No NBA, Now What to Do?

Despite my annoyance with the recent ESPN coverage of Joe Paterno, I couldn’t help but turn ESPN on yesterday and saw a startling news story: negotiations have completely fallen through; the entire NBA season could be in jeopardy!  I’m being mildly melodramatic and very sarcastic.  As some of you know, I was quite distraught over the summer, and angry, with the NFL and their players for what can only be summed up in one word: greed.  The players and owners bilk us out of as much money as is possible, and while I won’t argue the enjoyment I get out of watching football (American football for those of you that aren’t sure which one I mean).  The main difference to me, qualitatively, between the NBA and the NFL is the reach.  The NFL reaches more people and influences more people.  With such a short schedule, a mere 17 weeks, as opposed to the endless game upon game the NBA season, it isn’t any wonder that the NFL has made it’s brand known partially through its exclusivity.

What makes me frustrated and unsympathetic with the NBA is simple: their brand has no staying power.  While I can waste time watching an NBA game, to be honest, until the playoffs are approaching, I don’t even watch games.  I am a fan of the Dallas Mavericks, but more so because of Mark Cuban and what he’s done, than anything.  I did enjoy seeing them as the perennial team in the playoffs, which I share with my hometown Washington Capitals (though they have yet to bring the Stanley Cup to the Nation’s capital).  The trouble with the NBA is manifold.  And while I could spout the virtues of the NFL, those are few and far between as it is.

The fact of the matter is, the NBA isn’t relevant.  Football has its own niche; but more than anything, the games are often exciting and meaningful.  With only a few games, each one counts thus making every week a game that could make or break a team’s season.  Hockey has a wonderfully small niche that makes it accessible.  I had the pleasure of attending a charity event last year and meeting and taking pictures with the entire Washington Capitals team.  In what other sport is it even possible to get that close to the guys making what I’d argue are big bucks.  We have one of the highest paid hockey players on our team, Alex Ovechkin, and he is completely down-to-earth, at least at team sponsored events.  I could gush for hours about my love for hockey, or football, but I’ll stop.

One of the issues I had over the summer was the level of greed I felt the players were exhibiting.  But in all fairness, the owners are making billions of dollars on attendance alone to their events.  That doesn’t even count the jerseys being sold or anything with the team logo minting money for the owners.  I don’t know if this is the case for the NBA, but what I do know is more venues than not do not sell out.  Our Washington Wizards can’t give tickets away. 

With as many games as they have, it isn’t any wonder.  But also, more notably, the parity in the NBA has never come full circle.  The salary cap, something I always found foolish, has actually helped both hockey and football is relevant.  Every year there is no telling which team will come out with the best record.  While I don’t like seeing my favourite players leave, the concept of free agency has made the movement of players seem commonplace.  Fifteen years ago, if Emmit Smith or Michael Irvin had up and left the Dallas Cowboys (after they won back-to-back Superbowls), people would have been up in arms.  But in this day and age, a player staying with a team is hardly expected, it is remarkable at times, but not so for the NBA.

If we suspend anger for a moment, and ignore the announcement from the ‘Big Three’ (which would really be the Big 2.5), the movement of big stars has hardly been successful.  Can anyone for get Carmello Anthony moving from Denver to New York last year, and how did that end?  Yes, they made it to the playoffs for the first time in forever, but were they ever any good, no.  Miami is a great example too.  Lebron James and Dwayne Wade are great players, but together, they couldn’t win a championship, despite their own hype.  Do you see baseball, football or even hockey players guaranteeing championships or victories?  I’m not trying to make the NBA seem like it is a league full of thugs, but in a way it is.  But that isn’t any different than most leagues of men being paid as kings who are nothing but boys, but I’m veering off of my course.

The NBA lockout is a travesty, but the people it robs aren’t the over-paid, over-hyped ne’er-do-wells that make million upon millions of dollars, it’s the staff or vendors or working stiffs like you and me who make a living having people attend events to glorify these kids.  There are a few that have hard-luck cases, no doubt, but in the grand scheme of things what can we, as mere observes glean from this?  And ESPN plasters its site with polls about who is to blame.  Guess who I blame, again?  ESPN, and the news media.  The two groups combined are  glorifying these players, making them believe their sport is relevant and worthwhile, when in actuality, no one will notice there isn’t any NBA being played.  Congratulations players of the NBA, mission accomplished, I care even less now than I did before.

Title-Town, not for Chicago or DC

I stayed up to watch the end of the Heat/Bulls game last night and it was well worth it.  Throughout the series, Derrick Rose, the MVP of the league and Chicago’s only actual player has had the weight on his shoulders.  He was no match for Dwayne Wade or Lebron James, sorry Chris Bosh, one good game does not a superstar make.  However, it seemed eerily familiar, like the Lightning/Capitals series, one good player, Ovechkin against a team that was stacked with stars.

Statistically, Ovechkin and Rose are very similar, great defence, better offence.  Also similar, they attract some talent, but since the team is ‘theirs’ what’s the likelihood another star would really want to come and play.  The Pittsburgh Penguins were lucky to get both Evegni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, already acquiring one championship; the same can be said, however prematurely, about the Miami Heat.  Bring in great players, who understand the compromise they must make, and the winning will come. 

Chicago has the same problem that Washington has, one great player, and no one to stand by that player.  As with Alex Ovechkin, the captain did all he could, but he wasn’t on the ice for a full 60 minutes, the same can be said about Derrick Rose.  He can only play so many minutes before the lack of talent and killer instinct of other players catches up to the team.

This is another reason that hockey, basketball and baseball are fairer in their playoffs than football.  If someone is having a bad day, in football, one game and you’re done.  In the other three, one bad game and you have at least three more games to fix the mistake.  But with both Rose and Oveckhin, even ten games wouldn’t be enough to help them.

Now the game is set for the NBA Finals: my Dallas Mavericks are playing the Miami Heat.  I’m sad to point out that the Mavs lost to the Heat in the 2006 Finals, so this is a rematch.  In the pivotal Game 3 of that series, Dwayne Wade was gifted 40 free throws (fouls against the Mavs) and this turned the series completely around.  I am hoping and praying that the Mavs can keep pace, but what I saw in the last week from the Heat is a little concerning.  I think this is a much more even game than people are giving them credit for, but only time will tell.  Tip-off is Tuesday night in Miami.  Tonight we have Game 7 between the Lightning and the Bruins, which I will try to watch, but have been playing LA Noire like crazy, and can see that getting distracting again.  We’ll see.  I’m predicting the Lightning to win in regulation. 

Next post, look for something I’ve been thinking about and should start putting pen to paper on about a popular series that is coming to a close.

Sports Revue

I have to get this in at least once a week, so you can tune out here if you like.  My hockey prediction are going down the toilet, thank you Vancouver and Montreal!  The Caps dropped one game, so I could still be right there, but it looks like Montreal will be taking their series against Boston, despite a loss last night.  The Red Wings look to sweep the Coyotes, not sure what happened in that series, but I did guess that one.  The Penguins are showing more fight than I’d expected, but I still give the edge to a hungry Lightning team that has everything to prove.  I’m not 100% on the Sabres over the Flyers right now.  They let an ‘easy’ home game get away from them last night.  I’m not sure what is going on with the Sharks; they are letting the Kings have their way in that series.  And finally Anaheim is gifting their series to Nashville, who, if I’m not mistaken, is looking for their first playoff series victory.

In rather surprising but enjoyable news, both the Lakers and the Spurs lost their first games of their series.  I argue that the Spurs are too old to contend and I think the Lakers have looked tired all season.  I think it’ll be a surprise who gets in on the Western Conference, but expect the Heat to advance in the Eastern Conference.

The NFL released the schedule this fall, which is a complete farce.  I’m starting to wonder if this whole lockout is just something to contrive attention from the media so no one is paying attention to basketball, baseball or hockey.  If I weren’t so addicted, I’d cancel my NFL ticket right now…but I can be all talk and no saddle sometimes.  It happens.

I probably should give this more credence, but I saw Scream 4 this weekend, very amusing and very watch-able – even I wasn’t terrified!  Not a small feat for me.  In other news…do I have other news?  Not so much, but I might have some more thoughtful blogging as the week goes on, we’ll see.  Stay classy, gang.

Consistency is Key

As with most things, being consistent has to count for something.  I try to be consistent, even with little things, like my calendar rules, though those might border on OCD.  I have gone so far as to try to schedule things, but it never works the way I think it should.  As you may imagine, this blog will border more on things that interest me than not, such as sports, so I’ll understand if some (most) tune this out, but something has to be said about consistency in sports.  And what I’m really angling at is consistent winning.

I’m not a huge basketball fan; I really can’t sit through an entire game.  But when I do cheer, it’s for the Dallas Mavericks, whom I was lucky enough to see when they came to DC in February.  Unfortunately, the team I probably should have gone to see, and it actually physically hurts me to say this, are the LA Lakers.

On Mondays, EPSN posts its power rankings (right now, we have MLB, NBA and my beloved NHL) – as usual, I hit the NHL one first and yell at the computer for this week dropping my beloved Caps down to 3 from 2, hoisting the Sharks past us and leaving the league-leading Canucks on top.  But in the NBA, there has hardly been any change for a few weeks.  The Lakers have returned to form and the slumping Spurs and spastic Mavericks show no signs of consistent life.

Yet, what do we hear about the NBA all the time?  The Miami Heat.  God, they need to get over themselves.  I will be the first to admit that I think Lebron James is an amazing player, matching him with Dwayne Wade was a great call.  Chris Bosh you can take or leave, he doesn’t do much.  Combined, they call themselves the Heatles (a play on the Beatles for those of you sounding it out).  But the Heatles haven’t been epic; they’ve been average, for them.  They’re a great group together, but I don’t see them winning it all this year.  The Lakers are the team to beat.

Kobe has once again taken a group of no-name players and hoisted them on his shoulders to aim for yet another championship.  They fought through a really bad losing streak and just won a few games in a row, but I don’t know that there is enough credit being given to them.  They are the defending champs, they deserve to be the expected favourite until proven otherwise.

If we can go one day without hearing about the Heatles, I’d be happy.

I’d be remiss to not bring up a wonderful word that the NFL knows too well and the NBA is going to learn: lockout.  Let us hope that the owners and players in the NBA learn from the mistakes the NFL is making now.  Locking the players out is not going to solve anything.  I honestly think that there will be little to no NFL this coming year, and you know what, I’m fine with it.  Give me baseball and hockey and I’ll make it through.

And I dare not make a sports-related post and not mention hockey.  We were treated to some fantastic games this weekend, the Caps coming back to beat the Sabres in OT being the highlight for me, but also the Rangers helping the Caps by beating the Flyers in OT and the Bruins in regulation last night.  Unfortunately, they’re matching up with the Caps right now for the playoffs, and they’ve beaten us in ¾ meetings this year.

Baseball is also proving to be mildly interesting as the games are starting to pile up.  The much-hated Red Sox can’t buy a win, quite literally, and I have to say I’m enjoying their failures.  Especially considering so many baseball analysts said the Red Sox were the team to beat.  But a 0-4 start in April won’t count for much come September.  I doubt they’ll go much longer without a win, but I’m hoping for it to extend for quite some time, perhaps until the after they play the Yanks?

I’ll try to control my sports nonsense as best I can, but no promises.