Taking advantage of a reward

Last year, NBC/Versus acquired the rights to broadcast the NHL, yanking away the coverage from ESPN/ABC, destroying many hockey fans to can’t get enough of Gary Thorne. Hockey ratings for ABC during the Stanley Cup Final were respectable for a sport that no one very few people in America actually watch. In it’s final year of covering the Stanley Cup Final, ABC had a 2.6 rating, which roughly translates to a little over 3.5 million people. Then the lockout came, then NBC took over.

In last year’s Final featuring the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers, the ratings for game 3 was 1.7/4 share, which isn’t even close to the ratings ABC had. In this year’s game 3 featuring the Ottawa Senators, and soon to be champion Anaheim Ducks, was even lower than that, a 1.1/3 share rating. The 1.1 is the equivalent of a rerun of “The West Wing”, which aired in July of 2005. To tack on to that, the Peacock Network decided earlier in the playoffs to cut away from an overtime game (which determined whether or not the Sens would make it to the Stanley Cup by the way) between the Senators and the Buffalo Sabres, to show endless coverage of a 3 minute horse race in the Preakness (although it was worth the wait). So what did NBC do with the game? Move it to their sister network, Versus. Now Versus is on cable TV, so for those who didn’t have the network and watched the game, they just got the ”Heidi” treatment. To add on to that mess, Versus allegedly cut away from an overtime marathon between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars to show an infomercial. I know what you’re thinking. Mookie, how did you watch the game? Well the answer to that is the fact that I watch all the hockey games on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It’s good to be a Washingtonian isn’t it?

Anyway, so with all of that controversy, you’d think that NBC would be deprived of its broadcasting rights. But because money talks, the NHL gave NBC a contract extension back in March! Card well played NHL, your ratings will definitely boost up with the network that has a handful of people watching. Now you know why Americans don’t watch hockey.

Writer’s/Editor’s note: It has come to my attention that NBC signed the contract extension before all of this stuff happened, so in reality, it is more like “NBC is giving a crap performance after being rewarded” than it is “NHL rewards NBC for their stupidity”. Either way, the stuff that NBC did is still bad, and it should be pointed out. So if you click on the back link, the new title should say “Taking advantage of a reward”

NBA Finals Preview part 2 of 3

Up until Wednesday, I will preview the Cavaliers and Spurs in their quest at the NBA Finals. Today’s preview will feature the San Antonio Spurs.

The playoff run for the San Antonio Spurs:

Round 1: Spurs def. Nuggets 4-1. Not even a close series.

Round 2: Spurs def. Suns 4-2: Phoenix is still bitter at David Stern.

Round 3: Spurs def. Jazz 4-1: In a word, boring.

When the Spurs are on defense:

• Believe it or not, they’ll have to contain Ira Newble LeBron James. There’s no explanation required, just remember that King James scored 48 points on the Pistons.
• Prevent easy baskets. The Cavs are not a great perimeter shooting team, and Bruce Bowen and co. should stop Cleveland from driving right through them.
• Force King James to pass the ball. When he takes over a game, your team is doomed. If you take the ball away from James, and force his teammates to make an impact, the Cavs usually falter.

When the Spurs are on offense:

• Drain the threes. You’ve got Ginobili, Bowen, Barry, and now Tony Parker is making long range shots. Take advantage beyond the arc, something the Pistons almost never did, and that’s why Detroit never had a double digit lead in the entire series.
• Dominate the boards. The key to Cleveland’s success is the rebound. They have been successful at both ends of the floor when it comes to that category. If the Spurs take that away, the shots will go down for the Cavs, and the 2nd chance points are more likely for San Antonio.
• Make your free throws. I can’t stress this enough. Both teams have been garbage from the stripe (save for Daniel Gibson and Manu Ginobili), and I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of these games are decided via the free throw.
• When the game is down to one shot, give the ball to Robert Horry. Big Shot Bob has saved teams everywhere he has gone, and this shouldn’t be different

Key Players defensively: Everyone. Especially Bruce Bowen.

Key Players offensively: Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Robert Horry.

Feel free to agree or disagree with these keys in the comments section or by email. Tomorrow will feature the official prediction post. To read the Cavaliers preview, click here.