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Which would be the first major sport to go out?


Rdskn4Lyf21

What do you think of the new site?  

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  1. 1. What do you think of the new site?

    • Amazing
      30
    • Cool
      24
    • Could be better
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    • A letdown
      5

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I know the odds of any of them going under due to lack of fan interest is minute, but if one were to go out, which one would it be?

MLB - Too much of a "tradition" - personally I've completely lost interest in it and may watch a World Series game or two if bored. I think steroids was the finishing touch on me losing interest. The bigger issue is 162 games. Half of them can be meaningless and you can make the postseason, that's a lot of boring games.

NHL - I'd put this 2nd or 3rd on the list of possibly going under. While the NHL doesn't seem to be a huge sport, the following is diehard and is only getting bigger and bigger.

NFL - This one will never go. It has become America's sport and the face of America's sports, it's that simple.

NBA - I know myself and others have really lost interest in the league. I don't know what it is, but even a few years ago I'd get hyped for the playoffs. Now, I can't bring myself to watch a Game 7 for more than 10 minutes unless it's in OT.

These are just personal observations, and I'd like them in the following order as possible extinctions (in a major league): NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL. I can see NHL moving towards the left of that list down the road though.

What do you think?

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NBA for sure...there is proven instances of refs deciding the outcome of the games. Also, its a game filled with one-on-one stupidity and no parity at all. And how boring are the playoffs? Outside of the Bulls/Celtics series we've had teams getting blown out. The Hornets lost by almost 60 points! In the PLAYOFFS!!

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Both #1 seeds are still alive in the NBA playoffs. Both #1 seeds were eliminated in the NHL playoffs.

As Jrock said the NBA has lacked rivalry the last couple of years. The last legit rivalry I remember was Phoenix - LA. With the departure of D'Antoni to NY that rivalry has lost luster, and there aren't those old rivalries I remember anymore. Back when I was a kid the Kings and Lakers were rivals. The Lakers beat the Kings in a *gasp* horribly officiated series, and this is only one of MULTIPLE instances where questionable officiating has marred the sport. But I digress. Anyways Kings - Lakers was the ****, Phi using motivational tactics which Adelman said as going too far, Phil calling Sac Town Cowbell town or hicks lol...hilarious times. Nowadays Kings - Lakers isn't much of a rivalry anymore, with the Kings being the worst in the league.

I still , every now and then, look back at the old days of the NBA on youtube, and reminisce fondly of the good ol' days , when Jordan, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Larry Bird reigned supreme. The new NBA is nothing like the old times. Can't go Bad Boy anymore, can't play defense.

Addressing the other leagues :

NHL - Contrary to popular belief, the NHL post-lockout has actually been making a comeback in terms of relevancy. Of course, hiding games on Versus instead of a major network such as ESPN hurts the league, but the league came back from the lockout retooled and bringing the fans an improved product. They got rid of traps, ties no longer exist and have been replaced by 5 minutes of overtime followed by shootouts. Integration of shootout helps the game, and the tension of playoff hockey is matched by few sports

MLB - Despite steroid and PED accusations, the sport remains relevant and is nowhere close to going out.

NFL - No chance.

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the officiating stuff aside - and i realize that that is a huge, huge deal - the NBA is better and stronger than it has been at any point since Jordan (bulls years of course, ha)

i have been a monster NBA fan since i was 7 years old, never faltering even during some really, really poor and unexciting years. this is - bar none- the most excited i have been about the nba in a long time, and i felt that way before these playoffs (which, of course, have been superb).

new rivalries are forming, among both teams and players. lebron vs. kobe, lebron vs. wade, hell - rondo vs. rose. we just saw the birth of a rivalry between the Bulls and Celtics.

the Celtics / Cavs is a great rivalry when KG is healthy . the Celtics and Lakers rivalry is reborn.

there are some great young teams - the Hawks, the Bulls, the Blazers, and event he Thunder will be good next year.

finally a new generation of A-list, marketable superstars. Lebron, Wade, Chris Paul, Howard, Rose, Durant, Deron Williams, Carmelo, Brandon Roy, etc.

this might not be the 84-86 era w/ the Celtics, Sixers, Lakers, etc. might not be the early 90s, when Jordan was taking basketball's popularity to unprecedented heights. but if the NBA didnt die in the 1999-2002 years, it isnt going to die now or anytime soon.

again, i understand the massive implicatinos of the Tim Donaghy stuff, but David Stern has proven before that he can right the ship and i think he will do it again.

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Part of the problem I see with the NBA is they've lost the connection with college basketball fans. It used to be that when guys were drafted into the NBA, you had been following their college careers for 3 or 4 years, so there was some familiarity and name recognition there. Not so much now, though.

Not to say the league is going to fold, far from it. It's just that for a casual fan, there is less name recognition of players other than the superstars than there used to be. ixuncle mentioned Jordan, Bird, and Magic. EVERYBODY knew those guys before they ever set foot on an NBA court, because they followed their college careers.

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A surprising stat about the NBA, in the last 30 years only 9 different teams have won the NBA Championship! Just 9!

The NFL has had 14, MLB has had 18, and the NHL has had 13.

People say that MLB has no parity, well it looks like the NBA is the worst in that category

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Part of the problem I see with the NBA is they've lost the connection with college basketball fans. It used to be that when guys were drafted into the NBA, you had been following their college careers for 3 or 4 years, so there was some familiarity and name recognition there. Not so much now, though.

Not to say the league is going to fold, far from it. It's just that for a casual fan, there is less name recognition of players other than the superstars than there used to be. ixuncle mentioned Jordan, Bird, and Magic. EVERYBODY knew those guys before they ever set foot on an NBA court, because they followed their college careers.

i do agree with this, and if i could change one thing about the NBA it would be to change the draft rules to make them similar to those of the NFL. make players wait a few years.

its good for the NBa in terms of immediate star power in the draft. good for college basketball b/c "one and done" players are poor for long term chemistry (not the mention, the lack of great "dynasties" is bad for college basketball).

i know that international players and their agents will fight against that to the death, making college players wait a few years would be great.

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A surprising stat about the NBA, in the last 30 years only 9 different teams have won the NBA Championship! Just 9!

The NFL has had 14, MLB has had 18, and the NHL has had 13.

People say that MLB has no parity, well it looks like the NBA is the worst in that category

another good point, but i would argue that the NBA has much more parity RIGHT now than those stats would indicate.

even when their was less parity than ever - the Bulls run - the NBA was as popular as ever b/c of the sheer greatness of the team.

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I voted NBA. Gotta admit that I've never been interested in watching outside of MJ championship games. But if I were interested, I'd say they need to raise the rim to 12' high. When the game began, the taller players were 6'-0" and most well under 6'. Now the average is closer to 7' and add a foot or more to their arm length/reach most hardly have to leave the ground to dunk the ball. Other changes could be made to make the game more challenging like offsides blue line rules in hockey.

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A surprising stat about the NBA, in the last 30 years only 9 different teams have won the NBA Championship! Just 9!

The NFL has had 14, MLB has had 18, and the NHL has had 13.

People say that MLB has no parity, well it looks like the NBA is the worst in that category

This:
The Celtics currently lead in total championships with 17 to the Lakers' 14; together, the two teams' 31 championships account for half of the 62 championships in NBA history.
:yikes:
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Obvi biased (see SN) but I think NBA followed by MLB.

Obviously NFL isn't going anywhere.

NBA gets more boring by the day. I use to watch every game as a kid. Couldn't miss a single one or try to replicate whatever MJ did (obvi with little to no success). It's become an even more "what about me" league. And the last 2 minutes of the game takes 30 mins to watch.

I thought for sure MLB would falter with steroids issues to the biggest stars (Bonds, A-Rod, Mcquiere, Sosa, etc.) and unbelievable ticket prices (see Yanks). But somehow it keeps chugging away.

As for NHL I think it has the most potential in its rising stars but obvi its biggest problem is getting on a major network and working to create more advertising. Its a sport that is best watched live, although HD has helped out.

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I voted NBA. Gotta admit that I've never been interested in watching outside of MJ championship games. But if I were interested, I'd say they need to raise the rim to 12' high. When the game began, the taller players were 6'-0" and most well under 6'. Now the average is closer to 7' and add a foot or more to their arm length/reach most hardly have to leave the ground to dunk the ball. Other changes could be made to make the game more challenging like offsides blue line rules in hockey.
Actually, the NBA's major problem right now is not too much scoring, it's not enough scoring. The ABA is what popularized basketball back in the 70's. Nobody likes 85-75 games, they get that in high school and college, they want 125-120 games. That is why the NBA has pretty much done away with traveling and grossly favors the stars with the calls. Still, scoring is down nearly 25 points per game since the hey day of the mid 80's. FG Attempts are down nearly 25 per game. FT attempts are down, while 3 PT attempts are way up. The game is boring. No point in making it more boring.
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another good point, but i would argue that the NBA has much more parity RIGHT now than those stats would indicate.

even when their was less parity than ever - the Bulls run - the NBA was as popular as ever b/c of the sheer greatness of the team.

I'm not sure if it does or not. I think the Celtics (when healthy), Lakers, and Cavs are the cream of the crop in the NBA right now. The next level would be Spurs, Nuggets, Magic, Blazers, Bulls, and Rockets. After that, there's just a bunch of mediocore teams.

Whats the difference between the Thunder and the Heat? If you take DWade off the Heat, they're the Thunder. The NBA is built around players instead of teams like other sports. Look at the Wizards for example, with Gilbert they are a top 5 team in the East, without him, they're terrible.

I think the NFL, MLB, and NHL are built more towards teams as a whole. We saw what happens when the Pats lose their best player, they still go 11-5 and just barely miss the playoffs. The Yankees aren't the same team without A-Rod, but they're not horrible. And I'm sure if the Caps lost Ovechkin, they wouldn't be as good, but they wouldn't be the worst team in the league. DWade was hurt most of last season for the Heat and they were one of the worst teams in the league. He comes back this year and they were a top 5 team in the East.

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I've lost all interest in both the NBA and college basketball.

Don't know/nor care about the players and this sport more than any other is driven by the players and not the teams.

I know this is such an old fart thing to say, but I'm sorry Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James is a pimple on the ass of Magic vs. Bird or Magic vs. Doctor J or Magic vs. Michael.

The NBA could go out of existence tomorrow and I wouldn't miss it one bit.

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In the NBA it's so difficult to create parity, because it's a league built on individual players.... meaning most of the time the best players, not teams, win. There's nothing the NBA can really do about that.

The first league to fold (which I doubt would happen anyway) would be the NHL. Their Arizona franchise recently filed for bankruptcy, and the playoff series with their marquee players (which was amazing) was played on the VS Network. Really... the VS Network???

The NBA might be having financial difficulty right now, but Stern was very smart in making the league global. This will save the league... and mean we'll definitely see a European Conference in our lifetime. I'm curious as to how big the LeBron vs Kobe NBA Finals match-up will be. If they can't generate huge ratings for that, the NBA in America will probably never reach what they were in the 80s/early 90s.

I personally like the NBA moreso than college basketball (except during the end of March, of course). I just can't keep up with college sports (and I didn't go to a big college sports school, so I guess that hurt my interest).

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I'm not sure if it does or not. I think the Celtics (when healthy), Lakers, and Cavs are the cream of the crop in the NBA right now. The next level would be Spurs, Nuggets, Magic, Blazers, Bulls, and Rockets. After that, there's just a bunch of mediocore teams.

Whats the difference between the Thunder and the Heat? If you take DWade off the Heat, they're the Thunder. The NBA is built around players instead of teams like other sports. Look at the Wizards for example, with Gilbert they are a top 5 team in the East, without him, they're terrible.

I think the NFL, MLB, and NHL are built more towards teams as a whole. We saw what happens when the Pats lose their best player, they still go 11-5 and just barely miss the playoffs. The Yankees aren't the same team without A-Rod, but they're not horrible. And I'm sure if the Caps lost Ovechkin, they wouldn't be as good, but they wouldn't be the worst team in the league. DWade was hurt most of last season for the Heat and they were one of the worst teams in the league. He comes back this year and they were a top 5 team in the East.

very good point about it often being about individual players, but i would also argue that the "2nd tier" teams are starting to blur the line between themselves and the Big Three teams.

Denver could very well beat the Lakers. the Magic are unlikely to beat the Cavs, but they could easily take it to game 6, and at that point anything could happen.

there will always be superior teams, of course, but i think that the 6th-10th best teams in the NBA are now capable at least of beating the 1st-5th best teams. dont think that was the case when the Lakers 3 peated, for example.

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very good point about it often being about individual players, but i would also argue that the "2nd tier" teams are starting to blur the line between themselves and the Big Three teams.

Denver could very well beat the Lakers. the Magic are unlikely to beat the Cavs, but they could easily take it to game 6, and at that point anything could happen.

there will always be superior teams, of course, but i think that the 6th-10th best teams in the NBA are now capable at least of beating the 1st-5th best teams. dont think that was the case when the Lakers 3 peated, for example.

I guess that's starting to be true about the other teams catching up a bit. But the thing I don't like about the NBA, is that too many teams get into the playoffs. I think that's the only sport you can say that about. Do 16 of the 30 teams really belong in the playoffs? You had the Suns this year that missed the playoffs in the West, but would've been the 5th seed in the East. Every year in the NBA, at least 2 teams from the East get in with under .500 records. This year Chicago and Philly were both .500 and the Pistons were 4 games under. They should just take the top 4 from each conference into the playoffs. I think it would be much better basketball and we wouldn't see as many blowouts.

Also, the NBA is the only sport that I don't have a favorite team in. NFL its the Skins, MLB is the O's, NHL is the Caps. In the NBA, I just root for players, since that's what the NBA markets. I follow Kobe, Vince Carter, Carmelo, Dirk, and a few others. I do root for players from UNC since I'm a Tarheel fan, but I just can't find a team that I care about. I rooted for Jordan in the 90s because it was great to see him play and now I like to see Kobe and the Lakers win. But I've never been interested in the Wizards, even when they are winning. I think the NBA needs to focus more on teams instead of players and more people would be interested.

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I guess that's starting to be true about the other teams catching up a bit. But the thing I don't like about the NBA, is that too many teams get into the playoffs. I think that's the only sport you can say that about. Do 16 of the 30 teams really belong in the playoffs? You had the Suns this year that missed the playoffs in the West, but would've been the 5th seed in the East. Every year in the NBA, at least 2 teams from the East get in with under .500 records. This year Chicago and Philly were both .500 and the Pistons were 4 games under. They should just take the top 4 from each conference into the playoffs. I think it would be much better basketball and we wouldn't see as many blowouts.

Also, the NBA is the only sport that I don't have a favorite team in. NFL its the Skins, MLB is the O's, NHL is the Caps. In the NBA, I just root for players, since that's what the NBA markets. I follow Kobe, Vince Carter, Carmelo, Dirk, and a few others. I do root for players from UNC since I'm a Tarheel fan, but I just can't find a team that I care about. I rooted for Jordan in the 90s because it was great to see him play and now I like to see Kobe and the Lakers win. But I've never been interested in the Wizards, even when they are winning. I think the NBA needs to focus more on teams instead of players and more people would be interested.

there has been talk with the NBa doing the same thing people want the NFL to do - the top XX teams, regardless of conference.

do 8 teams from the East belong in the NBA playoffs? probably not. but i do believe that 16 teams from the NBA do.

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Lenron,Kobe,Wade,Melo,Howard,Rose,Bosh: The NBA is in good hands. They aren't going anywhere for a little while.

NHL: Ovie and Crosby: They are in good hands, they aren't going anywhere either.

NFL: No need for superstars, the game is just that good to watch.

MLB: Longoria, Wright, Utley, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard, Tim Linecacum, Manny, A-Rod. I don't know MLB might be in some trouble.

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there has been talk with the NBa doing the same thing people want the NFL to do - the top XX teams, regardless of conference.

do 8 teams from the East belong in the NBA playoffs? probably not. but i do believe that 16 teams from the NBA do.

I dunno, I still think 16 is too much. I don't think 54% of the league should make the playoffs. The playoffs are supposed to be for the best teams, not the best and some mediocore teams. When you look at the NFL, MLB, and NHL playoffs, any of those teams in have a legit chance to win it all. Did anyone think the Hawks, Heat, Pistons, Sixers, Jazz, Mavs, or Bulls had a chance to win it all this year? Probably not.

Look at the NHL, the top teams from both conferences are out and lower seeded teams like the Blackhawks, Penguins, and Hurricanes are still alive. Last year in MLB, no one predicted the Rays and Phillies would make it to the World Series, even at the start of the playoffs. I don't think anyone had the Cardinals going to the Super Bowl last year or the Dolphins and Falcons making the playoffs either.

The NBA is just too predictable to me. You could say it about MLB too, but the Yankees haven't won a WS since 2000 or even make it to the WS since 2003. And look at the recent WS winners, Phillies, Red Sox, Cardinals, White Sox, Marlins, Angels, Diamondbacks. Only the Red Sox and Angels have really been in the playoffs consistenly over the last few years. You don't get that from the NBA.

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I think the sports in trouble or at least the NON NFL teams just have too many games.

NHL 82 is way too many for the physicality of the sport. I'd be happy with 60 and starting the post-season earlier. Hard for the casual fan to equate June with Stanley Cup.

NBA ... way too many freakin games. You could pair it down easily by half. Same with MLB. Does anyone actually watch all 160ish games?

Thats the benefit of the NFL ... every week matters.

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Lenron,Kobe,Wade,Melo,Howard,Rose,Bosh: The NBA is in good hands. They aren't going anywhere for a little while.

NHL: Ovie and Crosby: They are in good hands, they aren't going anywhere either.

NFL: No need for superstars, the game is just that good to watch.

MLB: Longoria, Wright, Utley, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard, Tim Linecacum, Manny, A-Rod. I don't know MLB might be in some trouble.

MLB has plenty of young stars. Longoria, Wright, Reyes, Howard, Braun, Markakis, Jones, Pedroia, Hamels, Lincecum, Billingsley. As well as veterans like Pujols, A-Rod (people will still watch him and Manny), Santana, Halladay, Sabathia, Teixeria, Jeter, Beckett, Utley, Rollins, Soriano, Chipper, etc. Baseball has plenty of star power, I actually think it has more now than it ever has.

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