill is finally looking healthy and averaging 17 points a game.

Michael Jordan isn’t starting on the Washington Wizards.

I see that he is slower and not as effective with the ball this year. However, it is also his leadership and intelligence in the game that has helped make him a champion.

It has to be hard for him to display those qualities if he doesn’t even start.

Karl Malone, the second leading scorer in the history of the NBA, was held scoreless in a game on Nov. 3.

On top of that, the always solid Utah Jazz are scraping the bottom of the Western Conference.

The winless New York Knicks put an end to the longest sellout streak in any of the four major sports.

The 433-game streak ended Monday night at Madison Square Garden as the game was 1,600 people short of capacity.

The Los Angeles Lakers opened the season 0-2 while the Chicago Bulls began the season 2-0.

The Bulls are sitting at .500 now and the Lakers have more losses than wins.

Allen Iverson, the top scorer in the NBA the last two seasons, is hovering around the seventh spot so far this season.

With an impressive 1-2 start, the Los Angeles Clippers are sitting in unfamiliar territory. If the playoffs started tomorrow, they would be going.

After repeatedly dismal seasons, the Atlanta Hawks are near the top of the Eastern Conference this season, tied with a third-best record of 3-1.

The Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming, despite being seven and a half feet tall, the No. 1 draft pick and a supposedly great all-around player, is averaging just 2.5 points and four rebounds per game and has been held scoreless multiple times.

Before this season started, it would have been to predict any of these occurrences let along all of them.

The only explanation is the bizarro world.

This bizarro NBA could straighten itself out some day, but you never know when it will strike again.

Kyle Moss

is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.