NCAA 2009-10 Hoops: Yo, mah Jordans, nigga

[The Larch]

In which ways is the NBA boring and lame for you?

The regular season games are meaningless, the playoffs go on way into baseball season when it just seems silly to play Basketball.

Basketball season ends in April, yet the NBA is not even close to ending.  I just do not have the stamina to follow a season that long and tedious.  But, as I said, I might feel differently about it if Austin had a team or if people here were interested at all in professional sports.

Every pro sport in the US has a regular season and playoffs, what makes the NBA case so exceptional?

Because too many teams make it into the playoffs.

The NBA is boring though because there isn't any character in it. At least that is the way it feels to me.

Excuse me for pulling two Yis in a row, but what do you mean by character in this context?

[Valmy]

Every pro sport in the US has a regular season and playoffs, what makes the NBA case so exceptional?

The NBA and NHL are infamous and exceptional for the following reasons:

1. They have really really long regular seasons that are rendered rather meaningless since every team that is not total dreck make the playoffs.

2. The have really really long playoffs that extend their seasons way past the part of the year their sports traditionally occupy.  Hockey and Basketball are winter sports over here and yet both the NBA and NHL end their seasons in June.  The low TV ratings for the NBA finals and NHL Stanley Cup finals in the US attest to this problem.  We simply have a hard time getting excited about those sports in the summer unless we happen to be fans of the teams competing.

Major League baseball also increasingly has the second problem but at least it is alot harder to make the playoffs in baseball and the playoff race can be exciting.

[Berkut]

In which ways is the NBA boring and lame for you?

The regular season games are meaningless, the playoffs go on way into baseball season when it just seems silly to play Basketball.

Basketball season ends in April, yet the NBA is not even close to ending.  I just do not have the stamina to follow a season that long and tedious.  But, as I said, I might feel differently about it if Austin had a team or if people here were interested at all in professional sports.

Every pro sport in the US has a regular season and playoffs, what makes the NBA case so exceptional?

Because too many teams make it into the playoffs.

The NBA is boring though because there isn't any character in it. At least that is the way it feels to me.

Excuse me for pulling two Yis in a row, but what do you mean by character in this context?

The teams don't feel interesting - they all seem the same. There isn't any "catch" to any of them, and all the stars seem like they are cut from the same mold.

[Strix]

I remain flabbergasted at how big the following of college basketball is on this board compared with the almost total lack of interest for the NBA.

College basketball is interesting and exciting, and the NBA is fucking boring and lame.

[Strix]

Every pro sport in the US has a regular season and playoffs, what makes the NBA case so exceptional?

The players and coaches don't care in the regular season. The go through the motions of running up and down the court until the last few minutes of each game. At the point the players try a little which allows the better team to prevail. Basically the regular season is mailed in. Throw in how the league, it's sponsors, and the sports media are always trying to artificially create superstars and excitement just adds to how boring the total package has become.

[Valmy]

Basically the regular season is mailed in. Throw in how the league, it's sponsors, and the sports media are always trying to artificially create superstars and excitement just adds to how boring the total package has become.

Yeah they are always trying to make the next Michael Jordan and that gets pretty freaking tiresome.  There is about as much chance of there being another Michael Jordan in Basketball as there is of their being another Babe Ruth in Baseball or another Tiger Woods in Golf.

[Berkut]

Larchs comment about the best players leaving early might actually illustrate why I think the college game is more interesting really well.

He is right - the superstars are always gone. And the NBA fans love that, because the NBA is all about who has the biggest super-star. It is all about the individuals, and their crib, and THEM. It isn't about the team - and to the extent that it is about the team, it is still about whether the team has a super-start to compete with the other teams super-star.

Everyone though college hoops was fucked when underclassmen started bailing regularly - but that hasn't happened at all. It is more popular than ever, if anything.

And I think that is because the college game is about the team, the school. We still have the stars, of course, but we all know they won't be around long - their influence is about whether you can put a run together when you get them on your team with the right timing.

But they will be gone soon enough, and then you will be looking at that next freshman, and whether he will be good enough to keep the momentum.

And that is why we love those guys who are great players, but not quite great enough to go be a lottery pick. They are going to stick around a little longer, be a little more part of the team, and not just the latest merc passing through.

The NBA feels like it is just a big giant pool of the mercs, and they get doled out to one team or another, and who knows (or cares) what any of it means?

This is all my perception, btw - I won't try to defend it on rational grounds, because I am sure you can argue that is is mostly bullshit.

[Berkut]

Every pro sport in the US has a regular season and playoffs, what makes the NBA case so exceptional?

The players and coaches don't care in the regular season. The go through the motions of running up and down the court until the last few minutes of each game. At the point the players try a little which allows the better team to prevail. Basically the regular season is mailed in. Throw in how the league, it's sponsors, and the sports media are always trying to artificially create superstars and excitement just adds to how boring the total package has become.

True enough - so much of the "excitement" in the NBA feels manufactured.

Like Nike has a factory somewhere where 6 year olds are churning out bling and blam for your viewing pleasure.

They are like the McDonalds of professional sports.

[The Larch]

1. They have really really long regular seasons that are rendered rather meaningless since every team that is not total dreck make the playoffs.

2. The have really really long playoffs that extend their seasons way past the part of the year their sports traditionally occupy.  Hockey and Basketball are winter sports over here and yet both the NBA and NHL end their seasons in June.  The low TV ratings for the NBA finals and NHL Stanley Cup finals in the US attest to this problem.  We simply have a hard time getting excited about those sports in the summer unless we happen to be fans of the teams competing.

I agree with 1. The regular season is way too long, 82 games are too many, and the last weeks are basically useless. Also in the last couple of seasons there have been tons of injuries to the regular players in most teams due to the excessive number of games and the load that puts on player's feet, knees, ankles and backs. Also the calendar is bizarre. Personally I'd cut it to around 60 games at most, and I'd shorten the playoffs too, to a best of 3 games for the first couple of rounds, best of 5 for conference finals and best of 7 for the NBA finals.

About the "too many teams get into the playoffs", that may be true as well, but I don't think that halving the number of teams that get to the playoffs would be fair. Right now it's 8 teams per conference. Cutting that to 4 teams per conference leaves a lot of good teams and players out, with the chances of upsets, a huge part of the interest at least IMO, greatly lowered as well.

About 2), well, I guess that has to do more with your obsession about sport seasonality. Personally I've always found US sports bizarre in this respect. What's the point of setting up a huge sports infrastructure if it is only going to be played for a few months? I mean, the way I'm used to sports, US seasons are awfully short, being used to the august-may calendar of European soccer leagues.

[The Larch]

In which ways is the NBA boring and lame for you?

The regular season games are meaningless, the playoffs go on way into baseball season when it just seems silly to play Basketball.

Basketball season ends in April, yet the NBA is not even close to ending.  I just do not have the stamina to follow a season that long and tedious.  But, as I said, I might feel differently about it if Austin had a team or if people here were interested at all in professional sports.

Every pro sport in the US has a regular season and playoffs, what makes the NBA case so exceptional?

Because too many teams make it into the playoffs.

The NBA is boring though because there isn't any character in it. At least that is the way it feels to me.

Excuse me for pulling two Yis in a row, but what do you mean by character in this context?

The teams don't feel interesting - they all seem the same. There isn't any "catch" to any of them, and all the stars seem like they are cut from the same mold.

And can't that be said of basically every professional US sport? I'd blame that more on the franchise system that on the particular flaws of each sport.

[Valmy]

About 2), well, I guess that has to do more with your obsession about sport seasonality. Personally I've always found US sports bizarre in this respect. What's the point of setting up a huge sports infrastructure if it is only going to be played for a few months? I mean, the way I'm used to sports, US seasons are awfully short, being used to the august-may calendar of European soccer leagues.

Traditionally in the US we have the big three: football, baseball, basketball and then you throw hockey in there for the northern part of the coutry.  We seasonally follow them: baseball in summer, football in fall, basketball in winter.  If we only had one big sport, like the Euros do for soccer, then yeah it would be logical to go year round. 

[The Larch]

About 2), well, I guess that has to do more with your obsession about sport seasonality. Personally I've always found US sports bizarre in this respect. What's the point of setting up a huge sports infrastructure if it is only going to be played for a few months? I mean, the way I'm used to sports, US seasons are awfully short, being used to the august-may calendar of European soccer leagues.

Traditionally in the US we have the big three: football, baseball, basketball and then you throw hockey in there for the northern part of the coutry.  We seasonally follow them: baseball in summer, football in fall, basketball in winter.  If we only had one big sport, like the Euros do for soccer, then yeah it would be logical to go year round.

Even if soccer is the main sutff, we're able to run healthy leagues of other sports as well simultaneously. All of them start in the late summer and finish in mid-late spring, and all of them survive. What's the problem of running leagues simultaneously?

[Valmy]

Even if soccer is the main sutff, we're able to run healthy leagues of other sports as well simultaneously. All of them start in the late summer and finish in mid-late spring, and all of them survive. What's the problem of running leagues simultaneously?

There is no problem if you don't mind your audience no longer watching your games, having moved on to the next sport.  I, for one, consider Basketball over once the College Championship is decided in early April.  Then it is Baseball season and that is what I watch.  Sorry NBA.

But it's not like the NBA is in danger of folding just because the TV ratings for the Finals are down.  They still make their millions and billions.

[Berkut]

The teams don't feel interesting - they all seem the same. There isn't any "catch" to any of them, and all the stars seem like they are cut from the same mold.

And can't that be said of basically every professional US sport? I'd blame that more on the franchise system that on the particular flaws of each sport.

Not really - I don't think pro football suffers from that at all, for example.

[Berkut]

About the "too many teams get into the playoffs", that may be true as well, but I don't think that halving the number of teams that get to the playoffs would be fair. Right now it's 8 teams per conference. Cutting that to 4 teams per conference leaves a lot of good teams and players out, with the chances of upsets, a huge part of the interest at least IMO, greatly lowered as well.

That could be true for any sport as well - would the NFL playoffs be better if a bunch of 8-8 or 7-9 teams made it every year?

Maybe - but then the regular season would mean much less, since losing a game doesn't matter that much.

The NBA combines the length and dreariness of the MLB regular season with the "everyone goes" silliness of the NHL. At least with the MLB season, each game may not be as critical, but only a few teams are going to the playoffs.

In the NBA you combine a large number of games with everyone making the post-season. It is no wonder nobody cares about the regular season, or the first couple rounds of the post-season.

Contrast that with the NFL, where the first round of the playoffs are very exciting.

Much less with NCAA hoops, where conference titles are a huge deal, AND of course the greatest tournament outside the World Cup.