The Endless Spring
An Aimless Journey through the Playoff Season
The World Cup is here, and I for one couldn’t be happier. I have to admit that I have almost no idea what is going on when I’m watching a soccer game, but I do understand the basic premise of kicking a ball into a goal, I think slide-tackling is pretty cool, and I’m pretty sure that red-cards are a bad thing. This year however, America finally has a contending team (well, at least that’s what that European guy in the Addidas commercial says, and I think he looks like a reputable source), so I can’t wait to piss of the entire world yet again. That’s what we Americans are good at, identifying sports that bring pride to third world nations, and growing to dominate them with relative ease.
Of course, there is another reason why I am really excited about the World Cup, and it has almost nothing to do with the sport of soccer. The World Cup inspires the emotions of people all around the world; and it basically enables nations from each corner of the globe to break free from all social norms and drink, fight, and riot with reckless abandon. Good sports-related riots in America revolve around College Basketball, Football, and Baseball, but when spring ends, nothing inspires less passion and emotion in America than the various championship tournaments we are all forced to watch.
Following the NCAA basketball tournament and leading straight into the summer, an inexplicable amount of sports coverage is devoted to such lackluster events as the NBA playoffs, the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the College Baseball World Series. These “tournaments” provide America with confusing, drawn-out, emotionless events that we as sports fans feel obligated to watch for some reason. It is my contention that the manner in which these tournaments are devised directly impacts their popularity amongst sports fans.
After watching the Dallas Mavericks close out the Phoenix Suns a few weeks ago, I challenged myself to remember each of the first round match-ups for this year’s NBA playoffs. It was a feat that I eventually completed, but as I pondered the various teams that accomplished the difficult task of achieving mediocrity, I realized that the incredibly low standard required for a team to make the playoffs ruins the sport’s credibility. Critics routinely identify issues such as marketing, sponsorships, exposure, and star power as critical components of a successful sports league, but it’s the NBA’s thirst for first and second round revenue that ruins their playoff system and eliminates the two things that keeps all of us watching sports on a nightly basis: drama and excitement.
The NHL suffers from the same disease as the NBA, and despite a multitude of first round upsets in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the interest in the tournament itself rivals that of an extended John Basedow “Fitness Made Simple” infomercial. The fact that both of these playoff systems fail to draw a respectable television audience is directly related to the lack of drama presented in the formats utilized. The league executives for these sports would never dare change this format however because they still identify the additional games with higher revenue.
I hesitate to even mention the College Baseball World Series, primarily because I still don’t understand how it really works. The “round robin” format is ridiculous, and it seems to last longer than the entire college basketball season. I automatically lose interest in a tournament which makes a team progress through a regional round, a “super” regional round, and undoubtedly a “super-crazy-intense” regional round (although I’ve never stuck around long enough to see this spectacle). The actual College World Series in Omaha is still fun, but the road to get there is unbearable.
The premier post-season tournament available in America is obviously the NCAA basketball tournament. 64 teams compete and it still only takes three weeks to determine a champion. The single elimination format promotes intensity, upsets, and a general sense of excitement that cannot be matched by any other sport or league. This tournament alone supports the entirety of college basketball and prevents the wide range of competing teams from bogging down the regular season and confusing the sport’s fan-base. The MLB utilizes a great playoff system as well, limiting the number of teams in contention, and sticking with the best-of-five division series for the first round. College Football has a system that is so controversial it alone can keep fans interested, and the NFL’s single elimination format moves quickly as well, although admittedly it would be tough to have a series of football games. It’s no wonder that these sports are prospering while the NBA and NHL continue to flounder.
As a rule, there are three formats that will ensure a crappy postseason tournament:
A. a “round robin” format,
B. a “double elimination” format, or
C. Several best-of-seven series for no apparent reason.
Sports that utilize these playoff systems are losing fans by the fistful, but as long as team owners feel they can make more money with more games, this won’t change. Needless to say, I could care less who wins the NBA championship or the Stanley Cup (I’m a huge University of Texas fan, so I still hope they win the College World Series, despite my dislike for the playoff system). I’ve moved on to World Cup and I’m never looking back. Of course, even if the NHL were to change their playoff format and fan interest were to rise dramatically, the Bruins would still suck, so there’s no reason for hockey fans in Boston to really invest much energy into the situation.
Daniel Greer
June 8, 2006