Spring Break
NBA can't hold NFL's jock
Adam Loghides
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Sports
Blazer Mania has stricken the valley and the NBA playoffs are back in Oregon for the first time in six years. Some say that "Rip City" is back. Be excited, Blazer fan - your team is good again.
Let's just remember that the NBA playoffs, as good as they were last year and could be this year, are nowhere close to matching the intensity and pageantry that comes with the best postseason in professional sports: the NFL.
The first reason is the format. Do we really need to see the Cavaliers beat the Pistons four times over a two-week period to know that they deserve to advance? It should, at the longest, be a best-of-five series in the first round. It used to be that way. Why the change? There are three reasons.
Money, greed and money. Okay, two reasons.
The first round of the NBA playoffs takes as many calendar days as the NFL takes to narrow 16 teams to two. That's efficiency.
Each round of the NBA playoffs takes two weeks to complete. In addition, if a team sweeps, they may have to wait up to eight days to play again. What a great way to keep that mojo rollin'!
Over half of the teams in the league make the playoffs in the NBA. How does that represent the best of the league? On the flip side, 12 of 32 teams make the NFL playoffs. A playoff team in the NFL earns it. A playoff team in the NBA can lose more than it wins.
Think back over the last 20 years. How many playoff memories from the NBA do you have? Quite a few, true. But, they mostly involve a guy named Michael Jordan.
I would bet you have about the same number of playoff memories from the NFL, if not more, from the same period. Here's the big difference: There are 11 playoff games played in the NFL each year.
There will be 11 NBA playoff games played over the next three days.
For my money, the MLB playoffs are just as exciting as the NFL playoffs. But, there isn't nearly the number of baseball fans as there are NFL fanatics. That's the tiebreaker as far as I'm concerned.
Let's just remember that the NBA playoffs, as good as they were last year and could be this year, are nowhere close to matching the intensity and pageantry that comes with the best postseason in professional sports: the NFL.
The first reason is the format. Do we really need to see the Cavaliers beat the Pistons four times over a two-week period to know that they deserve to advance? It should, at the longest, be a best-of-five series in the first round. It used to be that way. Why the change? There are three reasons.
Money, greed and money. Okay, two reasons.
The first round of the NBA playoffs takes as many calendar days as the NFL takes to narrow 16 teams to two. That's efficiency.
Each round of the NBA playoffs takes two weeks to complete. In addition, if a team sweeps, they may have to wait up to eight days to play again. What a great way to keep that mojo rollin'!
Over half of the teams in the league make the playoffs in the NBA. How does that represent the best of the league? On the flip side, 12 of 32 teams make the NFL playoffs. A playoff team in the NFL earns it. A playoff team in the NBA can lose more than it wins.
Think back over the last 20 years. How many playoff memories from the NBA do you have? Quite a few, true. But, they mostly involve a guy named Michael Jordan.
I would bet you have about the same number of playoff memories from the NFL, if not more, from the same period. Here's the big difference: There are 11 playoff games played in the NFL each year.
There will be 11 NBA playoff games played over the next three days.
For my money, the MLB playoffs are just as exciting as the NFL playoffs. But, there isn't nearly the number of baseball fans as there are NFL fanatics. That's the tiebreaker as far as I'm concerned.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Robert Schickler
posted 4/22/09 @ 5:14 PM PST
What an annoying article. Instead of letting Blazer fans bask in the glow of their first (of many) playoff birth since 2003, instead of letting Blazer fans enjoy the end of the Jailblazer era, you decide to write a negative article about NBA basketball. (Continued…)
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