Quit Hating and Start Watching

There’s a tendency for us to rain on each other’s parades when a major sporting event captures the attention of many casual fans. This is no more evident when we are discussing significant events in professional hockey, soccer/football and basketball.

Much has been made about the outstanding viewership numbers for yesterday’s Olympic Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Final between Canada and the United States. And why not? If someone said that this thrilling game would have garnered ratings akin to a regular season game in the NFL, most would have laughed, sneered, snickered and belittled the sport, its fans and its elite league, the NHL.

The very fact that the game captured almost 28 million viewers* should bode well for the sport overall. That people in the know are pondering what can the NHL and its broadcasting partners do to carry this momentum into league action speaks to how compelling of a product the sport presents.

Yet, there are equally as many people who have started their “who cares?” rants, “when’s the next big event to pretend to care about” comments and my favorite quips of nonchalance; “when does football/baseball season start?”

Photo Credit to the Vancouver Sun

I just wonder why we take this route for some sports and not others. Why must we dissect its potential or lack thereof? Why must we ask those sports to fix themselves in order to appeal to non-fans and passersby? Why must we demand more of those leagues than we do the staples that take their fans for granted more often than not?

It’s funny because Super Bowl XLIV – a fantastic game, without a doubt – wiped off the bad taste the 2009 NFL season left in many mouths. This past season in the league was one of the least entertaining campaigns in years and the postseason initially carried some of that poor play in the first two rounds. If not for the Jets’ very game performance in Indianapolis (they did blow the lead, though) and the fumbling follies of the Vikings in New Orleans, this past season could have easily gone down as the worst since the late 90s.

This is a league with a fair share of problems on its own; a potential labor strike looms large, a steady stream of player arrests, the back-and-forth on overtime, Brett Favre fatigue, the overlooked story of PED/steroid use, an ongoing battle with Time Warner Cable over the NFL Network, etc.

Yet, few dare to ask what’s wrong with the almighty, omnipotent National Football League.

Beyond the Yankees winning the World Series last October, this past baseball season wasn’t exactly one for the ages. Once again, the controversies loomed larger than the games themselves. PEDs for Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Josh Hamilton’s relapse. Milton Bradley’s arrival and dismissal from the Cubs. Allegations of Jim Bowden skimming bonus money from Latin American prospects. Mixed (some scathing) reviews for the new Yankee Stadium. The Mets (via Fred Wilpon) and Bernie Madoff. Mark McGwire, over a decade later.

There had been tremendous action in spurts; great pitching from the game’s young guns like Zack Grienke, Felix Hernandez, Tim Lincecum, the underrated Matt Cain and Jair Jurrjens. The usual great play from players you expect like Joe Mauer, Kevin Youkilis, Derek Jeter, Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols. The strong supporting casts that pushed the Yankees and Phillies into the Fall Classic. The birth of MLB Network (and ratings punch to the gut onto ESPN). All of this is forgotten among casual baseball fans.

Yet, few dare to ask how Major League Baseball can regain its footing on the national stage.

Apparently, the North Carolina Tar Heels’ men’s basketball program is going to need help to get into the NCAA Tournament this year. They’ve lost four starters of last year’s title squad to the NBA – Ty Lawson has been outstanding, by the way – and find themselves clawing to keep pace in the ACC. I say apparently because from friends, family & colleagues, last year’s edition of March Madness was one of the least exciting, most anti-climatic and phenomenally unmemorable in recent memory.

The scandals in the NCAA have been mind-numbing within the last decade. Before, it was about point-shaving and a player having ‘extra’ cash in his pocket. This past decade alone gave us testing scandals, coaches exacting physical punishment on players during practice, more testing scandals, even more money passed under the table, an absurd coaching carousel spun by the coaches themselves. And of course, there’s the worst of them all; Patrick Dennehy.

Yet, few dare to ask what can the NCAA do to capture fan interest before March Madness takes over.

Look, I didn’t write this to hate on those sports. In fact, if you read the Blogger profile, you’d see that baseball and football have been near and dear to my heart much of my life. As a once passionate, now bitter observer of college basketball, I pray for the day that the NCAA rights the ship and does right by ALL student-athletes, regardless of gender or sport. Yet, to see the errors in those sports is to almost be a leper of sorts; people want to move on, overlook these issues and pretend that these issues aren't as big, if not bigger than those in the NBA, NHL or soccer/football in the United States.

I wrote this because when we throw shade on each other’s preferences, we tend to forget how imperfect our own favorites are. We tend to think that being a ratings behemoth exonerates these sports from their issues or that being underwhelming according to Nielsen is an indictment.

You don’t have to become a hockey fan after the great play at the Winter Olympics (though you’d be happy if you did). You don’t have to subscribe to NBA League Pass for the remainder of the season to get your stripes (there are only 6 weeks left anyway). You don’t have to call your cable provider to look into FOX Soccer Plus, which just launched today (just try to master FOX Soccer Channel first). What we do need to do, however, is to be fair in how we observe these games. If we’re going to be as scrutinizing of the sports we dislike, give the same treatment to the ones we love.

Otherwise, quit hating and start watching.

Say What?!?!: By the way, with all due respect to Sidney Crosby and his fantastic goal, can someone else in the world give Jarome Igilna (the guy above Crosby in the photo) love for his assist? It was a fantastic set-up by a player who should get far more attention than he gets in the sports world. Maybe it’s gutsy to say it, but if he played for the New York Rangers instead of the Calgary Flames, he’s not only get more attention, but he could be akin to Mark Messier in terms of being a steady, proven veteran leader that could walk the streets of Manhattan with head nod respect from even the most uninterested of puck fans.

*A note about Nielsen ratings; they don’t include out-of-home viewing, which includes sports bars and other public establishments. Since measurement in this space has been modified over the years, these viewers may or may not be counted into the equation, but hockey is as much of a sports bar kind of game as any in North America. This, my friends, is good.

Halftime (II)

Don't forget to read Part 1 of Halftime and check the new video from KeySpan Park.

Cue the classic Nas track.

Early July is a pretty intriguing time in sports. There’s the free agency frenzy in both the NBA and NHL, with the backdrop of a devastating recession. The sight of the word July is a boon to Major League Baseball as it prepares for the All-Star Game, the trading deadline and its only month as the lone major team sport in town. Wimbledon is going to give us championship battles during the holiday weekend, with storylines for both the men and women’s finals.

Yet, as Wednesday’s post discusses, we have entered the second half of 2009, a year that has sped by us with great games, historical events and utterly bizarre news. After reading about a few of the general issues headed into the next six months, here are some sport-specific thoughts you should pay attention to.

MLB: It looks as if the big boys are wielding heavy lumber into the postseason chase as all of the usually-despised big market teams (save the Cubs, at the moment) are in contention for the playoffs. Specifically, the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Mets and Phillies are in the running, while fans in Cleveland, San Diego, Washington D.C. and Oakland await NFL training camps to distract themselves from the misery.

For a sport that almost openly roots for the major market teams to go long in the postseason, it will be interesting to see not only how their players perform, but their stadiums. The demand is high in those cities, for sure, but if we are seeing empty seats immediately behind home plate in Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium, what will we find in a few months?

You can’t even dream of getting Red Sox tickets during the season, let alone the playoffs. The Phillies might be fine considering that they would be defending their championship. Manny Ramirez’s presence in the Dodgers lineup creates absurd revenues for the front office. Yet in New York City, neither team can fill their ballpark, even as they play winning baseball. Ticket prices are such a turnoff at a time where fans would love to attend games that it would be hard to imagine that anyone would fork over entire paychecks/unemployment benefits for a Divisional Series game, let alone the World Series.

NFL: Donte’ Stallworth’s guilty plea to DUI manslaughter – in which he was given 30 days in jail, two years of house arrest, eight years of probation, 1,000 hours of community service and a lifetime suspension of his driver’s license – had set off a firestorm among fans and media. The immediate and most common reaction has been a comparison of his crime compared to that of Michael Vick’s prison sentence after his dog-fighting ring was discovered. However, the Humane Society and PETA gave the NFL enough grief (that’s being kind on PETA) about Vick that it could be credited with placing the pressure on law enforcement and the league to act swiftly on the former Atlanta Falcon.

As pondered in part one last night, will there be any word from any anti-drunk driving organization such as MADD in regards to Stallworth? Sadly, if there hasn’t been already, there may not be any time soon. Since this country and this particular league have a kinship to the alcohol industry, drunk driving does not illicit the same anger and conversations as performance-enhancing use, dog fighting or throwing three interceptions in the first half.

NBA: So the LeBron in 2010 campaign started this past season, but it will be in the final year of his contract that the real chaos begins. I say chaos because while LeBron-to-New York (or Brooklyn, if the Nets are still dreaming of the Barclays Center) has been assumed for some time, if you think that the Knicks and Nets are the only teams that will make a play for him, you must not follow the NBA outside of what the mainstream media says.

Unlike the Draft, where leading to the event, it’s insinuated that teams will intentionally lose games to have a better chance to secure the top pick for a potential star, free agency is about maneuvering salaries in order to attract the best available and newly unattached players.

We should keep an eye out on which other teams not only enter the fray for the current Cleveland Cavaliers star, but which teams have a legitimate shot in landing him. Many believe that James would inherit just about the same scenario of the lack of a strong supporting cast wherever he may go. When you also add to the fact that he didn’t need to be in a ‘major’ market to become a superstar, teams that are not in the New York, Los Angeles or Chicago areas have greater incentive to make a play so long as they have the foundation to win, or at least contend for championships during the span of his new contract.

Then again, this offseason will provide plenty of intrigue on its own without thinking so much about 2010.

NHL: This league has found remarkable success since emerging from the lockout in 2005. Much of this has to do with its young stars to go along with are arguably the most exciting playoffs in all of sports year after year.

What we have discovered in the last two years in particular is that whether people love or hate them, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have people watching and debating their skills, value and presence in sports. What is somewhat overlooked is that both players, along with some strong supporting casts have matched, if not trumped, attention paid in larger markets. Sure, Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. are not home of the Original Six teams, but both are fairly strong sports towns. The Steel City is already home to the current Super Bowl champion Steelers, but also a pretty profound hockey history. Meanwhile, outside of Cleveland, there’s probably not another American city as starved for a champion than D.C.; proved by their willingness to get behind the Capitals in recent seasons.

Early free agent movement points towards some of the bigger market teams as they try to supplant the Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. Yet, with the NHL’s momentum being built without some of those squads, there’s a legitimate question headed into the fall: can the league continue its ascension without a contender in New York City or a relevant team in Toronto?

Finally, a few quick thoughts:

College football: Will the anti-BCS movement gain greater traction now that there has been some governmental wrangling in recent months?

College basketball: Who will be the most talked about rent-a-stars/one-and-done players with even fewer brand names next season?

Tennis: Will the US Open give birth to a new star beyond the usual names of Venus, Serena, Roger, Rafael, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic?

Golf: Can the PGA learn how to live without a dominant Tiger Woods? Can the LPGA withstand some of the economic hits to some of their tournaments?

NASCAR: Next week, there will be a lengthier discussion on the country’s most popular motorsports organization. For now, if (a HUGE if) Danica Patrick joins NASCAR after the season ends, how much of an impact would she make on a sport once considered America’s fastest growing sport just a few years ago?

Idea (II)

As you were invited to over the weekend, here are a few of the moments that stuck out to me this year in sports. Of course, there were a good bit that I was fortunate to have attended, whether it was related to the Beacon, SNYS or as a fan. Yet, there will be other posts about that throughout the holidays.

All credit to the original uploaders.

• Beyond being there and meeting Joe Frazier (though I should have finished the article... oops), this was such a thorough and unexpected domination by Bernard Hopkins, even the most avid Kelly Pavlik supporters had to stand in awe and respect.

• After two barbeques in South Jersey and actually getting some sleep, this epic match was the cherry on top of a great Fourth of July weekend.

• Sure, there are a lot of you who are Boston Celtics fans now, but your hearts were in your laps because of a team no one expected to win more than a game in the first round... let alone three. Welcome back to the NBA, Atlanta. We've missed you and your ridiculous pyrotechnics!

• Who would have thought that the NHL would have given us the first treat of a phenomenal 2008? Oh, that's right, the people that watched this game on New Year's Day. If you were subjected to the anti-climatic bowl games later that evening, I hope you at least enjoyed this earlier that afternoon. (By the way, I recognize how much many puckheads dislike Sidney Crosby or at least the hype around him. However, you had to have appreciated this moment.)

• Sorry, Patriots fans. (Note: If anyone has a video with Marv Albert's radio call, please send the link. If you can't recall, let's just say that I'm not a fan of FOX.)

• Finally, since there isn't a great video from YouTube and MLB does not allow embedding, search "All Star Home Run Derby 2008" in its video site.
  For those who followed me one the journey to Dallas back in July, I was able to add photos and videos from the last game before the All-Star break (revisit, if you will). Instead of covering the All-Star Game festivities myself, I was at a hotel in suburban Dallas with a face stuffed full of pepperoni, sausage & Sprite, excitedly jumping up and down like a stressed-out nicotine fiend without smokes.
  To say that what Josh Hamilton did the following night at Yankee Stadium defied our wildest imaginations is an understatement. However, it was great to see a football-crazed state hold off all the talk about the Cowboys, the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners, if only for a little while. There's a bonafide superstar in the making in Arlington and the Rangers need to do everything possible to build around him.

So, share you favorite moments, no matter where they may come from.

Forward (II)

One of the most annoying sports clichés is “the game the way it was meant to be played.” It the believers of that phrase meant the raw and unadulterated way, then they may have found something special on New Year's Day. It wasn't a bowl game created for television or a redundant marathon of old-school boxing matches featuring Muhammad Ali. It was hockey... yes, Scribe is talking about that game on the ice with the pucks, sticks and Canadians.

NHL: Can we make them care? They’ve heard the slights for well over a decade now about the death of a league. The strike following the 2003-04 season relegated the league to minor-league status in the minds of anyone with a microphone, blog and newspaper column. Even worse are the snark-laden comments from people who go out of their way to slam the sport instead of reading the stories around it. Yet, though the fan base is the smallest of the major professional leagues, its core fans are equally as passionate about their sport as those for others.

The National Hockey League is well aware of the monumental challenges presented over the past decade-plus; the loss of Canadian teams because of poor economic decisions, the criticized additions of American teams (also for similar reasons), the lack of crossover appeal, a borderline-discriminatory backlash against the influx of European players, lack of racial diversity/interest and debates regarding fighting. Most of these issues can be attributed to any other league, yet because the NHL was never a behemoth across the United States, its struggles become punch lines instead of headlines.

The league opened the New Year with the Winter Classic, its second-ever outdoor game and the first in the U.S. The location couldn’t have been better, choosing hockey-happy Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium. Drifting snows, dropping temperatures and a plethora of college football bowl games couldn’t stop the crowd of just over 71,000 from enjoying the event. The fact that thousands more had been turned away is a testament to how deep passions run in hockey fans. Even better for the NHL were the once-mysterious television ratings. The game garnered a 2.6 rating (which calculates to just three million households) and a 5 share (meaning five percent of all homes with TVs in use at the time tuned to the game). This was a huge success for a sport which became accustomed to a fifth of the audience for nationally-televised games in the States. This was a huge success, even against the aforementioned bowl games that obviously trump everything in their sights. The game itself was no disappointment as the Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins went to a shootout. Unlike other sports where their superstars are seemingly set up for drama, somehow the shootout, Ryan Miller and Sidney Crosby wove naturally for the shining moment.

Of course, the question people have now: what’s next?

The answer: it’s up to you.

The Classic succeeded where other attempts of popularizing hockey failed because the NHL was willing to truly celebrate the roots of their game. So many of these athletes and fans played the game on some frozen pond or lake when they were kids. Not a knock on any other sport, but you’re not going to see a pro or college game at Rucker Park or a Field of Dreams in Iowa. Despite the loss, even the Sabres were ecstatic to have been a part of a special game instead of a gimmick. In a sports world that openly complains about the lack of fundamentals and innocence in the games, potential new fans were introduced to a game in a nearly-pure form. Outside of the frequently necessary clearing of snow on the ice, there had been few icing penalties, few penalties and no fights. For novice fans, they could become more intrigued to watching a traditional game indoors without FoxTrax to tick off the purists and constant clutches to turn casuals away.

The NHL adopted flex scheduling, borrowed from the NFL tactic that gives NBC the ‘premium matchups’ of the games with playoff and/or historical implications. Being a national broadcaster that begs for the best potential ratings, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the New York Rangers every Saturday if you live in suburban Minneapolis. However, considering that the Rangers, Penguins and many other teams across North America have pools of talent, flex scheduling maximizes exposure for stars around the league such as Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, Rick Nash of Columbus and the young Chicago Blackhawks. Since all of the Original Six teams are playing competitively at once for the first time in years, it benefits NBC’s ratings push into the late spring.

For a league that is criticized for being handcuffed by the purists, the NHL has not been completely assailed for opening the game to attract new crowds. In fact, no one is stopping them from doing so. Again, this is due to the fact that ESPN and its most ardent fans have told the sport to essentially ‘come back when you’re bigger’. Yet, there has been success in bringing back fans lost during the lockout. Now, they can focus on solving its other problems. One step at a time.