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Topic: Random Sports Discussion (Read 332430 times)
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Abagadro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12227
Possibly the only user with more posts in the Den than PC/Console Gaming.
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Have never seen a bigger run of punk play than Vayo ran heads up in the World Series tonight. I mean, holy hell, bet your fucking hand once in a while.
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
-H.L. Mencken
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WayAbvPar
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I wonder if his advisors concocted that strategy specifically for Nguyen. If Vayo had caught even half the cards Nguyen did it would have been reasonably effective. That being said, he really needed to pounce a couple of times, but he was terrified of getting 3-bet while holding air and having to fold. You gotta give Nguyen credit- the guy is fucking fearless. I have played against guys like him before- they are a fucking nightmare when they are catching cards. They are wonderful if I am catching cards and they don't adjust, however
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When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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Bunk
Contributor
Posts: 5828
Operating Thetan One
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Seems a good thread for this, as purists don't consider MLS real Football/Soccer. MLS cup was this weekend. Seattle Sounders vs Toronto FC. First Canadian team to make the finals. Nil Nil after regulation and OT, including this save around the 110 minute mark: https://youtu.be/cmRfL4BQfOgEnded up going to Seattle in Penalties, despite Seattle having zero shots on target in the game. Seattle keeper made 7 saves. It may not be up to world standards, but it can still be pretty entertaining (especially live).
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"Welcome to the internet, pussy." - VDL "I have retard strength." - Schild
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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I watched it. Entertaining it was not. I want the MLS to have good football but at least half the teams in the league do not understand the concept. Also, fuck turf. Fuck turf SO HARD.
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Shannow
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3703
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MLS, so crap it doesn't even make it into the soccer thread.
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Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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Bunk
Contributor
Posts: 5828
Operating Thetan One
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Ok, it really wasn't a good game, I just tried slipping that by assuming no one watched it. Which is too bad, because the 5-3 semi between Toronto and Montreal before that was.
I think I was entertained by the game mostly due to the number of Winter Ales I had downed at the pub.
Yes turf sucks, but so does trying to keep a grass field alive in the winter in Toronto.
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"Welcome to the internet, pussy." - VDL "I have retard strength." - Schild
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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That game is kind of par for the course with MLS though, at least most of what I've seen over the last few years. There are some entertaining games and teams and though I didn't watch it, the Montreal-Toronto series seemed to have all that. The Final though had all the worst aspects of MLS. I've seen more entertaining first round FA Cup matches with non-league teams on both sides.
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Shannow
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3703
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Yes turf sucks, but so does trying to keep a grass field alive in the winter in Toronto.
Pretty much this. NA climate is significantly drier and colder than Europe. I knew Bradley would miss his PK. I don't trust him.
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Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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ghost
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Bradley is like the "hot" girl at a small, country high school. He's damned awesome in the right venue.... but mostly gets exposed when he's among the real players
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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ESPN just fired a ton of on air talent. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/espn-will-cut-100-air-personalities-today-123057142.htmlI would hope that at some point ESPN comes back to its roots and goes back to mainly airing sporting events and talking about what happens in said events as a baseline and at least attempts to do that well. Still, a bit shocked that they ditched Dilfer. He actually doesn't suck that bad. Ed Werder too. There's a lot of useless dead meat that isn't on the lists floating around.
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-Rasix
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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ESPN just fired a ton of on air talent. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/espn-will-cut-100-air-personalities-today-123057142.htmlI would hope that at some point ESPN comes back to its roots and goes back to mainly airing sporting events and talking about what happens in said events as a baseline and at least attempts to do that well. Still, a bit shocked that they ditched Dilfer. He actually doesn't suck that bad. Ed Werder too. There's a lot of useless dead meat that isn't on the lists floating around. And yet they kept the talkshow hosts... so glad I have that channel.
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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Some of the shows aren't too bad. I actually don't mind PTI or Around the Horn. Even Highly Questionable isn't too bad. The shouting match Steven A Smith garbage and pop culture/TMZ type crap is horrible though.
It's sad when I miss a game I really wanted to see, and the best I get is 10 seconds of poorly called highlights because it was a west coast game. OHH but I get the full 15 minutes of kid with cancer that got to meet his favorite football player for the 1000th time.
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-Rasix
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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ESPN is making the same goddamn mistakes MTV made. It's getting away from their core brand, the thing that makes them special - i.e. live sports and shittons of highlights of other live sports. All this talk radio garbage that they've been shitting up the airwaves with for years is just utter shit. It's fine in small doses but the whole goddamn network is wall-to-wall with this shit when there isn't live sports to be had (and they stopped doing replays of the live events they used to do). Fuck that noise. Replay last night's MLB game. I'd rather encase my cock in concrete than listen to Stephen A. Smith again.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports is trying to outdo them in this idiocy by snapping up all their worst hosts like Skip Bayless.
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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Well at least it isn't wall to wall reality shows yet or introducing a sports version of Game of Thrones. So, there's that going for them.
They'll either right the ship or go straight to History Channel levels of stupid.
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-Rasix
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Chimpy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10619
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The non-talk show hosts don't bring in ad revenue, cable news has proven that the way to get ad revenue is to have a bunch of clueless yet opinionated people on air yapping at each other is where it is at.
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'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
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DevilsAdvocate25
Terracotta Army
Posts: 321
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Well at least it isn't wall to wall reality shows yet or introducing a sports version of Game of Thrones. So, there's that going for them.
They'll either right the ship or go straight to History Channel levels of stupid.
Did you say Game of Zones? I don't really like derivative crap like this, so I haven't watched it, but they advertise it during every NBA playoff game.
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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The non-talk show hosts don't bring in ad revenue, cable news has proven that the way to get ad revenue is to have a bunch of clueless yet opinionated people on air yapping at each other is where it is at.
Except clearly it ain't working for ESPN because their numbers are tanking.
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Chimpy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10619
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The non-talk show hosts don't bring in ad revenue, cable news has proven that the way to get ad revenue is to have a bunch of clueless yet opinionated people on air yapping at each other is where it is at.
Except clearly it ain't working for ESPN because their numbers are tanking. Their numbers are tanking because the number of cable and satellite TV customers has been shrinking considerably over the last few years and continues to do so. That doesn't mean that certain types of shows (talk radio style BS) don't bring in better ad revenue than the 14th consecutive replay of Sportscenter. They also went a little too nuts on the number of ESPN sub channels which diluted their product. And because they have committed so ridiculously much for broadcast rights to the sports leagues into the next decade (seriously, they pay over 1.5 Billion a year for the NBA alone) they have to cut their spending in other places.
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'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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The main problem with ESPN is their ratings don't match up with the costs they paid to keep FOX and the like out of their nest in the live sports broadcast business.
The secondary problem is the internet exists, and highlight shows are pointless because I can get every highlight I want on demand now instead of waiting to watch some talking head spit it out. The sportscenter model was fine, but now they have no idea what they want to do with it. They have been tied to it forever, so they are trying to "rebrand" them (see the 6PM version with Jemele and Michael) so they can keep one toe in the past while trying to shift to the future.
The reason you see all these human interest stories is because you've already seen the highlights, and you can get the scores on your phone. ESPN is trying to figure out a way to get content into Sportscenter you haven't seen yet, and they simply don't know how to do that without losing their base and turning into the social news network as it mildly relates to sports or TMZ for Sports.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Shannow
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3703
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No i refuse to start an NBA thread. Celtics and Lakers get the 1 and 2 picks in the upcoming draft...
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Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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The NBA is eventually going to find itself in a major problem with the player-driven model they've created. I can't even begin to care about any of the playoffs up to the Finals because there's only two teams in the league. Watching Cleveland and Golden State steamroll every patty cake pushover on both watered-down sides of the conferences isn't fun. Barring injury or Lebron leaving again, I really can't see how Cleveland misses the finals for the next 3 years after this one, since they have all their pieces basically in place with contracts.
The issue is that people aren't watching the playoffs in large numbers. Yes, they top the lists because it's sports and it's against nothing really, but if you look at the top 5 games last week, they are averaging about 2M viewers per game. A Family guy rerun on Adult Swim usually does about 1M viewers.
Compare to a bad NFL playoff game, and the NFL did almost 25M viewers for the Oakland-Houston wild card matchup. Even if you take into account an entire 7 game series, the NBA isn't touching that one game's viewer totals. Cubs and Dodgers in the NLCS was averaging about 7-9M viewers a game.
The Finals will do amazing numbers and the NBA will crow about how great the product is, but that's simply not true. The NBA regular season ratings continue to get worse and worse as the regular season becomes more useless, and now even the 1st and 2nd rounds of the playoffs have become useless because they are allowing Superteams to dominate the sport.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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Watching Cleveland and Golden State steamroll every patty cake pushover on both watered-down sides of the conferences isn't fun. Barring injury or Lebron leaving again, I really can't see how Cleveland misses the finals for the next 3 years after this one, since they have all their pieces basically in place with contracts.
It is for the Cleveland fans (the ones that actually live there and all). It's nice as a person from there, but I hate the NBA and see that championship as kid's table recognition rather than MLB or NFL...
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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I don't begrudge Cleveland fans. I'm talking about the health of the league in general. This method of "well people will watch in the playoffs" only works if the playoffs are interesting.
Right now they aren't, other than the Finals. And the WORST thing that could happen is if Steph or Lebron turns an ankle in a meaningless rout series and don't get to face each other 100%.
In my mind, the NBA needs to dump the first round. They need to go to 1-4 making the playoffs, and putting everybody else in the lottery. The 5-8 slots are nothing but death and teams are starting to realize it, and they are actively tanking out of it given the opportunity. Nobody worse than a 3 seed has won in 20 years.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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ghost
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The only issue the NBA has right now is "rest" for the stars. There are too many games. Nobody cares about regular season bullshit unless it actually matters for getting into the playoffs or not. If the Cavs are a 1 or an 8 seed, they are a 1 seed. They are just too good. I suppose this would be the same issue that MLB has if I gave a shit about baseball.
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Phildo
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No way, baseball has a ton more parity and randomness than the NBA.
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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If the Cavs are a 1 or an 8 seed, they are a 1 seed. They are just too good.
Never ever thought I would see this kind of talk in my life about any Cleveland team. End of days I tell ya.
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Shannow
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3703
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For all the Boston haters out there (and I don't blame you) , enjoy the Cavaliers. This series is loltastic.
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Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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For all the Boston haters out there (and I don't blame you) , enjoy the Cavaliers. This series is loltastic.
The game last night is why Lebron can't be put in the same category as Jordan. Mike never had an 11 point game when he was a 17 point favorite and lost.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Shannow
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3703
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Makes the IT question a little interesting. Ball hogging 5'9' guy who cant play defence...hrrm.
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Someone liked something? Who the fuzzy fuck was this heretic? You don't come to this website and enjoy something. Fuck that. ~ The Walrus
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DevilsAdvocate25
Terracotta Army
Posts: 321
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The Finals will do amazing numbers and the NBA will crow about how great the product is, but that's simply not true. The NBA regular season ratings continue to get worse and worse as the regular season becomes more useless, and now even the 1st and 2nd rounds of the playoffs have become useless because they are allowing Superteams to dominate the sport.
Many of the playoff games that didn't involve the Cavs or Warriors were pretty good. Injuries have really decided the quality of the games though with Kawhi Leonard and Isaiah Thomas being the two biggest that will torpedo their teams. The biggest issue I have had with the regular season is that most of the games aren't televised nationally unless you have NBA TV. Even then, I can't get any games for my favorite team (Memphis) unless they are playing a West Coast team because I live on the West Coast. Playoff games have also been all over the channel guide with some on TNT, some on TBS, some on ESPN, and some on ABC.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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Just popping in to say: Fuck Honda.
The only manufacturer that screws over one of the best drivers ever in not one but two racing series.
Congrats to Sato but man Alonso can't catch a break.
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Malakili
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10596
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The Finals will do amazing numbers and the NBA will crow about how great the product is, but that's simply not true. The NBA regular season ratings continue to get worse and worse as the regular season becomes more useless, and now even the 1st and 2nd rounds of the playoffs have become useless because they are allowing Superteams to dominate the sport.
Many of the playoff games that didn't involve the Cavs or Warriors were pretty good. Injuries have really decided the quality of the games though with Kawhi Leonard and Isaiah Thomas being the two biggest that will torpedo their teams. I don't know that it is really the superteams that are the problem. The NHL has a lot more parity than the NBA right now and I didn't watch a single regular season game this year. I grew up watching the NHL all season long with my father. The fact of the matter is that even compared the 90s we've just got a saturation of quality of entertainment that means I can just do a lot better on a given night than an NHL or NBA or MLB game that means nothing and has effectively no consequences.
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Cyrrex
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10603
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NBA is destroying itself in the same way the NFL seems to be trying to do...by eliminating all notions that defense is an important part of the game. They seem to think that their fans are only interested in high offense spectacles day in and day out, but that shit starts to get old pretty quick.
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"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
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Hoax
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8110
l33t kiddie
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NBA has the same primary problem NHL does, too many games, hell even the playoffs are too long in NBA, unlike NHL where the playoffs are just such a better product. Although quintuple OT 2nd round games in NHL are pretty cancer if its not your team. The NBA can't contract but everyone knows that would be an easy fix. If they cut 6 teams from the league the product would be insanely better.
You know what would really make the NBA awesome? If they went to a 2 division format ala soccer with relegation and promotions. Then even if they expanded to 32 teams so 16 per division at least there would be a reason to feign interest in the mediocre and bad teams.
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A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual's morals are situational, then that individual is without morals. If a nation's laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation. -William Gibson
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HaemishM
Staff Emeritus
Posts: 42629
the Confederate flag underneath the stone in my class ring
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Unfortunately, relegation will NEVER happen in the US. Can you imagine telling a US billionaire owner that his team has to play in the scrub league next season because he didn't invest enough to build a winner (or even mid-table team)?
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