Centipedes. DMV lines. The wait for Space Mountain at Disney World. The MLB regular season.
All of these things share one common trait.
They are all too damn long.
Don't get me wrong, I like sports in most every form. I've learned to appreciate the many facets of the sports world in my time,both positive and negative, and as such, I've come to terms with some of the less amicable characteristics of all levels of sport.
Every sports fan is different. Some people are single sport fans, others are fans of multiple sports. What attracts these fans to their respective sports is unique to each individual, but football seems to enjoy the largest following, and I think that at least part of the reason for that lies within the schedule.
But Kevin, what ever do you mean? The only scheduling details I pay attention to is the TV guide, without that I'd miss my Gossip Girl.
Well, let me explain. An NFL season is 16 games, not including postseason. Games are a weekly affair, and are built up from the end of the previous game through the work week, slowly gaining ground until the big finale, i.e the game. College football is the same way, except with 12 games, played mostly on Saturdays. Every week's game carries substantial weight because of the intense preparation put in by the team and the short season.
A full sized MLB season consists of 162 games, spreading form April into October. That's right, over the course of seven full months, a team will play a game almost every day, sometimes two a day. Now, understandably, an MLB season needs to allow a little more wriggle room in the season to account for slumps by a team. The nature of baseball is such. The best team in the league offensively might struggle to score a run one night, and explode for upwards of 15 the next day. Football is more consistent in this regard than baseball, and so I have no qualms about a longer MLB season.
However, 162 games to unify and organize a team for a playoff push is beyond ludicrous. It is unnecessary, boring and it waters down the product. The length of the baseball season causes fans to become distant from the team, only to gain a second wind and jump back on the proverbial wagon come playoff time. It reminds me of a long classroom speech. People will be very excited for the first 10-15 minutes, quickly lose interest for the meat of the presentation and ultimately perk up at the end, or maybe not, they might already be asleep. Way to go, dufus.
Why drag out something that could be shorter? Why show an exploding car for the full 30 seconds when it could easily get the point across and entertain viewers if you showed it for just 15? (AHEM, Michael Bay).
And before you slink out of the room and hope nobody noticed you, NBA, get back in here, this applies to you as well. While slightly more understandable than the outrageous MLB season, the NBA has managed to slog it's way through 82 games every season for much too long.
I personally really enjoyed the 2011-2012 NBA season, which as you all know was shortened by disagreements between players and coaches. The Miami Heat ended up winning the arguably brief 66 game season, and I'll be damned if that didn't seem like a perfect length season to me. Long enough for teams to adjust and adapt over the course of dozens of games, but short enough that I don't actually feel like a baseball fan.
As it currently stands, I heard about 25% more comments about Kobe's thumb*, 25% more comments about LeBron being the boogeyman and entirely too much about Ron Artest. Oh, my bad; Metta World Peace.
My final point is this. Whether you're a junkie for those extra 80 games per season or not, the simple truth is that these games are unnecessary. Players are more likely to get injured the longer the season goes on, so why risk it? Keep your players fresh and better rested, focus on the postseason (if you make it).
Look at the bright side, if the season is shorter, the price of your NBA League pass should drop with it too!
No comments:
Post a Comment