Battle for No. 2: What is the (2nd) best professional sport?
I like all professional sports and I know I will come under a huge hailstorm for saying this but college sports just don’t hold my attention. So what I am going to attempt to do here is list the sports try to fix/update them and then come out with a (hopefully) clear cut winner.
National Basketball Association
The Good : First off the sport has done well in globalizing itself, and the brand is second only to the NFL in regards to recognition and fan base. They have the talents and marketability of guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Yao Ming. The league had to find the next crop of stars in the post Jordan era and I feel they did well in that regard.
The Bad : There are too many games! 82 games is just overkill. For instance in the NFL you get two (2) chances to beat your division rival and if you can’t do it then it can have a real effect on your chances of reaching the playoffs. Why is it that you get 4 or 5 chances in the NBA? If the Lakers can’t beat the Warriors then I feel they don’t hold as much of an advantage in the playoff hunt as the team who held serve and defended it’s home turf. Here is a question for regular working people? Who goes to a Tuesday night game at 7:30 and works a normal Monday through Friday job? I can’t do it, it’s stupid to have games everyone can’t go to.
The Ugly : Most NBA players are good guys, most are incredible athletes but there is that small minority who act like fools and I won’t go off on the guys who aren’t prepared for the money, fame and celebrity that comes with it but how come some guys just like acting like fools?
National Hockey League
The Good : The only other sport in my opinion other than football brings guys who are more committed and in love with their game is hockey players. The fans are amazing and I will say that if you go to a NHL game a novice you will walk out of that same game a fan. No other sport is better to watch at the arena and I include the NFL in this statement. Passion and determination are all over the ice after every shift and when you see a truly great player live you will never forget it.
The Bad : Ownership is a big ‘ol boys league of the same guys just moving to other teams. This sport needs new talent and fresh blood so bad that it is embarrassing to me. To watch one guy lose a job in one city and then just go to another one and another and another is just stupid.
The season is too long too. Here is my proposal, Cut the games down to say 50 or so, back up the playoffs to say March/April so that it won’t have to compete with the much more popular NBA and so that someone might just watch a game. Get a network to play games on TV. The Versus network is as available as the Transsexual Nazi Network and only half as popular.
The Ugly : The lockout showed just how greedy the sport got and no sport could have been worse to have it happen to. The USA is a melting pot of different people and cultures and ethnicity’s and no sport neglects to reflect that than hockey. Now it isn’t all their fault, it isn’t like there are a lot of ice rinks in inner cities in this country but you have to at least try to get people involved in the game, right?
Major League Baseball
The Good : Baseball has more storied history than any other league, hands down no question. Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantle and those are just a few Yankees. The game is based on such tradition and is so big and huge in it’s scale and fandom but is it really that great?
The Bad : No sport feels more out of touch to me than baseball. I mean the contracts are inflated and the season so incredibly long that it feels like the only people who can really devote time to following it are kids and senior citizens. 164 games! what the hell are you thinking? games are always on and you can’t make it to more than what 5? 10 if you really try. Oh but it is so great to sing “Take me out to the Ballgame” for the 1,000,001st time.
The Ugly : Steroids are the the huge pimple on the ass of the league and has corrupted the last 20 years of players. We were all at fault for not catching it and for the owners making tons of cash to have people want to see someone with a head the size of a Macy’s day parade float (Barry Bonds) hit 70! home runs in a season.
So, what is going to win? Will it be the golden age league of yesteryear (MLB) or will it be the league of the youth (NBA) or maybe it is the little league that almost could (NHL)
If I were going to pick my favorite I would go for the NHL, just because I love hockey and I think that it truly has more heart than the NBA or MLB. But alas I decree on this day that the NBA is the 2nd best league overall for the storylines and the true athletic talent on display, but please shorten the season!