Greatest First Round Ever? Wouldn’t know, I don’t have cable.
I saw very little of the first round.
Followed lots of the games live on the internets, but saw very little.
I do not have cable. monkeyshoes has cable, and I caught most all of the LA-Suns series, thanks to Dave and Eden’s hospitality. But no NBA playoff triple headers on network TV? Bad decision.
I realize that so many damn people have cable that maybe I’m complaining about automobiles scaring my horses, but I think the collective NBA-ABC-Disney decision to put weekend games primarily on cable is stoopid.
Sure the prevalence of folks with cable—particularly folks with cable with money to spend of the shit they advertise during sports—probably means that the dollars point to cable and pay channel as the primary mode for watching the NBA.
But I tell ye this is short-sighted thinking. I know. I saw how many regular fans tuned out an entire season because the Blaze crew simply did not have enough games
One of the least discussed reasons for the demise of the Portland Blazer fan base is that during the 2002-2003 season, the P-Dogs were televised like 18-20 times all season. Total. Paul Allen was trying to play hard ball with the cable company that controlled Portland, bungled through the season with the result only the local tv games were on. No cable.
Now, you may say ‘I thought he was bemoaning cable games?”
But what I am complaining about is lack of opportunity to see the team play. Reading and blogging about B-Ball is great, but (aside from playing) watching ball is where it is at. When willing fans cannot watch as many games, for whatever reason, the team and the League eventually suffer. Not hardcore folks like us, mind you. But the halfway fans and more importantly the kiddos need to be able to see guys on TV to become enchanted. It is the athletic poetry and situational heroics that compel folks tune in for more.
Ya see, as much as tomorrow’s bottom line should define today’s business plan, when sports teams, leagues, and the entertainment networks and advertisers that pump billions into the fortunes of the League, failing to invest in your fan base through as wide publicity as possible will haunt you.
p.s. I would not call the best first round eva, but I loved all I saw
posted by The Green at
11:33 PM
4 Comments:
You should hear Danielle rant about is offered up by Charles, Kenny and EJ.
By
HP All-stars, at 6:03 AM
Good rant, WB. I'm hoping that eventually the Innernets will replace cable - the only reason I pay for TV right now is basketball, and if I could download the games & fast forward the commercials on a computer I'd give that up.
It is short sighted to basically say to 30% of the public "we don't care if you can ever watch our product".
It was a good first round, though. That Wiz/Cavs series was serious fun, even though the Cavs should get to count it as a win if they lose any of these games against the pistons by single digits...
By
Jason N, at 8:39 AM
Most of the games I've seen this round have been really good...I loved all the 2-7 seed scares.
I agree with WB...Blazers were always bad about that. Wolves are pretty good...about 50% on cable, and 50% broadcast on UHF. Now I've simply learned to plan my life around games that are on broadcast TV. Because I'm not gonna watch all the games, I simply watch all that I can....and if the series is really good, I'll hit the local watering hole....except the other night when I met Rathouse for drinks, we had to stop at like 3 places before we found someplace to watch the game. What a pain.
Maybe people just don't care?
I don't know why, it's the best Reality TV around. And as a construct, the NBA beats Wife Swap and Extreme Makeover every time.
By
TVDave, at 11:43 AM
I was at the airport last night, and Detroit/Cleveland was on the TV mounted in the baggage claim machine. Guess America does love hoops after all. That's where we should go next time we're trying to catch a game, Rat!
By
TVDave, at 10:27 AM
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