No one can really debate that the NBA’s popularity has been very low since they returned from the 1999 lockout. Many speculate as to why, but one reason stands out above all others to me, and somehow is rarely mentioned in these discussions.
The NBA has absolutely NO parity.
The NFL, and football in general, still gets away with anything in the public’s forgiving eyes; but other sports, namely baseball, are held to far more scrupulous standards, especially by the media.
Is the “Hoosier State” the king of hoops, especially when it comes to so-called “mid-majors”?
{A similar version of this article is set to appear in the November issue of an Indianapolis magazine.}
Has any university’s basketball and football teams choked more often in the past few years than the University of Michigan’s?
Big Vince Young will be a giant bust in the NFL.
Let’s not be so quick to ignore the fortunate opportunity Davis received in 2000, and how he wasted it away in the latter half of his six-year tenure at Indiana.
Two of the four most storied college basketball programs saunter along similar paths back to greatness.
The media continues to hype up the NFL beyond comprehension.
I have always mused that one of the main reasons the NFL is considered “America’s favorite sport” is because the games are only played once per week. If baseball or basketball had the same week-long build up that, say, a November game between the Bengals and Colts received, then I have no doubt that Yankees-Red Sox would out draw even the most attractive football tilt. This is not to take anything away from a Sunday at your local NFL stadium, which – like a Sunday afternoon at Fenway or Wrigley – continues to be Americana personified, but the media contributes too mightily to football’s current aura of supremacy.
The Steelers and Panthers are nice stories, but they will end in Seattle and Denver on Sunday.
As football junkies, we plead ignorance to the tribulations of the NFL. Unfairly though, we do not lend such leniency to other sports, especially the NBA.