Seeing the Boston Bruins take game seven 1-0 over the Tamba Bay Lighting got me thinking...Game seven's are the most exciting thing in all of sports, but is there a way to make them even more exciting?
As much as people like to throw around the term "must-win game," games 7's really are the only true "must-win's". It's the one game where you can throw out all trends, stats, and anything else new-age sports geeks like to use to predict which player or which team is better. Granted there's home-court advantage for one team over the other, but if you're that road team do you really care where that game is? Hell no. Both teams are scratching and clawing and the usually the team that wants it more wins.
Anyway, back to my original point. Is there a way we could make game 7's more exciting than they already are?
Take the NHL for starters. Obviously the game is win-or-go-home, but unlike the regular season there is no shootout if there is no winner at the end of the overtime period. There are just more overtime periods until one team finally scores. That to me makes no sense. I'm a football fan first and foremost, and basketball second, but hockey shootouts are the coolest thing that could possibly happen in any sport during the regular season, why not carry that over to the postseason? How much more exciting would it be if game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals was determined by a shootout after the overtime? It wouldn't matter who was playing, I know for a fact I would watch that, and so do you.
Now what about the MLB. Game 7 of the World Series, Cleveland versus Philadelphia (just taking the two best records), game tied going into extra innings, sure, a walk-off hit by the home-team in extras to clinch would be cool, but what if instead of extra innings there was a sudden-death at-bat for each team between any pitcher or hitter that team chooses. No walks, only a hit can win it for the hitter's team, and just for fun lets say the pitcher has to get a strikeout (clearly there are flaws here, but lets have some fun with this). How about to make it more interesting the opposing team gets to pick who you send to the mound and the plate??? Holy shit. I need to digress from this one, it's getting too awesome.
Now the NBA is where you can really have some fun. Say game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Mavericks and the Heat goes into overtime, instead of that stupid five minute extra period you go into a dunk off (obviously the Heat would win that one)? Or a three-point shooting contest? What about a game of around the world (Ok, I'm just kidding with that one). Ok, how about this one, a game of one-on-one, first to 11 by ones and twos, best player from each team, Lebron versus Dirk, win by two. Oh ya, that's the winner.
The NFL I think has done the best it can by implementing the new rule of giving each team a chance if no touchdown is scored, somewhat adopting the college rule for overtime. As awesome as football is, you simply can't have a series, especially to seven games, people would die...sorry that was a little dramatic.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thought's on Heat/Bulls
Let me start off by saying I really dislike the Miami Heat. I don't hate them, but I really really dislike them. And being a huge Bulls fan, last night was pretty hard to take. That being said, you can take what I say with a grain of salt, I could care less.
The Miami Heat closed out the Chicago Bulls last night on an 18-3 run, advancing to the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
Now I didn't watch the game, so I won't comment on the officiating (though I hear it was atrociously in favor of Miami once again in the second half), and to spare you the game's boring details, which will be shown and talked about on ESPN for the next 24 hours, I'll only say this. Lebron James came to play. Congrats.
I've never liked Lebron. I've always respected his greatness as a player, I mean hell, he may be the most gifted athlete ever. Ever. And not just in the NBA, in any sport. I've never liked him because of his arrogance. I'm all for showmanship, sports is entertainment after all, but most of his antics drive me nuts. He hasn't won a damn thing, and personally if or when he does, no matter if he wins 10 rings, I will never respect him. Not everyone has to stay in one city to be great, the world of sports and the NBA in particular are so much different now than in the Magic/Bird/Jordan era of basketball.
Those players saw it as a failure if they couldn't get it done on the teams they were drafted to. Jordan didn't bolt after his sixth year to play with Magic on the Lakers did he?
Now I fully understand Lebron's decision. He took less money to be on a better team (golf clap). But Lebron could have EASILY gotten Wade, Bosh, or both to come to his hometown of Cleveland to play for his hometown team, the Cavailiers. Lebron took the easy way out and......I digress.
Anyway, Lebron was huge once again in the fourth quarter and for that I can't hate. It truly is an amazing thing to see someone tap into that full potential when it comes to sports and Lebron is starting to do that late in games, but anyone who is prematurely giving him the "clutch" label is an idiot. How many championships and game winning shots did Kobe hit before he he was considered "clutch"? That I don't know, but I'm guessing it was more than a handful of postseason crunch time performances. So for the time being, I'll chalk Lebron's crunch time performances as "luck," (better lucky than good right?) and I'll even say "driven," but I'm not ready to put him in the same category as Kobe and Jordan just yet.
So now the NBA got what it wanted. With the Lakers out of the picture they needed someone to highlight that NBA Finals that is truly hated by many in the sports world because, shit, who doesn't want to see the Heat lose? The finals will be loaded with star power and I'm happy for that, say what you will, but the Heat have been good for the NBA this season. I can't remember a team so unanimously hated, or with so many fans popping out of nowhere like I've seen with this team. Fans and anti-fans make sports great, so for that, thanks Pat Riley.
Now to my Bulls. I never at any point in the season thought they were ready to make the jump to the finals. They were too young, had too many roster holes, and were putting in a brand new system with ten new players. Still, when you get as far as they did it's hard not to believe.
This team will go down as one of my favorites ever. I've never seen a team so focused on winning. There were no outside distractions with this group, and now that I think about it, more importantly no internal distractions. Every night they fought hard and kept their mouths shut (except for the occasional Joakim Noah two cents) and there aren't many teams that do that anymore. They composed themselves with character and class and that starts at the top and goes all the way down to Brian Scalabrine at the end of the bench.
Believe me people, this team will be back, and I cannot wait for next years Eastern Conference Finals.
The Miami Heat closed out the Chicago Bulls last night on an 18-3 run, advancing to the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
Now I didn't watch the game, so I won't comment on the officiating (though I hear it was atrociously in favor of Miami once again in the second half), and to spare you the game's boring details, which will be shown and talked about on ESPN for the next 24 hours, I'll only say this. Lebron James came to play. Congrats.
I've never liked Lebron. I've always respected his greatness as a player, I mean hell, he may be the most gifted athlete ever. Ever. And not just in the NBA, in any sport. I've never liked him because of his arrogance. I'm all for showmanship, sports is entertainment after all, but most of his antics drive me nuts. He hasn't won a damn thing, and personally if or when he does, no matter if he wins 10 rings, I will never respect him. Not everyone has to stay in one city to be great, the world of sports and the NBA in particular are so much different now than in the Magic/Bird/Jordan era of basketball.
Those players saw it as a failure if they couldn't get it done on the teams they were drafted to. Jordan didn't bolt after his sixth year to play with Magic on the Lakers did he?
Now I fully understand Lebron's decision. He took less money to be on a better team (golf clap). But Lebron could have EASILY gotten Wade, Bosh, or both to come to his hometown of Cleveland to play for his hometown team, the Cavailiers. Lebron took the easy way out and......I digress.
Anyway, Lebron was huge once again in the fourth quarter and for that I can't hate. It truly is an amazing thing to see someone tap into that full potential when it comes to sports and Lebron is starting to do that late in games, but anyone who is prematurely giving him the "clutch" label is an idiot. How many championships and game winning shots did Kobe hit before he he was considered "clutch"? That I don't know, but I'm guessing it was more than a handful of postseason crunch time performances. So for the time being, I'll chalk Lebron's crunch time performances as "luck," (better lucky than good right?) and I'll even say "driven," but I'm not ready to put him in the same category as Kobe and Jordan just yet.
So now the NBA got what it wanted. With the Lakers out of the picture they needed someone to highlight that NBA Finals that is truly hated by many in the sports world because, shit, who doesn't want to see the Heat lose? The finals will be loaded with star power and I'm happy for that, say what you will, but the Heat have been good for the NBA this season. I can't remember a team so unanimously hated, or with so many fans popping out of nowhere like I've seen with this team. Fans and anti-fans make sports great, so for that, thanks Pat Riley.
Now to my Bulls. I never at any point in the season thought they were ready to make the jump to the finals. They were too young, had too many roster holes, and were putting in a brand new system with ten new players. Still, when you get as far as they did it's hard not to believe.
This team will go down as one of my favorites ever. I've never seen a team so focused on winning. There were no outside distractions with this group, and now that I think about it, more importantly no internal distractions. Every night they fought hard and kept their mouths shut (except for the occasional Joakim Noah two cents) and there aren't many teams that do that anymore. They composed themselves with character and class and that starts at the top and goes all the way down to Brian Scalabrine at the end of the bench.
Believe me people, this team will be back, and I cannot wait for next years Eastern Conference Finals.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Downfall of the OKC Thunder...Russel Westbrook
The Thunder find themselves in a 3-1 hole after choking away game 4 in OKC due mostly to poor shot selection and late-game management...and Dirk Nowitzki going HAM.
Dirk's late heroics aside, the major killer for the Thunder was, and has been throughout these playoffs, Russel Westbrook.
Westbrook is a great player: he can get the rim at will, he's a great defender, great free throw shooter, and has the ability to create open shots for his teammates when he drives. All of these reasons would seem to make him a great late-game player right? Unfortunately for the Thunder, no.
A lot of what makes Westbrook great are the same things that destroy him late in games. His biggest problem is getting too caught up in the moment, and forgetting he has a pretty damn good player on his team as well in Kevin Durant. Too often Westbrook takes it upon himself to be the hero, the only problem is when he does this nobody else touches the ball, and his non-stop 100 mph game ends up causing a turnover or a bad shot (did I mention jump-shooting isn't his strongest attribute?).
I love Russel's game, I really do, but late in games it would benefit the Thunder to bring in Eric Maynor to run the point and use Westbrook off the ball. Maynor knows how to manage a game and when he's on the floor he creates open shots for his teammates, something the Thunder has desperately needed late in games this series.
Dirk's late heroics aside, the major killer for the Thunder was, and has been throughout these playoffs, Russel Westbrook.
Westbrook is a great player: he can get the rim at will, he's a great defender, great free throw shooter, and has the ability to create open shots for his teammates when he drives. All of these reasons would seem to make him a great late-game player right? Unfortunately for the Thunder, no.
A lot of what makes Westbrook great are the same things that destroy him late in games. His biggest problem is getting too caught up in the moment, and forgetting he has a pretty damn good player on his team as well in Kevin Durant. Too often Westbrook takes it upon himself to be the hero, the only problem is when he does this nobody else touches the ball, and his non-stop 100 mph game ends up causing a turnover or a bad shot (did I mention jump-shooting isn't his strongest attribute?).
I love Russel's game, I really do, but late in games it would benefit the Thunder to bring in Eric Maynor to run the point and use Westbrook off the ball. Maynor knows how to manage a game and when he's on the floor he creates open shots for his teammates, something the Thunder has desperately needed late in games this series.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Noah fined 50k
For those not up on what happened between Bull's center Joakim Noah and a fan during last nights 11-pt loss to the Miami Heat in game 3, I'll summarize:
-Noah picks up 2nd foul and heads to the bench.
- Noah sits down and gets heckled by a fan.
- Noah responds by with something along the lines of "F--- you, fa----"
Now, this issue here for me is not what Joakim said, or anything to do with player/fan interactions, I can touch on those later. What really bothers me about this is that Noah was only fined $50k for these words.
Earlier this season Kobe Bryant had an issue with a referee and while sitting on the bench yelled at him while he was on the bench, calling him a "Fa----". Kobe was fined $100k for this comment.
When it comes to relationships in the sports world, few, if any, are more important than a team's relationship with fans. Fans bring in money, and EVERYTHING in sports is about money. So shouldn't the league be more concerned with bad PR when it comes to the players' interactions with fans?
Now I get that Kobe is a much more high-profile player and MUCH more important to marketing than is Noah, but what they said was essentially the same, and Kobe's fine doubled, DOUBLED, Noah's. How exactly does that make sense?? Double?
The NBA has fined star players more in the past, but setting a precedent like this is ridiculous. If I was Kobe, I'd be giving the league a call after hearing the news today.
-Noah picks up 2nd foul and heads to the bench.
- Noah sits down and gets heckled by a fan.
- Noah responds by with something along the lines of "F--- you, fa----"
Now, this issue here for me is not what Joakim said, or anything to do with player/fan interactions, I can touch on those later. What really bothers me about this is that Noah was only fined $50k for these words.
Earlier this season Kobe Bryant had an issue with a referee and while sitting on the bench yelled at him while he was on the bench, calling him a "Fa----". Kobe was fined $100k for this comment.
When it comes to relationships in the sports world, few, if any, are more important than a team's relationship with fans. Fans bring in money, and EVERYTHING in sports is about money. So shouldn't the league be more concerned with bad PR when it comes to the players' interactions with fans?
Now I get that Kobe is a much more high-profile player and MUCH more important to marketing than is Noah, but what they said was essentially the same, and Kobe's fine doubled, DOUBLED, Noah's. How exactly does that make sense?? Double?
The NBA has fined star players more in the past, but setting a precedent like this is ridiculous. If I was Kobe, I'd be giving the league a call after hearing the news today.
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