Is It Football Season Yet?
David Stern must be living a nightmare right now - this has to be one of the least-watched finals in quite some time. Talk about peeking early - the first and second rounds were far more exciting than this. The Spurs are fantastic - boring, but fantastic. They've certainly stifled the alleged King James. I thought that if the Cavs were going to get a game, it was going to be that first one in San Antonio. They were riding a high and the Spurs had been sitting around for quite a while. I stand corrected.
Why are the Spurs such a buzz kill for the average NBA fan? They're truly a fantastic team and, assuming they close this one out, will have won 4 championships within 7 or 8 years - no doubt that constitutes a dynasty. But everyone wants to see Jordan, Kobe, Shaq or Wade before they want to see the Spurs. I was talking about this with the always wise Brandon from work and we talked about the fact that they have no "exciting stars". Yes, Tim Duncan is a superstar - probably one of the best 2 or 3 players in the last 15 years, but he's not intriguing. He's hard to market.
Imagine if we had any one of the following in the finals: Mavs/Heat, Heat/Lakers, Cavs/Lakers, Suns/Heat, etc.
You have marketable matchups in each of the following - Dirk and Wade; Kobe and Shaq; Lebron and Kobe; Nash and Wade - people want to watch those match ups and listen to those stories (buy papers and watch TV). Other than Lebron, who has utterly disappeared, there's no real story with these two teams. The ratings show this as well. If the Spurs were an NFL team they would be one of the most popular - that league has mastered the marketing of teams vs. players. They still have their superstars, but as players come and go, the rivalries typically remain.
The NHL has struggled with this quite a bit over the years. They don't have any true marketable superstars and therefore, people don't care about the teams. It's a good sport, but they have done a horrible job of marketing it.
Kevin Durant:
I know this kind of old news, but I've got to touch on Kevin Durant's "disappointing" showing at the NBA pre-draft workouts. If I've got this correct (yes, I wrote this down when I heard it) KD ranked 78th out of 80th overall. And of course he was compared to Oden - and here's how he faired: Oden jumped 34 inches in the vertical leap while Durant jumped 33.5 inches; Oden completed the agility drill in 11.67 seconds to Durant's 12.33 inches; and finished the 3-quarter court sprint in 3.27 seconds, ahead of Durant's 3.45 seconds. And finally, he failed to bench press 185 pounds even once.
And what does it all mean? Did anyone see him play basketball this year? He needs to get stronger, but he's only 19. NINETEEN!!! He'll get stronger naturally as well as with those pro workout coaches. This was a mediocre attempt at creating a story out of nothing.
College Baseball:
Rrriiiight. So how about those Longhorns??!! Man, what a shock that was - they were absolutely man-handled by UC Irvine. Bummer. Either way, Omaha starts this weekend. Field includes Rice vs. Louisville; UNC vs. Miss State; UC Irvine vs. ASU; Oregon State vs. Cal State Fullerton. Should be some good baseball. I'm going with the favorites here and picking Rice.
Longhorn Football:
Unfortunately this is not a pleasant shout out. I think the disciplinary incidents are beginning to get out of hand. This summer we've had Henry Melton (20-year old Henry Melton) busted for DUI. And now, Robert Joseph is arrested for robbery - he was found inside of a car that wasn't his and fled when a security guard saw him. Nice.
I think it's time for Mack to take both of these guys and make an example - he should boot them from the team. At some point you have to draw the line. I know Joseph is on indefinite suspension and I imagine Melton will have some consequences, but this seems to be part of the norm these days. Nothing too major - alcohol, fighting, weed - but it continues to happen nonetheless. I just think he needs to let them know that they can't do this kind of shit all the time.
The Great Rivalry:
I was so sure - I was dead set that Federer was going to take Nadal on the clay courts this year. Not even close. I don't follow tennis - haven't since Aggasi and Sampras got out, but I have seen a few of these matches between Nadal and Federer and I'm not sure there's a better rivalry around right now in any major sport. It's funny how you look at the winners of the last 8 or 10 major tournament winners it's all Federer except for the last 3 French Open championships, and the talking heads say he's not quite the best ever. If I'm not mistaken he did play in the finals of the last 2 French Opens and semis of the 3rd. Other than that, he has utterly dominated every major tournament he's been in. You could certainly argue that the talent level is not what it was over the last 10 or 12 years, but he's still whipping everyone's ass. He's definitely one of the best of all time - if not the best.
What To Read:
I've got a couple of plugs for 2 of my favorite columnists in the world of sports. Any chance you get, check out Bill Simmons' column. You can find it on page 2 of espn.com. He's recently started doing pod casts that are sure to be great. His articles are long and a bit to get through, but he's brilliant and funny.
Second one is Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback on cnnsi.com. It's a weekly column on Mondays - he's the epitome of NFL guru. Not too long and a good one to start the week on. He does them throughout the whole year, but they are best during NFL season.
Why are the Spurs such a buzz kill for the average NBA fan? They're truly a fantastic team and, assuming they close this one out, will have won 4 championships within 7 or 8 years - no doubt that constitutes a dynasty. But everyone wants to see Jordan, Kobe, Shaq or Wade before they want to see the Spurs. I was talking about this with the always wise Brandon from work and we talked about the fact that they have no "exciting stars". Yes, Tim Duncan is a superstar - probably one of the best 2 or 3 players in the last 15 years, but he's not intriguing. He's hard to market.
Imagine if we had any one of the following in the finals: Mavs/Heat, Heat/Lakers, Cavs/Lakers, Suns/Heat, etc.
You have marketable matchups in each of the following - Dirk and Wade; Kobe and Shaq; Lebron and Kobe; Nash and Wade - people want to watch those match ups and listen to those stories (buy papers and watch TV). Other than Lebron, who has utterly disappeared, there's no real story with these two teams. The ratings show this as well. If the Spurs were an NFL team they would be one of the most popular - that league has mastered the marketing of teams vs. players. They still have their superstars, but as players come and go, the rivalries typically remain.
The NHL has struggled with this quite a bit over the years. They don't have any true marketable superstars and therefore, people don't care about the teams. It's a good sport, but they have done a horrible job of marketing it.
Kevin Durant:
I know this kind of old news, but I've got to touch on Kevin Durant's "disappointing" showing at the NBA pre-draft workouts. If I've got this correct (yes, I wrote this down when I heard it) KD ranked 78th out of 80th overall. And of course he was compared to Oden - and here's how he faired: Oden jumped 34 inches in the vertical leap while Durant jumped 33.5 inches; Oden completed the agility drill in 11.67 seconds to Durant's 12.33 inches; and finished the 3-quarter court sprint in 3.27 seconds, ahead of Durant's 3.45 seconds. And finally, he failed to bench press 185 pounds even once.
And what does it all mean? Did anyone see him play basketball this year? He needs to get stronger, but he's only 19. NINETEEN!!! He'll get stronger naturally as well as with those pro workout coaches. This was a mediocre attempt at creating a story out of nothing.
College Baseball:
Rrriiiight. So how about those Longhorns??!! Man, what a shock that was - they were absolutely man-handled by UC Irvine. Bummer. Either way, Omaha starts this weekend. Field includes Rice vs. Louisville; UNC vs. Miss State; UC Irvine vs. ASU; Oregon State vs. Cal State Fullerton. Should be some good baseball. I'm going with the favorites here and picking Rice.
Longhorn Football:
Unfortunately this is not a pleasant shout out. I think the disciplinary incidents are beginning to get out of hand. This summer we've had Henry Melton (20-year old Henry Melton) busted for DUI. And now, Robert Joseph is arrested for robbery - he was found inside of a car that wasn't his and fled when a security guard saw him. Nice.
I think it's time for Mack to take both of these guys and make an example - he should boot them from the team. At some point you have to draw the line. I know Joseph is on indefinite suspension and I imagine Melton will have some consequences, but this seems to be part of the norm these days. Nothing too major - alcohol, fighting, weed - but it continues to happen nonetheless. I just think he needs to let them know that they can't do this kind of shit all the time.
The Great Rivalry:
I was so sure - I was dead set that Federer was going to take Nadal on the clay courts this year. Not even close. I don't follow tennis - haven't since Aggasi and Sampras got out, but I have seen a few of these matches between Nadal and Federer and I'm not sure there's a better rivalry around right now in any major sport. It's funny how you look at the winners of the last 8 or 10 major tournament winners it's all Federer except for the last 3 French Open championships, and the talking heads say he's not quite the best ever. If I'm not mistaken he did play in the finals of the last 2 French Opens and semis of the 3rd. Other than that, he has utterly dominated every major tournament he's been in. You could certainly argue that the talent level is not what it was over the last 10 or 12 years, but he's still whipping everyone's ass. He's definitely one of the best of all time - if not the best.
What To Read:
I've got a couple of plugs for 2 of my favorite columnists in the world of sports. Any chance you get, check out Bill Simmons' column. You can find it on page 2 of espn.com. He's recently started doing pod casts that are sure to be great. His articles are long and a bit to get through, but he's brilliant and funny.
Second one is Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback on cnnsi.com. It's a weekly column on Mondays - he's the epitome of NFL guru. Not too long and a good one to start the week on. He does them throughout the whole year, but they are best during NFL season.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 3:58 PM
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