NHL
In the history of the Friday Face-off, there has never been an easier choice for an argument. Among the four major sports, the NHL has far and away the best post-season. When compared to the NBA playoffs in particular, the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs provide far and away the most entertaining spring.
The physical toll that is taken on a team involved in the NHL playoffs is un-matched. While NBA teams often receive multiple days off in between playoff games, NHL squads usually receive just one day, which is sometimes used for travel.
The competitiveness of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is the driving force behind its greatness.
For four rounds, NHL teams battle tooth-and-nail in best of seven matchups, which most of the time could be won by either team involved. The same simply cannot be said for the NBA.
Each NBA season, most informed fans know that only a handful of teams have a legitimate shot at the title. Once playoff time rolls around, that number becomes even smaller. Take this season for example. Think for a second, who has a shot to win the NBA championship? The Lakers, Celtics, and Cavaliers; that is pretty much it. Sure, a team like the Nuggets or Magic could make a nice little run, but at the end of the day, there are very few clubs with a real chance at taking home the hardware.
How about in the NHL? One could make a case for almost every team in either conference. In the East, the Carolina Hurricanes, currently the five seed, have won their last nine games. None of the top seeds in that conference want to draw the ‘Canes, because anything can happen.
In the west, the eighth-seeded Blues are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, and may get sniper Paul Kariya back in time for the first round. First-seeded San Jose would have all they could handle in a series with St. Louis.
As recently as 2006, the eighth-seeded Edmonton Oilers emerged out of the Western Conference to play in the Stanley Cup Finals; a feat which would certainly be hard to imagine in the current NBA landscape.
The NBA is great, but its playoff season is usually anticlimactic. The NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs on the other hand, is wall-to-wall excitement, where anything can happen, and usually does.
-Jarrod Yost is journalism sophomore
NBA
In a column a week ago, Steven Jones said it isn’t wrong to like one sport more than the other. His honesty has led me to reveal something myself. I don’t like hockey.
Don’t get me wrong hockey can be exciting at times, like when Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretsky, Mike Modano and Mario Lemieux were in their prime.
Fights are freaking awesome, there are and will always be great saves, sweet goals and slap shots that draw an anxious silence. Blah, blah, blah.
True, but how in the world could that be anywhere near as exciting, entertaining or satisfying to watch as the NBA, much less the NBA finals?
Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neil are just six of the countless number of reasons why for the past 30 years the NHL playoffs hasn’t been able to hold the NBA playoff’s Jock strap so to speak.
And there is no one named Lebron James in the NHL, which by default means there is no way I could ever prefer to watch the Stanley Cup finals over the NBA finals.
In the NHL, you’re lucky to see a few goals, and the rest of the time is filled with continuous back-and-forth play that leads to nothing.
In the NBA playoffs it’s every possession. Every 30 seconds there is someone diving for a loose ball, dunking, fading away or going for a no look pass. There are no ally-oops in hockey, no game-deciding free throws or buzzer-beating shots. There are no and ones, no three-pointers and more importantly no breakaway windmill, tomahawk or 360 degree dunks.
There’s more than a dozen reasons right there, but don’t worry I’m not finished.
According to ABC.com, 16.9 million people watched the NBA finals in 2008. That compared to the measly 2.3 million people that watched the 2008 Stanley Cup finals. The numbers speak for themselves, and so does the overall excitement of the sport.
Nothing can match the anticipation and excitement of watching Michael Jordan’s Bulls playing for a title, or the classic Celtics-Lakers rivalry that has recently been reborn.
I would go as far to say I would rather watch our women’s basketball team lose to Louisville in a down-to-the-wire game any day than watch the Stanley Cup Finals. I might actually have more fun watching grass grow than watching the NHL playoffs.
OK maybe that is a little too far, but every time I watch the NHL playoffs, which is once every three or four years, it is no surprise that somehow the Detroit Red Wings win it all.
I gave up on trying to entertain myself with hockey for the simple fact that it can’t be done. We should have chosen something that deserves an argument because clearly this isn’t one.
— Daniel Martin is a journalism junior
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kselvig 3 years, 1 month ago
The fact that you didn't take 2 seconds to find out how to spell Wayne Gretzky's name completely invalidates any argument you tried to make.
And the Red Wings have only won the cup twice in the last 11 years...
Take some pride in your work and try to do even minimal research if you're going to create a counter argument...