Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
Wow... Lack of support for basketball is kind of surprising... Especially on a hockey forum, given that the two sports have so much in common.
This is really interesting... So what is it about basketball that turns people off, I wonder?
Also surprising to me is how high baseball rates on people's lists so far...
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Other than the fact that they usually play in the same buildings, basketball and hockey don't have much in common.
In theory, basketball should be a lot of constant action and continued pressure like hockey, but, as others have said, that doesn't actually happen late in the game (when it should be its most exciting) because of the intentional fouls and constant time outs.
As a hockey fan, I also think one of the marks against basketball and one of the marks in favour of baseball is the overlap of the seasons with hockey. Hockey and baseball have opposite seasons from one another, each of them is starting its regular season when the other is starting its playoffs. Basketball and hockey run essentially simultaneously. If you have a limited attention span, it's harder to follow both sports than it is baseball and hockey.
When I come home at night during the summer, I can be confident that I can turn on the tv and find a baseball game to watch. In the winter, even without Center Ice, I can be relatively confident that I can find a hockey game on one of the channels (even if it is an Oiler game on Sportsnet). If I come home and flip on TSN and they're showing a random NHL game, and Sportsnet is showing a random NBA game, I'll choose the NHL game 10 times out of 10.
As for my list...
NHL is tops, by far.
CFL is next, by far.
Next, is a newcomer to my list...AFL. Not arena football, Aussie Rules football. I just discovered a couple of weeks ago that Sportsnet shows AFL games at about 2am Saturday nights. That sport is crazy violent, and actually pretty easy to follow once you understand its limited rules. Unfortunately, they don't make the refs wear white sport jackets and fedoras like they used to.
Next down would probably be baseball, although I don't really follow any teams strongly. If the Jays, Mariners, or Mets ever make it the playoffs, I usually pay a little extra attention to them.
Next would come the NFL. I usually watch parts of a few Sunday and Monday Night games every year, and the Super Bowl (mostly for the commercials, but I'll slow down to watch any exciting plays too).
Below that is the NBA and everything else.