Now that the National Basketball Association's 2006-07 season has tipped off, have you noticed the exciting change on the court? For the first time, players are using a nonleather ball, bringing the NBA in line with the country's high school teams, the NCAA and the WNBA, which have all adopted synthetic balls.

   But from the way some NBA players are complaining, you'd think the league was requiring them to do something truly outrageous, like adhere to a dress code. Oh, wait ...

   These griping players need to get a grip. The new microfiber composite ball, developed by Spalding, is the most technologically advanced game ball on the planet. Thanks to the new material and a new design, it has a better grip, a longer lifespan and doesn't need to be broken in like leather balls do. And it's more consistent than the old leather balls ever were.

   Says NBA Commissioner David Stern, "The advancements that Spalding has made to the new game ball ensure that the best basketball players in the world will be playing with the best basketball in the world."

   But that's not why I'm excited about the new ball. I applaud the league's decision because using synthetic materials instead of real leather will save countless animals from suffering.

   It takes the skin of an entire cow to make just four basketballs and every single one of the animals killed for leather lived a miserable life, and died a miserable death.

   During PETA's investigations into the leather trade in India, where much of the leather used in the United States is produced, we have seen animals transported in suffocating conditions: Fifteen to 20 cows, or more, are crammed into trucks meant to hold only five or six. Many animals die en route. Animals who are too sick or injured to walk are dragged and beaten. At the slaughterhouse, cows are bound by all four feet and carelessly thrown on their sides onto the filthy, blood-covered floor. Their throats are cut with dull knives, and other cows look on helplessly as their companions slowly bleed to death.

   Cows killed in this country suffer as well. After being transported hundreds of miles in all weather extremes to the slaughterhouse, they are shot in the head with a bolt gun, hung up by their legs, and taken onto the killing floor, where their throats are cut and they are skinned. Some cows remain fully conscious throughout the entire process. According to one slaughterhouse worker in an interview with The Washington Post, "They die piece by piece."

   For a few players, the new synthetic ball might seem about as welcome as Ron Artest at a referees' picnic, but I have no doubt that they will eventually get used to the change. After all, I'm sure players complained when laces where removed from game balls in 1937 or when the ball's design changed from four panels to eight in 1970, but the sport survived. Professional basketball, like the ball itself, doesn't stand still _ or it shouldn't. The sport has come a long way since that first outing in 1891, when players tossed soccer balls through peach baskets. It should continue to progress, especially when doing so will help lessen the amount of suffering in the world.

   Anyone who's not convinced would do well to adopt the attitude of Kobe Bryant. "It's just a ball," he says. "Growing up, I played with all kinds of balls. I rolled up tape and used tape as a basketball. I played with a sock. I think I can play with this one. We'll be fine. I don't even think it's that big of a deal."