Bleacher Creatures The State of the Sports Universe
WITH KLARIS ’09
News Columnist
You couldn’t have written a better script for these 2008 NBA Playoffs. It simply could not have been done. I don’t care if you brought together the collaborative efforts of Spielberg, Tarantino, and Scorsese. The greatest minds in all of cinema wouldn’t have been able to pen Tim Duncan’s Game 1 three-pointer over the Suns, the Sixers winning even a game off of the Pistons, and especially the improbability that the Hawks would steal one from the dominant Celtics. These playoffs are riddled with potential match-ups down the line that have network execs salivating. The very concept that the Lakers and the Celtics could once again return to the top of their respective conferences and emerge as the two final title contenders makes even a die-hard Knicks fan need to take his Klonopin to avoid the angst. And yes, it’s extremely hard for someone (say my roommate Alec Barnett ’09) to get excited about these games because: a. He’s not an NBA guy like me, and b. because the playoffs are simply too long. That’s the real issue here. These seven game series are dragging into late June and fans simply loose their patience. A way to turn this around would be to shorten every series to five games and work from there. That way, I don’t have to fill my off days of from basketball with NHL action. Which brings me to my next, and potentially controversial (at least on this campus) point.
I simply cannot watch hockey games on TV. Going to the Garden and watching the Rangers play is a completely different level of excitement and intrigue, not to mention one of my favorite venues in all of sports. But let’s be honest, there’s a reason why these games are being broadcast on the Versus network instead of ABC, CBS or even ESPN if you want to go the cable route. And yes, NBC has gratuitously picked up the Sunday afternoon timeslot for their “Flex Scheduling” plan, but ratings since the Winter Classic between the Penguins and the Sabers have steadily declined. I understand that the NHL holds a very loyal and regionally honed fan base, which is why the league and their networking partners need to come up with a better way to present these games to the public, if they hope to attract a larger audience. Perhaps instead of airing only one national game, they could do three regional games and play to respective areas of the country, just an idea. And while playoff hockey is certainly exciting, it lacks the appeal of its three older brothers, the NBA, MLB and NFL because of its inability to market properly. This falls right into the lap of Commissioner Gary Bettman, who I am still shocked has his or any job in the league.
There’s this innate ability in baseball fans, New York Yankees supporters in particular, to press the panic button about three months too early. Right now, Yankees Universe has slapped a tag on their 13-13 team that reeks with confusion. Granted, the team right now is filled with question marks all the way down their lineup and well into their staff and bull-pen, but there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be worried this early in the season. This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves in the entire sporting world. Last season, around the month of June, the Yanks were about 15 games under, 500 and the media had written them off as finished for the year. This upset me in so many different ways. With three plus months of baseball to play, how is any team written off? Especially in MLB where one team can catch fire just like that. While questions around Joba Chamberlain still loom in the air, everyone needs to take a breathe and realize that we have an ace (Chien Ming-Wang) who is currently 5-0 and on pace to win 20 games. Now, any true Yanks fan knows that this certainly will not happen, and that he’ll end up going 19-6 just like every other year. But do me a favor boys and girls: sit back, enjoy this wonderful time for sports, and don’t worry until we’re in the fall and I’m writing about Joba’s Tommy John Surgery.
