I know next to nothing about hockey so I'm not going to offer any thoughts on the NHL. However, despite the fact that there's 162 of them, every baseball game is consequential. If you're a good team, you can't just rest on your laurels and expect to win the division and avoid the wild card game. Look at the Cubs this year. Also, each individual run is a hell of a lot more consequential than an individual basket just based on the number that are scored per game.

Half the NHL is usually down for the count by December 1st, the next four months are just the playoff teams and a bubble team or two jockeying for position.

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yeah, but if that bubble team gets hot going into the playoffs, they can bounce some top seeds on their way into the 2nd and 3rd round

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Or an 8 seed can win the Cup (LA).

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Or oust a 1 seed in the first round.

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Aren't ratings up in the NBA? Obviously, the NBA is top-loaded. The same 5 or 6 teams are going to be shown over and over on TNT/ABC/ESPN all season (Boston, Houston, LAL, GS, OKC....Philadelphia/Toronto to a lesser extent) and the rest of the league is just fighting for draft position and clearing cap space.


It is fun to watch these great teams, but the league as a whole is pretty awful with these super teams.

50% of the teams in the NBA make the playoffs, but only 10% have a real shot to win the title.

How exactly is the regular season dynamic? In fact, that is the exact opposite of dynamic!

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They are. The league has never been more popular.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Although some show yesterday said ratings may be down this year because LeBron’s on the west coast and won’t be on the early national games as much.

Correct....

The Local Bulldogs Ale house is packed for Baseball, packed for football and Blackhawks Hockey games, plenty of room when NBA/Bulls are on.
They usually get 1 o 2 of the 50 TV's by request only.

Also, gotta love the Bulls/NBA, where Kris Dunn takes a "personal day" i.e. excused absence on opening night....good lord...

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Blackhawk goal, scored by number 20, Al Secord.

It was the birth of his child, which should be understandable. Tone down the emoji abuse

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

What time do they burn the crosses at Bulldogs?

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Are we sure he was the father?

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Blackhawk goal, scored by number 20, Al Secord.

Exactly. A 50% playoff rate + 10% of the teams having a real shot, does not equal dynamism. Compare those percentages to MLB and the NFL where fewer teams make the playoffs and you really can't say with a high degree of confidence which teams are going to be playing for a title at the end of the year.

It's less than 10 percent. It's two teams (one, really) out of the whole league.

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Who's the 2nd team?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Yet its the only of the 4 majors where the Athletes and Fans really get to interact during the game.

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There is a scientific study if ever I have seen one. And the UC has been sold out for the past 20 (post Jordan) years while the Sox hold a parade if they fill up a third of the stadium.

Hawks are only relevant if they are contenders otherwise no one gives a shit. Cubs and Bears draw interest regardless but that is it other than the Bulls

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It amuses me how upset people get that other people like a sport that they don't like.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

G.S wasn't the shoo in that everyone believed them to be last year. Houston could have beat them S.A. and a few other teams (Boston if at full strength) or maybe N.O at full strength. There are teams that can challenge them this year two. The NBA's biggest problem is that it has failed to keep its best players healthy come playoff time. Often you're not seeing the best teams play at full strength. G.S. has been relatively healthy the past 4 years and all of its key players have been healthy at playoff time. You can't say that for any other team in the conference save for OKC the year they took them down to the wire. Every other team has had injuries.

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Yep. NBA is the 2nd most popular sport in this country and the most popular American based sport in the world yet "no one likes it". Its a stupid argument. Its probably the fastest growing sport in this country (maybe behind soccer)? yet no one cares.

The "outcome is already decided" thus "I don't watch it crowd" are really the most hypocritical of the group. Frank has been an ardent Sox and Bears Fan for the past 20-25 years and for the past 10 at least both teams have entered the season without a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything yet he hops his happy ass into every Cub thread to troll Cub fans while tormenting Keyser in Sox threads.

What chance of winning did either team have over the past 10 years? did it still prevent you from watching? Nope it didn't. Was your enthusiasm diminished because you knew they couldn't win shit? nope. The Patriots have been the favorites to win the Super Bowl for the past 15 years at least. During that time there have been 7 to 10 different NBA champs (will have to check) yet the outcome is predetermined. Ok.

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Here are the champs for the past 10 seasons:

2009 Los Angeles Lakers
2010 Los Angeles Lakers
2011 Dallas Mavericks
2012 Miami Heat
2013 Miami Heat
2014 San Antonio Spurs
2015 Golden State Warriors
2016 Cleveland Cavaliers
2017 Golden State Warriors
2018 Golden State Warriors

There's what 30 teams in the NBA? In the last 10 years we've seen 6 six different teams win the title, and of those six, three of them won it more than once. Further, Lebron James has played in the last eight finals. There's nothing about this that seems predictable or preordained to you? You honestly thought with the addition of Kevin Durant the Warriors were going to lose last year? You honestly think we're going to see something other than Warriors v. Celtics this year?

The Warriors, Celtics, and Rockets are moving through the regular season trying to accomplish two things: don't get overtired and don't get hurt. Below them is a whole pile of good but not great teams. They're moving through the regular season fighting to determine the round in which they will lose to either the Warriors or the Celtics. Below them is a pile of shitty teams most of which are not even trying to win. How does any of this make for compelling television?

This is just wrong. If you like the NBA, then just enjoy what it is it. But there is no other sport as top-heavy as the NBA. That's the way it has been for decades. And no one had a chance of beating GS last year outside of Houston.

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Last 10 NFL champs:

Eagles
Patriots
Broncos
Patriots
Seahawks
Ravens
Giants
Packers
Saints
Steelers

There is one team who has one it more than once, and that wasn't even in consecutive years.

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One it?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Hope you're laughing at yourself because you misconstrued the point. The Patriots have entered every season over the past 15 as the favorite to win. That they haven't is immaterial to the argument.

Sure they haven't but that is primarily due the single elimination aspect of pro football. They along with the Packers and Steelers have been the 3 teams chosen to be at the top of the heap every season over the past 12- 15 years.

During the same frame the NBA has had about 7-8 different champs. Yet everyone knows the winner in advance. ok.


There is more unpredictability in Football. Not arguing that but G.S. might be a generational type of team.

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Still 6 different teams in 10 years even accounting for G.S. dominance. Still doesn't make the "same team each year"

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S.A. With Kawhi gives them a run and so does N.O. with Boogie.

might even have taken them. Most people didn't give Houston a chance either. I can easily bump the thread. G.S. has benefitted greatly from injuries to superstar players.

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For the past four years it literally has been the same two teams every year. Before that happened you had the Miami Heat play in four straight finals. Before that happened you had the Lakers winning two straight titles, and the Lakers and Celtics playing each other twice in three years. If that's not repetitive, what is? Further, what other sport has that same level of repetition?

I misconstrued the point?

First, you are factually incorrect that the Patriots have entered every season as the favorite. Second, your criteria for the NBA is number of champions, and your criteria for the NFL is "favorites at the beginning of the year," and your list of favorites isn't even accurate! Why wouldn't you compare apples to apples? We all know why... because you're using whatever criteria you want for each respective league to suit your argument. How many times in the last 5 years have the Warriors entered the year as the favorite? How many consecutive years have the Cavs entered the year as favorites to win the East?

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