NBA vs NHL
The love of sport is cultural. I’ve said this before. What is deathly boring for some can invoke passions and excitement beyond measure in others. Why this is so is only partly explainable.

For example, I grew up in South Texas - Cowboy country. I used to refer to the time between the Super Bowel and the first preseason game as the “sports wasteland”. I would be well past Medical School before I realized that there were other professional sports out there in TV land.

It took dating a hockey fan (and season tickets to the Dallas Stars 2002/03) to get me hooked and to realize just how exciting and addicting hockey is . . . . and how boring professional basketball is.

I don’t get it. Despite the expansion of NHL teams into the southern US in the last decade and the fact that a Canadian club has not won Lord Stanley’s Cup since ‘93, Americans still favor the NBA by like a gazillion to one. ESPN, the unofficial keeper of the nation’s tastes in sports, now lists the NHL after NASCAR on it’s web site. Well, that’s because hockey is stupid and boring. Right? Well, let’s see.

Pace: Basketball is notoriously plagued with play stoppages and it’s not just in the last two minutes of a close game. Play stops almost 2 times every minute for any number of reasons and this does not even include a few seconds after every basket. Hockey often goes for several minutes without a rest (to the annoyance of TV sponsors). Advantage: NHL.

Timeouts: It’s no joke to say that the last two minutes of a close NBA game takes 20 minutes to play. Each team gets an insane number of timeouts each game and there are few if any downsides to calling them. This completely destroys the pace and hinders any momentum shifts (which is likely the reason to call timeout). If anything, the pace and excitement of a close NHL game increases in the final minutes especially if the trailing team pulls it’s goalie and risks everything to put a 6th attacker onto the ice in a bid to tie the game and send it into overtime. Advantage: NHL by a huge margin!

Penalties: The free throw has to be the most boring part of basketball. A fouled player gets two chances to get two points with undefended throws at the basket. This can take 40-60 seconds of real time to complete. In the NBA players are supposed to be able to make these simple shots so there is no real thrill for a point made in this manner. I don’t even understand the rule. Why don’t they get two chances to get 2 points? Instead it’s like getting two chances to get screwed out of 1 or 2 points.

In hockey any foul results in a “power play” in which the offending player goes to a “penalty box” and the other team has a “man advantage” for 2 minutes. This is exciting for both the attacking and defending teams. The scoring chances increase and the pressure on the defense is heightened. Occasionally there is even a second foul, which results in a 5 on 3 advantage. Watching your team fend off a 5 on 3 attack for two minutes is thrilling. Advantage: NHL.

The fast break: This is where both sports get more exciting with that turnover or ability to get behind the defense for a scoring opportunity. Basketball fans love the fast break but with so many points needed in each game the real advantage comes in creating a shift in momentum rather then the actual points scored (usually only 2). In hockey a goal scored in this manner can literally make the difference in the game no matter when it occurs. Plus in hockey the attacker who gets past the defensemen still has a one on one battle with the goalie to win. In basketball a clear shot at the hoop simply results in a “look at me” slam-dunk. Big deal. That’s still only 2 points. Advantage: NHL.

Scoring: One reason Americans don’t like hockey is the paucity of points scored in any one game and Americans equate scoring with excitement. The problem is that with so many points scored in basketball (about 100 total baskets made in an average NBA game) the significance of any one-bucket is greatly diminished (unless it’s a last second one). For the majority of a basketball game it’s not so much about the scoring as about the momentum and changes in momentum. Any excitement comes from either the difficulty of the shot (or the personal flare of the shooter) or a big change in momentum. This is a double-edged sword for the excitement-o-meter. A close game where teams evenly match point for point can be dull until the last few minutes and a game where one team leaps ahead by 20 or more points and stays there is even worse.

Because scoring in hockey is difficult, each goal is exciting no matter when it occurs. And ironically it is possible to score 2 or more goals only a few seconds apart (unusual but it happens). This means that there is still hope for teams down by 2 or 3 goals going into the final minutes. Advantage: NHL.

Defense: What hockey detractors don’t understand is that defense and scoring opportunities can be almost or just as exciting as an actual goal. In each period in hockey there can be 10-15 shots on goal plus near misses. It’s not like it’s minutes upon minutes of boredom in between goals. It’s quite the opposite. There is plenty of defense in basketball but most of it (match-up’s, different formations) takes place in the background so that actual buckets usually far exceeds cool defensive plays. It gets to the point where it seems like the teams are playing against the clock rather then each other’s defenses (esp. in the NBA where offensive skills are so perfected). Advantage: NHL.

Visibility: A giant orange usually slow moving ball is much easier to see than a small palm sized puck going at 100 miles per hour (on a slap shot). In addition, the boards on the near side of the ice often hide the puck from view during play. The other advantage of basketball is that all the players are usually on the same side of the court at any given time making it easier to fit them all into a tight TV shot. If you watch hockey enough you learn where to expect to see the puck but not always. Advantage: NBA.

Attitude: There is plenty of trash talking in hockey. There are plenty of cheap shots and low blows and yes, there is even some fighting occasionally. Hockey is the only sport I know of that officially has the unofficial position of “enforcer” i.e. a player who retaliates for the other team’s aggressiveness. Yet it is NBA players who get points for their attitude. Whether it’s the antics of Dennis Rodman, Ron Artest’s war on Piston fans, or Michael Jordan’s famous tongue, NBA players are often showy, colorful, and charismatic. NBA players make “game faces”, strut their stuff, and perform victory dances after big “look at me” slam-dunks. Hockey players hug teammates and pump their fists in the air after goals. Big deal. Advantage: NBA.

Goalies: A goalie must have eyes in the back of his head, cat-like reflexes, and the ability to contort his body into all sorts of unnatural positions. The goalie can make or break a team and a game. In order to make basketball interesting to me they would have to have a player positioned just above the basket to knock away shots. Ironically this is called goaltending and is not legal. Advantage: NHL.

Team play: Am I the only one who considered Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game against Toronto an embarrassment to a league that still considers itself to be a TEAM sport? Not only did Kobe prove that the rest of his team were little more than decoys on offence but the Raptors couldn’t even stop Kobe when they knew that he was making 3/4 of the points! This is like a hockey player scoring all 10 goals in a game. It’s like a single football player making four rushing touchdowns and four catches for touch downs in a single game. I.e. it doesn’t happen. Not in other TEAM sports.

The rise of the NBA superstar is not conducive to team sport. In order to become a superstar one must make plays and score points and how is one supposed to do that if you have to hand off the ball to a teammate? Ironically this kind of play does not necessarily win games or championships. This much was proven most recently by the 2004 champion Pistons and the loses of team USA in the 2004 Athens Olympics. There is no way this kind of one man team play could happen in the NHL. Any hockey player who tries to Bogart the puck is an idiot who’s going to get checked or mugged by the other team. You don’t win games like this. Advantage: NHL.

Cult of Personality: The superstar NBA player is largely responsible for the continued popularity of professional basketball despite boring schedules, predictable post seasons, and the lack of any meaningful rivalries (does anyone care about Lakers v Celtics anymore?). People (and the press) follow superstars in much the same way NASCAR fans follow drivers. This is what keeps fans hooked. The teams are simply vessels in which to hone superstar talent (and stats).

And it’s easy to see how superstars are born in the NBA. Basketball is much more intimate and personal (even on TV) than hockey. There are no boards or glass separating the players and fans. There are no bulky uniforms, pads, masks, or helmets in the NBA to obscure the player from the cameras and TV takes full advantages of this. Any one of a multitude of play stoppages during an NBA game gives the networks plenty of opportunity to get as many reaction shots of the superstars as possible.

The result is that NBA players are ubiquitous in our culture. They’re everywhere. NBA players endorse just about every conceivable product. Their houses are on MTV cribs. They star in movies. Ads featuring NBA players even appeared during the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl for God’s sake! I’m sure NHL players sell products in Canada but their exposure in the US is almost nonexistent. Yet, it’s no longer clear whether the popularity of the NBA is what’s driving this ubiquity or whether it’s actually the other way around. Advantage: NBA.

And so on and so forth . .

This season’s Stanley Cup finals were no exception to excitement. Game one saw Carolina come back from an early 3-0 deficit (the biggest comeback in Stanley cup finals history), the Oiler’s Chris Pronger made the first successful penalty shot in Cup history, Oiler goalie Dwayne Roloson was knocked out of the series with a knee injury (like losing your star Q-B in the first quarter of the Super Bowel), and replacement goalie Ty Conklin hadn’t played net minder in over two months. With the score tied at 4 late in the third period, Conklin made a colossal mistake by getting tangled up with defenseman Jason Smith behind the net. This allowed Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour to make an easy empty net goal with 32 seconds left. And that was just game ONE!

But few Americans saw it (the game was on the boondocks network OLN).

The NBA clearly wins the style and popularity contest but it can’t come close to the NHL in terms of excitement and action. But don’t take my word for it. Try going to a hockey game or two sometime. Take 10 minutes off from watching ESPN give fellatio to Shaquille O’Neal in order to learn the rules of professional hockey. Don’t worry; you won’t turn into a Canadian any more then you will if you watch the Sun’s Steve Nash.

PS. In case you are wondering, the New York Rangers started a tradition/superstition in 1983 of not shaving during the playoffs. However, someone forgot to tell Hurricanes defenseman Mike Commodore that not getting a hair cut is not part of that tradition. Hey Mike! 1975 called! They want their Afro back!