Eeew, Greg wants to talk NASCAR... but we also debate the Lions and their draft plans, welcome back Jose Valverde, and talk about cold weather baseball. Also, should Greg go to the Tigers game tonight, or the Red Wings?
Sports Desk 31
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Sports Desk Podcast Episode 30
The NBA playoffs are about to start up so NBA expert Mike Thomas is in the house. Also, the NHL is watering down outdoor hockey. The Lions schedule has been released and I am not too optimistic. Oh, and some baseball.
Sports Desk 30
Sports Desk 30
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Sports Desk Podcast Episode 29
Greg was wearing his Rocky shirt, so you know he had his A-game going today when we talked about awful officiating, Jason Hanson retiring, my impending beer league hockey career, and some baseball.
Sports Desk 29
Sports Desk 29
Monday, April 8, 2013
Five Reasons Basketball is an Unwatchable Sport
I would like to start off by saying that yes, I will be watching Michigan go for a National Championship tonight against Louisville. It is a big moment for a local school that I happen to have family and friends graduate from. I can't help but be interested in tonight as an event. However, this is one of the rare moments that I will sit down and watch any basketball game from start to finish.
I love playing basketball. It's a great thing to do when you head to the rec center with friends, family, or total strangers. It is a great physical activity and really satisfies my competitive itches. I simply cannot will myself to sit through even two hours of the game. The repetitive back and forth nature of the game, the timeouts, the intentional fouling, the total confusion about what constitutes a foul to begin with, and, if we happen to be talking about an NBA game, the extreme sense of entitlement of and the complaints by the games biggest stars. I just can't watch unless it is a big game featuring a local team.
"Okay, you troll," Mr. Basketball Fan is surely saying right now, "explain yourself!"
And explain myself I will. Here are the top five reasons I find it extremely difficult to watch basketball on television.
First, and foremost, there is too much scoring. People love to complain about low scoring hockey, soccer, or baseball games. They say these sports are boring because nobody scores any points. None of them ever mention that when teams do nothing but score it gets even more boring. Basketball has so much scoring that it almost feels as if a great majority of the points don't matter because they are canceled out by the other team scoring just as much.
Which often means that the first three quarters or more of any game is pointless. With all that scoring going on, what's the point of tuning in for quarters one through three (or the first half and ten minutes of a college game)? The two teams are pretty much going to run up and down the court trading blows with each other, nothing deciding the game until the final few minutes. I am firmly convinced that you can tune in to the last five minutes of any given game and see all you need to see. If it is a blowout, shut it off and click to a hockey game or something. If it is close, stay tuned and see how it ends. The problem is...
The last few minutes take forever. I was watching the Michigan-Syracuse game with my dad and brother and, in the dying seconds of the game, my dad stated "At 11:10 there were three minutes left." It was, at that point, 11:41 and there were still 30 seconds or so remaining in the game. That's right, in about a half hour, less than three minutes of game had been played. Talk about annoying as hell. Just get on with it already, jeez. There are reasons this happens late in a close game, each one more annoying than the last.
For one, why the hell do teams get so many timeouts?! Why do teams need to hit the pause button as many as five times a game? And what is with players being able to just stop play whenever they have the ball? What other sport does that? Hockey seems to be able to provide plenty of excitement with only one timeout per game. Football at least won't let you stop mid-play. Basketball has so many timeouts that it breaks up the flow of play and, again, makes me want to scream "Just get on with it!"
Finally, there is something fundamentally wrong with a sport when breaking the rules is a valid strategy for victory. That's what intentional fouling is after all. It's breaking the rules of the game in order to increase chances of winning.Whether it is to increase the chances of a comeback or even to stop a comeback from happening, it's annoying. Your supposed to play by the rules of the game you play. Maybe exploit them a little, but not flat out break them. Not only does fouling break the rules, it turns the game into a free throw fest and eliminates almost every other aspect of the game. People complain about hockey games ending in shootouts because it means a game isn't decided by the game of hockey any more. Well, to me, basketball's free throw bonanzas are much worse.
"Alright, thanks for bashing my sport asshole," says Mr. Basketball Fan. "What would you rather see?"
I'm glad you asked! I have a solution for every single one of my gripes that will absolutely never ever happen. It is a complete overhaul of the structure of a basketball game. Remember when I mentioned heading to the rec center for some pick up ball? Remember how you typically play up to a certain score (say 11) and you have to win by two? That is what I would rather see from high level basketball. You play by ones and twos, shooting fouls result in one free throw, and you have to win by two. You get one timeout for each one of these first to 11 contests. Each game can be a best three out of five of these things to decide an overall winner.
This eliminates pointless scoring because ever point you score brings your team closer to victory instead of just adding to a total. Because of this the entire game is interesting. Games won't take forever because you don't have a million timeouts. There won't be any intentional fouling because there is no clock working against you. In order for a team to make a comeback, they would have to do it the old fashioned way. Play good defense and make buckets.
I know this will never happen. Basketball will always be played more or less the same way. But if they want my eyes, they need a massive overhaul like this on how the game is played.
I love playing basketball. It's a great thing to do when you head to the rec center with friends, family, or total strangers. It is a great physical activity and really satisfies my competitive itches. I simply cannot will myself to sit through even two hours of the game. The repetitive back and forth nature of the game, the timeouts, the intentional fouling, the total confusion about what constitutes a foul to begin with, and, if we happen to be talking about an NBA game, the extreme sense of entitlement of and the complaints by the games biggest stars. I just can't watch unless it is a big game featuring a local team.
"Okay, you troll," Mr. Basketball Fan is surely saying right now, "explain yourself!"
And explain myself I will. Here are the top five reasons I find it extremely difficult to watch basketball on television.
First, and foremost, there is too much scoring. People love to complain about low scoring hockey, soccer, or baseball games. They say these sports are boring because nobody scores any points. None of them ever mention that when teams do nothing but score it gets even more boring. Basketball has so much scoring that it almost feels as if a great majority of the points don't matter because they are canceled out by the other team scoring just as much.
Which often means that the first three quarters or more of any game is pointless. With all that scoring going on, what's the point of tuning in for quarters one through three (or the first half and ten minutes of a college game)? The two teams are pretty much going to run up and down the court trading blows with each other, nothing deciding the game until the final few minutes. I am firmly convinced that you can tune in to the last five minutes of any given game and see all you need to see. If it is a blowout, shut it off and click to a hockey game or something. If it is close, stay tuned and see how it ends. The problem is...
The last few minutes take forever. I was watching the Michigan-Syracuse game with my dad and brother and, in the dying seconds of the game, my dad stated "At 11:10 there were three minutes left." It was, at that point, 11:41 and there were still 30 seconds or so remaining in the game. That's right, in about a half hour, less than three minutes of game had been played. Talk about annoying as hell. Just get on with it already, jeez. There are reasons this happens late in a close game, each one more annoying than the last.
For one, why the hell do teams get so many timeouts?! Why do teams need to hit the pause button as many as five times a game? And what is with players being able to just stop play whenever they have the ball? What other sport does that? Hockey seems to be able to provide plenty of excitement with only one timeout per game. Football at least won't let you stop mid-play. Basketball has so many timeouts that it breaks up the flow of play and, again, makes me want to scream "Just get on with it!"
Finally, there is something fundamentally wrong with a sport when breaking the rules is a valid strategy for victory. That's what intentional fouling is after all. It's breaking the rules of the game in order to increase chances of winning.Whether it is to increase the chances of a comeback or even to stop a comeback from happening, it's annoying. Your supposed to play by the rules of the game you play. Maybe exploit them a little, but not flat out break them. Not only does fouling break the rules, it turns the game into a free throw fest and eliminates almost every other aspect of the game. People complain about hockey games ending in shootouts because it means a game isn't decided by the game of hockey any more. Well, to me, basketball's free throw bonanzas are much worse.
"Alright, thanks for bashing my sport asshole," says Mr. Basketball Fan. "What would you rather see?"
I'm glad you asked! I have a solution for every single one of my gripes that will absolutely never ever happen. It is a complete overhaul of the structure of a basketball game. Remember when I mentioned heading to the rec center for some pick up ball? Remember how you typically play up to a certain score (say 11) and you have to win by two? That is what I would rather see from high level basketball. You play by ones and twos, shooting fouls result in one free throw, and you have to win by two. You get one timeout for each one of these first to 11 contests. Each game can be a best three out of five of these things to decide an overall winner.
This eliminates pointless scoring because ever point you score brings your team closer to victory instead of just adding to a total. Because of this the entire game is interesting. Games won't take forever because you don't have a million timeouts. There won't be any intentional fouling because there is no clock working against you. In order for a team to make a comeback, they would have to do it the old fashioned way. Play good defense and make buckets.
I know this will never happen. Basketball will always be played more or less the same way. But if they want my eyes, they need a massive overhaul like this on how the game is played.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Sports Desk Podcast Episode 28
Greg and I talk about gross injuries and some of the more impressive times we have been maimed in athletic competition... or childhood shenanigans. We also talk some secondary market ticket prices and Michigan's chances in the final four.
Sports Desk 28
Sports Desk 28
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