http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrookpreview/070821&sportCat=nfl
Ran across this article and about half way through his main topic, I wanted to grab the guy by the ears and yell in his face that Nike, Reebok, & now Adidas (& indirectly, MJ... yeah, you heard me.) started the NBA's decline. I like football but I cannot believe that it's a superior game.
About the time I almost couldn't take it anymore, he actually started learnin' me sump'un' ... 'the Sonny Vaccaro factor.' I think he made plenty of other decent points too but none of them so pertinent as, what seems like, the origin of the NBA's celebration of the ego.
(Warning: he hits on many other topics, some entertaining, some not)
First off, anyone believe the NFL is the better sport? Anyone have any other ideas about how the NFL gained such strength (or why the NBA lost so much steam after MJ)?
Secondly, anyone want to make a "capitalism itself trumps all possible unforeseen, and especially unintended, effects" arguement?
Finally, Most Importantly... Can anyone help David Stern with some grass roots, die-hard, off-Mad (Ave.) marketing genius? What changes should be wrought immediately? What approaches can be made that will take patience to see payoff (think long-term, i.e. effects of which might take 5+ years)?
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4 comments:
Ok, I kinda agree with some of what he says, but mostly I think he's a nutjob.
The promotion of superstars is hurting viewership?
--hogwash
East coast gets hosed cause it can't stay up past their bedtime?
--Probably some truth to that
Is football a better product than basketball?
--In my humble opion, hell no.
What the NBA needs to do is implement a better conference, schedule, and playoff schedule. I would claim that the reason for the decline in the NBA in the past 10 years is the imbalance of the conferences. If you are going to compare the NBA finals to the Superbowl, don't leave out the fact that the East has pretty much sucked for 10 years(excluding the Piston's short run)
I do agree that the age restriction was a good move. In fact, I wouldn't mind pushing for a higher age. College is a good thing.
Also, how about fixing this Ref nonsense? For fuck's sake...get 5 refs on the floor!
But, in the end, I think the NBA still produces the best sport.
Oooh... I didn't even consider the fact that someone wouldn't agree that superstar promotion isn't the problem. I was blinded :)
Though even reflecting on it; I still think it's a primary problem. I think it's just going to spur more prima donna personalities from young'uns entering the NBA. When I talk to other big sports fans that don't like the NBA, they generally are unhappy with the players - generalizing that they're all troublemakers & that the Spurs are the only exception. How do I get that fan to start watching?
As for the Superbowl vs. NBA Finals - I may have overlooked that comparison in the article. I do remember, though, that he said that the contracts for the regular season are universes apart as far as what networks are willing to pay. That all has to go back to what advertisers are willing to pay & that has to do with viewership. They've got to get a wider audience than they do. I just don't know how.
I think the NFL is just fundementally more approachable by the passive fan. When a team plays all their games on a weekend, it's much easier for fans to stay involved with their tram when they get to watch every game. Maybe I'm not being fair, but I really think that the NFL is a relatively easy league to run.
The NFL gets a free pass on steroid use. I mean, it's obivous that these guys are walking pharmacies.
I don't think that you can ignore race either. In the NBA the famous white guys are a canadian and a german. In the NFL you've got your all-american boys as the starting QB's.
Then you have the Superbowl. It's a single event to celebrate your league. It's a national Holiday. It makes your league just that much more visible. You can't do that with a series.
If I were David Stern, I would focus on the playoffs. get rid of the conferences like everybody suggests. I'd go back to 5 game series for the opening rounds.
The other thing of course is the officiating. I've thought that maybe they should increase the number of officials. you still have the 3 main ones that run up and down the court. But then you also have 2 guys on each end who don't move. That way you could have an official for each match up. I think it would make the calls more consistent. Officiating should be like the restaurant business. It's more important to be consistent than to be occasionally spectacular.
First off, I love the NBA and I'm a huge fan and I know this is a basketblog but I believe that NFL is actually better than NBA (at least for me personally). Here are my reasons.
1. The Refs. I stopped watching NBA for like 6 or 7 seasons because I got so tired of leaving 30% of games feeling like the refs decided the outcome (or at least made enough horrible calls that the game seemed like it shouldn't have counted). This is a HUGE problem that Stern doesn't want to acknowledge. But you can't convince me that the majority of fans don't think the NBA has the worst refs. Whereas NFL "normally" does a good job and they use instant replay and coache's challenges. Which do slow down the game but I'd rather take an extra minute to get a call correct and have my team win the Superbowl. Maybe that's just me.
2. NFL has less scoring. This sounds weird but most people that don't like NBA complain that they're constantly scoring and that it looks like it's too easy to score. Each basket is essentially meaningless. This is where the "why not just watch the 4th quarter" saying came from. It's kind of true. How often is a team down 20 points and then comes back. This is much more rare in NFL and therefore more special when it happens. Soccer on the other hand is boring as crap to most people because of the lack of scoring. I think the scoring in the NFL is at a good level. Rare enough that when it happens you get really excited (touchdowns are really exciting) but not often enough that it seems like scoring is too easy.
3. NFL has more strategy. I know matchups and running plays are key to NBA but NFL is clearly more complicated. They have playbooks that are hundreds of pages. Not to mention there are twice as many players on the field. And in NFL they use matchups almost as much (with WR's mostly).
4. The Superbowl. The most watched televised event each year. Basically an excuse to gather in large groups and get drunk (much like a softball league). The NBA Finals, while very interesting are 7 games so it's harder to keep casual fans' interests. Not that casual fans decide how good a sport is but you have to admit that the Superbowl is a huge event that is really fun.
5. NFL has big plays. This goes back to the "too much scoring" in the NBA. Most plays are Timmy banking a 10-15 footer off the glass. Which is amazing that he can use the glass so well but admittedly isn't very flashy. Now dunks and crazy Kobe reverse layups are frickin awesome but don't happen that often. In the NBA you don't have "big" plays like in NFL. Like when a RB breaks off a 40 yd run or a WR goes deep and grabs one in the endzone. What NBA play is like that? A 3-pointer or a fast break? Definitely not as exciting. Also, when a WR runs at full speed, dives in the air and catches an object that another player threw 40 yards away and catches it with one hand then crashes into the ground it looks like it took more athleticism than dunking. Mostly because the players in the NBA that can dunk make it look easy. I imagine LeBron could dunk in his sleep.
6. NFL teams get more focus than its players. I agree with some of the artical. It's more fun to root for a team than a player. What if the player is injured? What if he sucks that game? What happens when he gets traded? Whose more important here, the team or the player? Someone once made a good point that most NBA fans can tell you somewhere between 5-20 different player's salaries. Whereas most NFL fans can't tell you even one player's salary. Why is that? What does that do to a fan pyschologically? Does that make you bitter or angry when one of those players doesn't perform or demands a trade? Something to consider at least.
I also agree with Richard's point that all the games are on Sunday. This makes it easier to watch the sport. Which basically means people are lazy, but shit, people are lazy. And his point that NFL has more white people is a good reason why more of America likes NFL as much of America is still somewhat racist. Although obviously this is not one of the reasons that I enjoy NFL more.
In closing, I like NBA and NFL both very much and would gladly watch either but I like NFL slightly better. If I had to go with one overall reason it would be excitement. Watching an NFL game with several people, the entire room loudly erupts for several seconds when a TD is scored. When someone scores in the NBA, unless it's the final shot to win the game, you might hear one guy in the back quietly drop a "nice".
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