In the last ten years, I have never watched any NBA contest longer than a five minute attention span. Hockey and soccer are obviously better sports. What is happening is a magnetic reversal where old school NBA fanatics are now the weird fanatics defending a sad boring spoon fed circus corporate pay for play TV past while the rest of the world clocks forward.
City size doesn't equal market size, SF, Oak and San Jose are all <1m people but the market is like 5th in the country. Boston is 1/3 the size of SA but in a much larger market.
The NBA is unwatchable to me, not to say the game sucks or is doing poorly worldwide, but to me the product is horrendous. If I want to see scores in the 70s and 80s I will watch high school games. Team play and faster play (while the latter is better than say 10 years ago) is all but gone from the game. too much walk it, one on one, shooting and shooting ability are down. Someone mentioned it but players have outgrown the lane and court, making the court larger would improve spacing, movement and open court basketball.
Way, way too many stoppages of play, commercials and timeouts, especially in the playoffs. Plenty of shadyness and superstar treatment, all the flopping doesn't help (they should call a foul for flopping on the flopper, much like guys in soccer get cards for simulation).
I watch a ton of soccer and to me that is much more entertaining and exciting than any NBA game. Many will disagree, but the one biggest thing that soccer generally provides for 90s minutes that is lacking in the NBA (but is present in the NHL) is that the game can be decided on literally any play. If you are involved or interested in the game, that creates a tremendous level of tension and excitement throughout the game. The first 45 minutes of an NBA game do one of two things (i) make the remaining 3 minutes entirely irrelevant b/c it is a blow out; or (ii) make the entire previous 45 minutes irrelevant b/c it is close which means the remaining 3 minutes will determine the outcome. I can watch the final three minutes of any NBA game (which will take 30 minutes) and not have missed a damn thing (unless, of course, the game is a blowout in which case I missed a crappy game).
Another problem w/ NBA is that the product slows down during the playoffs making it generally less entertaining. This is in direct contradiction to what happens to the NHL, the hitting is more intense, the pace is more intense and the tension of the game (much like in soccer any play can decide the game) is greater.
Just my .02.
A local talk radio today was talking about how it's cool to ignore the NBA playoffs as ratings are down and ask any Joe smoe he will say he's not watching even though they are.
He went on to say watching theses young guys break down defenses is a marvel and those not watching need to.
For me it's hard to stay with it for 48 minutes.
He went on to say watching theses young guys break down defenses is a marvel and those not watching need to.
For me it's hard to stay with it for 48 minutes.
NHL is a pimple on the NBA's ass in terms of global appeal. Basketball is a global game, hockey isn't. Hockey is only played in Scandinavia, Canada, USA, and Russia, about 30 countries. Basketball is played in over 200 countries. The NHL has players from 20 different countires right now. The NBA has players from 31 different countries and that number is growing. NBA is easily the most diverse league out of the four because it is a global game. More people play basketball then football hockey or baseball worldwide.
I see that no one has addressed the most recent Harris Poll results placing the NBA below Auto Racing and Hockey when people were asked:
"If you had to choose, which ONE of these sports would you say is your favorite?"
So here is the link and someone please explain away the huge drop off in the NBA from the late 90's, placing it currently below Hockey.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=866
"If you had to choose, which ONE of these sports would you say is your favorite?"
So here is the link and someone please explain away the huge drop off in the NBA from the late 90's, placing it currently below Hockey.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=866
TV Numbers? Like world wrestling fed numbers? Are you saying that the NBA circus is a watchable sport based on TV numbers? Monster truck pulls pull TV numbers. I watch chain saw championships with more interest than NBA morality plays. If the 'product' is so great, then why does the product of NBA all-stars get its ass kicked in international competition? Because it is a sham, staged, act and you better take your goggles off before you come in here with your TV numbers
And I said what is popular worldwide is insignificant in the States. And who cares besides you and David Stern how diverse the NBA is? There is probably more countries represented in the NBA over the MLB, doesn't really make it better.
Guess I'm not for globalization.
Matter of taste. Kind of like asking how can anyone like froglegs or escargot in a restaurant, some people like that type of food and others do not.
I am an oldtime NBA fan but will admit lately watching regular season games has become less appealing to me as I grow older. Playoffs I still enjoy, just a personal preference.
FWIW. I find playoff hockey really exciting to watch on TV and even more so live (although it's been years since I went to a live NHL game).
wil.
I am an oldtime NBA fan but will admit lately watching regular season games has become less appealing to me as I grow older. Playoffs I still enjoy, just a personal preference.
FWIW. I find playoff hockey really exciting to watch on TV and even more so live (although it's been years since I went to a live NHL game).
wil.
some guys out there like HiPockets that just dont like the league because the top stars are black. in football you got brady, hockey is all white, baseball majority white. only in nba threads by some posters will you see them say "oh what a pathetic effort" "look at these monkeys" or "look at these tatted thugs." if you look at the definition of a thug, then like i said before hockey is the sport for that. but you strictly associate a thug being a black person.
these guys will never say it but they dont like young black males getting the attention and it is obvious through the numerous racial threads about the league from some posters on this forum.
these guys will never say it but they dont like young black males getting the attention and it is obvious through the numerous racial threads about the league from some posters on this forum.
I'll agree with you on the race part. You're only fooling yourself if you don't think the tats are a negative though. Many of the teams, maybe its league-wide, have a dress-code now. Why is that? I'm a Bulls fan, and almost every player is a punk. Starting with Wallace, he got Skiles fired. Most every player has skipped practices or late for games. If you want to equate that with race, well the league is 70% black.
The cheap-shot artists and punks in hockey still have to deal with it on the ice. The ones in the NBA who hang on the rim and put their nuts in the other team's players face is thuglike. Throwing out gang signs during a game is special. Unfortunatly, our society puts up with it.
Ok, suppose you woke up and found yourself in millionaires club and your agent told you that your continued inclusion in this group included adherence to codes where one night you win by 20, the next night you lose by twenty based mostly on the audience (look back over all the games played in this year's playoffs). But I do have a personal anecdotical observation which is when L James' mother broke bad on the court and James tore into her. I wasn't there and don't know either of them. But my outside observation is in that heated moment, code and money trumped family passion and maybe rightfully so. Millions last after passions subside. The 'game' plays itself out in a million ways.
