Whoever said that April wasn’t an exciting month for a sports fan? Critics are always mulling at the fact baseball never gets exciting until the postseason, the NBA and NHL aren’t even exciting in the postseason and, because football is still five months away, following the NFL Draft is about as pointless as the Detroit Tigers even showing up for their games.
But the bottom line is this: If you haven’t been watching the NHL playoffs, you’ve been missing out. Go ahead and argue that hockey just isn’t that big in the United States. Complain about the fact that its playoffs span from the Masters to the U.S. Open and drag on for over two months.
But please don’t deny that even just the first round of these playoffs hasn’t provided as much excitement as we’ve seen all year.
For those who haven’t been paying any attention at all, here’s what’s happened: The defending Stanley Cup champions were swept in four straight games by the No. 7 seed. A third-year expansion team outplayed the greatest playoff goalie in NHL history to advance to the second round in their first postseason ride in franchise history. Three of the series were drawn out to a Game 7 and one ended in a Game 6 triple-overtime thriller.
And again, this was just the first round. Don’t expect any of this to slow down, either.
The atmosphere of the NHL playoffs is unparalleled as far as any other sporting event goes. I’m not saying there’s nothing better than it, rather it creates an ambience that even the most casual hockey fan will find themselves drawn into as the Stanley Cup finals draw near.
The subplots that unfold throughout the course of a seven-game series and the physical play characteristic of the playoffs provide for a script more addictive and unpredictable than soap operas, with teams passionately hating their opponents.
Unlike any other professional sports in this country, rivalries exist in the NHL playoffs, and players are literally gunning to knock off their opponent’s head. There’s no mercy among NHL players between the months of April and June. And no one even masks their disgust for each other.
Now if only the NBA had this kind of mentality as their playoffs began to intensify. Instead these dopes headline the sports pages across the country with compliments of one another on days between their games.
Last Monday, a day after the Lakers’ trouncing of the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, MVP candidates Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant remarked at how great a player the other one was and how they’d love to play together someday.
And as great as it is that the two still remember how to play nicely together, that’s not what the NBA playoffs are supposed to be about.
Fifteen years ago, do you think that Kevin McHale and Bill Lambier exchanged such pleasantries between games of the Eastern Conference finals?
I want to see the NBA go back to the way it was in the 1980s. When, like in the NHL, teams didn’t like each other and made it well known. Rivalries like the ones that existed between the Celtics, Pistons and Lakers. Even something like we saw in the mid-1990s with the Knicks and the Heat would do.
Just something more intense than a pathetic stare-down after a hard foul would be nice. We’re supposed to believe that just because Shaq called Sacramento the “Queens” and a little preseason scuffle broke out last October that the NBA now has a “heated” rivalry. I don’t think many people are buying that.
In spite of the NBA’s lack of playoff aggression, however, the early going in the postseason has still teetered on the verge of interesting.
Marbury’s three to knock off the Spurs had shades of March Madness while the individual performances of Iverson and McGrady in Game 1 were reminiscent of Jordan’s peak playoff performances.
Most of the series actually look somewhat even, and with the Lakers having to play without home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, the eventual champion isn’t as cut and dry as it’s been in the past.
All the playoffs need now is a few scuffles on the court and a war of words off of it for some flavor, and this postseason might be worth watching as April turns into May.
Speaking of scuffles, anyone following baseball yet? Only three weeks into the season and highlights of Baseball Tonight closely resemble re-runs of The Jerry Springer Show.
Batters are getting mowed over more often than players and umpires at Comiskey Park, and pitchers are even retaliating now, citing that it’s just “part of the game” and “old school” baseball.
And while this may not be the most desirable style of play in Bud Selig’s world, it does spice up the game for an already dwindling fan base.
Teams with players who have each other’s backs and show a little animosity for the opposition might just be worth watching as summer lingers through the months of July and August.
The NFL Draft is Saturday. I’m a big fan of the draft. Can’t get enough of it. It takes two days to complete. Most people can’t even stand to watch ten minutes of it.
What makes it so intriguing to me, though, is that every team — with the exception of the Bengals, who will still find a way to blow another top-5 pick — is going to get at least one player who is going to help them next year.
This draft is really the only draft in professional sports where rookies can come in and make a serious impact. The NBA draft may yield 5 or10 players who will come in and make a serious difference right away, but most players need a few years to really develop.
Also, most players taken in the second round of that draft probably won’t even make it through training camp.
But in the NFL draft, there are diamonds in the rough. Players not picked until the sixth round can turn out to be future Pro Bowlers. Teams can add three or four new starters to their rosters and be in playoff contention despite finishing 5-11 the previous season.
And given that the NFL is one of the few sports where the world champion fluctuates between franchises each season, it’s interesting to watch coaches and general managers map out the blueprints for their run to the Super Bowl.
Toss out the two days of watching Mel Kiper, Jr., and there aren’t many flaws in watching the NFL Draft.
It’s going to be about as fun to watch as the rest of the sporting world has been over the last month.