What's More Entertaining? (1 Viewer)

[Dentist]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

 

[TheIronSheik]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

 

[Tom Servo]

Dentist again with his bad beat shtick.

 

[Dentist]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

i hate most playoffs because it is money driven and not completely dedicated to determining who was the best team of the season.

However, the NBA with its low variance tends to get it right not every time, but far more often that other sports leagues.

If the point isn't to determine who the best team is, then I guess March Madness, the NFL playoffs, and the MLB playoffs are all fine and well.... and it's probably not... it's to generate money.

But the general public regards the champion of the playoff format as the best team.. so IMO a concerted effort should be made to ensure it is the best team the most often.

 

[TheIronSheik]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

i hate most playoffs because it is money driven and not completely dedicated to determining who was the best team of the season.

However, the NBA with its low variance tends to get it right not every time, but far more often that other sports leagues.

If the point isn't to determine who the best team is, then I guess March Madness, the NFL playoffs, and the MLB playoffs are all fine and well.... and it's probably not... it's to generate money.

But the general public regards the champion of the playoff format as the best team.. so IMO a concerted effort should be made to ensure it is the best team the most often.

But you keep saying they "get it right" which sounds like you know who you want to win before the games are played. So, why have playoffs at all?

 

[Dentist]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

i hate most playoffs because it is money driven and not completely dedicated to determining who was the best team of the season.

However, the NBA with its low variance tends to get it right not every time, but far more often that other sports leagues.

If the point isn't to determine who the best team is, then I guess March Madness, the NFL playoffs, and the MLB playoffs are all fine and well.... and it's probably not... it's to generate money.

But the general public regards the champion of the playoff format as the best team.. so IMO a concerted effort should be made to ensure it is the best team the most often.

But you keep saying they "get it right" which sounds like you know who you want to win before the games are played. So, why have playoffs at all?

that's fine. But let's make sure we have balanced schedules before doing this.

in baseball let's lump everyone into one big league. 30 teams... everyone plays everyone 5 times and we'll be done with it..

NBA - same thing.. one big league.. everyone plays each other 2 times and we'll be done with it.

college basketball... set it up like euro soccer... top 30 teams are in one league... next 30 teams are in the next league.. etc... Bottom 20% of the top league move down a league the next season... top 20% move up... everyone plays each other once and we'll be done with it.

The NFL is the only one where it's not possible to have a balanced schedule... so i'm still working on a solution... their inability to play more than 1 game a week makes it really challenging.

 

[UniAlias]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

i hate most playoffs because it is money driven and not completely dedicated to determining who was the best team of the season.

However, the NBA with its low variance tends to get it right not every time, but far more often that other sports leagues.

If the point isn't to determine who the best team is, then I guess March Madness, the NFL playoffs, and the MLB playoffs are all fine and well.... and it's probably not... it's to generate money.

But the general public regards the champion of the playoff format as the best team.. so IMO a concerted effort should be made to ensure it is the best team the most often.

But you keep saying they "get it right" which sounds like you know who you want to win before the games are played. So, why have playoffs at all?

that's fine. But let's make sure we have balanced schedules before doing this.

in baseball let's lump everyone into one big league. 30 teams... everyone plays everyone 5 times and we'll be done with it..

NBA - same thing.. one big league.. everyone plays each other 2 times and we'll be done with it.

college basketball... set it up like euro soccer... top 30 teams are in one league... next 30 teams are in the next league.. etc... Bottom 20% of the top league move down a league the next season... top 20% move up... everyone plays each other once and we'll be done with it.

The NFL is the only one where it's not possible to have a balanced schedule... so i'm still working on a solution... their inability to play more than 1 game a week makes it really challenging.

Phew, thank goodness. Keep us all updated.

 

[belljr]

Whether fishing or not I don't see how he raves about NBA for using 7 games when the nhl does the same thing. Except the nhl re seeds as it should and NBA doesn't

 

[KarmaPolice]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

i hate most playoffs because it is money driven and not completely dedicated to determining who was the best team of the season.

However, the NBA with its low variance tends to get it right not every time, but far more often that other sports leagues.

If the point isn't to determine who the best team is, then I guess March Madness, the NFL playoffs, and the MLB playoffs are all fine and well.... and it's probably not... it's to generate money.

But the general public regards the champion of the playoff format as the best team.. so IMO a concerted effort should be made to ensure it is the best team the most often.

there is low variance because there are only about 4-5 teams in the nba worth a ####. easy to predict the finals, so it makes the early rounds boring.

you don't think having 1/2 the league in the playoffs is a money grab? at least baseball realizes that and only lets a few in.

 

[Scoresman]

March Madness is not just about winning the big prize. Ask the coach of Mercer if his season is considered a failure because they "only" pulled off the upset of Duke.

 

[TheIronSheik]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

So lower seeded teams winning is what bothers you? Then you hate playoffs all together?

i hate most playoffs because it is money driven and not completely dedicated to determining who was the best team of the season.

However, the NBA with its low variance tends to get it right not every time, but far more often that other sports leagues.

If the point isn't to determine who the best team is, then I guess March Madness, the NFL playoffs, and the MLB playoffs are all fine and well.... and it's probably not... it's to generate money.

But the general public regards the champion of the playoff format as the best team.. so IMO a concerted effort should be made to ensure it is the best team the most often.

But you keep saying they "get it right" which sounds like you know who you want to win before the games are played. So, why have playoffs at all?

that's fine. But let's make sure we have balanced schedules before doing this.

in baseball let's lump everyone into one big league. 30 teams... everyone plays everyone 5 times and we'll be done with it..

NBA - same thing.. one big league.. everyone plays each other 2 times and we'll be done with it.

college basketball... set it up like euro soccer... top 30 teams are in one league... next 30 teams are in the next league.. etc... Bottom 20% of the top league move down a league the next season... top 20% move up... everyone plays each other once and we'll be done with it.

The NFL is the only one where it's not possible to have a balanced schedule... so i'm still working on a solution... their inability to play more than 1 game a week makes it really challenging.

Yeah. I was kind of joking about the whole "why have playoffs at all?" bit.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

March Madness is not just about winning the big prize. Ask the coach of Mercer if his season is considered a failure because they "only" pulled off the upset of Duke.

He should feel lucky they won a game and that's it.

 

[TheIronSheik]

March Madness is not just about winning the big prize. Ask the coach of Mercer if his season is considered a failure because they "only" pulled off the upset of Duke.

He should feel lucky they won a game and that's it.

That's kind of his point. And by "kind of", I mean totally.

 

[Two Deep]

Do you still have to dribble in the NBA?....I haven't watched in awhile but last time I did it seemed like dribbling was optional.

 

[Dentist]

there is low variance because there are only about 4-5 teams in the nba worth a ####. easy to predict the finals, so it makes the early rounds boring.

you don't think having 1/2 the league in the playoffs is a money grab? at least baseball realizes that and only lets a few in.

Yes, i think 1/2 the league in the playoffs is a money grab - i mentioned that was the only main flaw with their system. I would love to see that reduced to 4 teams per conference.

Baseball is slowly working towards ruining their playoff system... they had a pretty good one when they only let 4 teams in... then they couldn't stand the idea of letting money escape so they added a wild card, and we accepted it.... but it was some 5 game series... not enough to really determine who's best in baseball.

then they added a 1-off baseball game to capitalize on the A.D.D. crowd who like 1-offs. So after a 162 game baseball season they leave 1 spot to a 1-off and the next round to a 5 game series... absolutely slapping the 162 game regular season in the face.

I can live with 4 teams per conference, but the first round should be 7 games, the next round 11 games, and the WS 13 games... there's your more money baseball

 

[UniAlias]

13 game World Series would still have too much variance. 27 game series is necessary IMO.

 

[jon_mx]

March Madness is not just about winning the big prize. Ask the coach of Mercer if his season is considered a failure because they "only" pulled off the upset of Duke.

He should feel lucky they won a game and that's it.

Harvard was immortalized for almost beating Georgetown.

 

[Dentist]

13 game World Series would still have too much variance. 27 game series is necessary IMO.

so you think there would need to be over 5 full cycles through the 5 man rotation?

Interesting.

You could probably talk me into 17, but at 27 even I feel like that's overkill

 

[Scoresman]

13 game World Series would still have too much variance. 27 game series is necessary IMO.

so you think there would need to be over 5 full cycles through the 5 man rotation?

Interesting.

You could probably talk me into 17, but at 27 even I feel like that's overkill

If, after 162 games, MLB still feels the need to have playoffs to determine the best team, logic would dictate that anything less than 163 game series isn't enough.

 

[Dentist]

13 game World Series would still have too much variance. 27 game series is necessary IMO.

so you think there would need to be over 5 full cycles through the 5 man rotation?

Interesting.

You could probably talk me into 17, but at 27 even I feel like that's overkill

If, after 162 games, MLB still feels the need to have playoffs to determine the best team, logic would dictate that anything less than 163 game series isn't enough.

unti lthey get a balanced schedule, they need a playoffs... just not the crapfest of a playoffs they have now.

unify the rules, everyone plays everyone 5 times... then we will not need a playoffs.

 

[pollardsvision]

Dentist is right, except nobody really cares about crowning "the best team".

Just about having a cheap thrills tournament that attracts a broad audience.

 

[Dentist]

Dentist is right, except nobody really cares about crowning "the best team".

Just about having a cheap thrills tournament that attracts a broad audience.

it's true... since sports are designed to appeal to the broadest audience possibly thus maximizing their revenue, their tournaments are not designed with their hardest core fans.

If I liked college basketball, which i don't... i wouldn't bother watching the regular season... and most don't... because it doesn't matter much.

if the NFL expands their playoffs like it seems like they will, it will render a lot of their regular season moot as well....

College Football is still the sport that has the highest relevance of their regular season.... except that good schools can schedule "practice" matches against teams that don't belong on the same field as them... rendering those contests not even really a sport at all. If you're a 40 point favorite, why even bother playing the game... why should anyone watch?

 

[Scoresman]

Dentist is right, except nobody really cares about crowning "the best team".

Just about having a cheap thrills tournament that attracts a broad audience.

it's true... since sports are designed to appeal to the broadest audience possibly thus maximizing their revenue, their tournaments are not designed with their hardest core fans.

If I liked college basketball, which i don't... i wouldn't bother watching the regular season... and most don't... because it doesn't matter much.

if the NFL expands their playoffs like it seems like they will, it will render a lot of their regular season moot as well....

College Football is still the sport that has the highest relevance of their regular season.... except that good schools can schedule "practice" matches against teams that don't belong on the same field as them... rendering those contests not even really a sport at all. If you're a 40 point favorite, why even bother playing the game... why should anyone watch?

why is appealing to a broader audience a bad thing?

what does that have to do with being the "hardest core fan"?

why is it a bad thing to allow smaller schools who win their conference a chance at pulling off an upset or two in the tournament?

assuming you're not fishing, you seem to think that the only purpose of sports is to figure out who the best team is and anything that doesn't directly further that goal is useless. Sorry, but you don't get sports at all if you have such a narrow view of it.

 

[Dentist]

Dentist is right, except nobody really cares about crowning "the best team".

Just about having a cheap thrills tournament that attracts a broad audience.

it's true... since sports are designed to appeal to the broadest audience possibly thus maximizing their revenue, their tournaments are not designed with their hardest core fans.

If I liked college basketball, which i don't... i wouldn't bother watching the regular season... and most don't... because it doesn't matter much.

if the NFL expands their playoffs like it seems like they will, it will render a lot of their regular season moot as well....

College Football is still the sport that has the highest relevance of their regular season.... except that good schools can schedule "practice" matches against teams that don't belong on the same field as them... rendering those contests not even really a sport at all. If you're a 40 point favorite, why even bother playing the game... why should anyone watch?

why is appealing to a broader audience a bad thing?

what does that have to do with being the "hardest core fan"?

why is it a bad thing to allow smaller schools who win their conference a chance at pulling off an upset or two in the tournament?

assuming you're not fishing, you seem to think that the only purpose of sports is to figure out who the best team is and anything that doesn't directly further that goal is useless. Sorry, but you don't get sports at all if you have such a narrow view of it.

What is the purpose of a sports season other than as an entertainment business?

All discussions around sports are who is the best, what team is best. For Pete sake we have polls and power rankings and mvp debates and goat discussions.

Why do we keep score? So there are winners and losers so we know who is better.

What am I missing?

 

[TheIronSheik]

Dentist is right, except nobody really cares about crowning "the best team".

Just about having a cheap thrills tournament that attracts a broad audience.

it's true... since sports are designed to appeal to the broadest audience possibly thus maximizing their revenue, their tournaments are not designed with their hardest core fans.

If I liked college basketball, which i don't... i wouldn't bother watching the regular season... and most don't... because it doesn't matter much.

if the NFL expands their playoffs like it seems like they will, it will render a lot of their regular season moot as well....

College Football is still the sport that has the highest relevance of their regular season.... except that good schools can schedule "practice" matches against teams that don't belong on the same field as them... rendering those contests not even really a sport at all. If you're a 40 point favorite, why even bother playing the game... why should anyone watch?

why is appealing to a broader audience a bad thing?

what does that have to do with being the "hardest core fan"?

why is it a bad thing to allow smaller schools who win their conference a chance at pulling off an upset or two in the tournament?

assuming you're not fishing, you seem to think that the only purpose of sports is to figure out who the best team is and anything that doesn't directly further that goal is useless. Sorry, but you don't get sports at all if you have such a narrow view of it.

What is the purpose of a sports season other than as an entertainment business?

All discussions around sports are who is the best, what team is best. For Pete sake we have polls and power rankings and mvp debates and goat discussions.

Why do we keep score? So there are winners and losers so we know who is better.

What am I missing?

Playoffs are always used to determine the champion. Regular seasons are used to determine seeding in the tournament. Realistically, if anything is a grab, it's the regular season. But since we enjoy sports, we make regular seasons long so we can have a sporting season longer than a month.

You are not a "hardcore fan" just because you want to see less sporting events.

 

[Scoresman]

Dentist is right, except nobody really cares about crowning "the best team".

Just about having a cheap thrills tournament that attracts a broad audience.

it's true... since sports are designed to appeal to the broadest audience possibly thus maximizing their revenue, their tournaments are not designed with their hardest core fans.

If I liked college basketball, which i don't... i wouldn't bother watching the regular season... and most don't... because it doesn't matter much.

if the NFL expands their playoffs like it seems like they will, it will render a lot of their regular season moot as well....

College Football is still the sport that has the highest relevance of their regular season.... except that good schools can schedule "practice" matches against teams that don't belong on the same field as them... rendering those contests not even really a sport at all. If you're a 40 point favorite, why even bother playing the game... why should anyone watch?

why is appealing to a broader audience a bad thing?

what does that have to do with being the "hardest core fan"?

why is it a bad thing to allow smaller schools who win their conference a chance at pulling off an upset or two in the tournament?

assuming you're not fishing, you seem to think that the only purpose of sports is to figure out who the best team is and anything that doesn't directly further that goal is useless. Sorry, but you don't get sports at all if you have such a narrow view of it.

What is the purpose of a sports season other than as an entertainment business?

Exactly. And in terms of entertainment value there is a lot more to most sports than just crowning the champ at the end of it all.

All discussions around sports are who is the best, what team is best. For Pete sake we have polls and power rankings and mvp debates and goat discussions.

Incorrect. When people talk about upsets during March Madness, they aren't talking about who the best team overall is. When any team in any sport plays a game against its crosstown/cross state rival, the discussion there isn't about who the best team overall is. When a graduating senior in potentially his last game hits the game winning shot to propel his low seeded team over a high seeded rival, that discussion is not about who the overall best team is. There are many storylines over the course of a season in any sport, not just who the ultimate champion will be. Finding entertainment in any of the examples I gave above has no correlation at all to how hardcore a fan is.

That is what you're missing.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

It didn't happen in the NBA because David Stern wouldn't allow it when he was commissioner. You don't actually think those games were legitimately played out do you?

 

[FUBAR]

College basketball >>>>>>> NBA.

The NBA is just where good college players go to make money.

 

[Tom Servo]

Dentist goes with his bad beat shtick and you keep jumping in the boat.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

The NBA playoffs (other than allowing too many teams - 4 per conference would be fine) is the best playoff system in any sport.

The NBA does a more consistent job of any major sport league pro or college at crowning its best team of the year as its playoff champion thanks to a 7 game playoff system.

.

nhl?

I don't acknowledge ice lacrosse, but I've seen #8 seeds take out #1 seeds and all kinds of ridiculous stuff happen there, so I don't even know how you would come up with a good playoff format in that league.

its probably one of those leagues like euro soccer where they should just let the regular season determine the outcome and forget about even trying to come up with a playoff system.

It didn't happen in the NBA because David Stern wouldn't allow it when he was commissioner. You don't actually think those games were legitimately played out do you?

It didn't happen except the time that it did happen. So yeah...