Underdogs

Underdogs
So with their wins today the Tampa Bay Lighting, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Toronto Raptors have taken leads in their respective championship series. Tampa Bay takes a 3-2 series lead in the NHL Eastern Conference Championship series, Thunder take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Western Conference Championship series, and Toronto taking a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Eastern Conference Championship series. With both underdogs currently winning their respective series it may be bad for sports in terms of people watching nationally.
For just a minute close your eyes and image an NBA Finals with Oklahoma City and Toronto playing for the NBA Championship. Then open for a minute and reclose your eyes and image a Stanley Cup Final with Tampa Bay and either Nashville or San Jose. I can’t help but think that with these respective cities will hurt the NBA and NHL with their mass audiences. Sure the local fans will be ecstatic that their team is competing for a championship, but as a neutral fan who enjoys both hockey and basketball I can’t fathom watching one or both of these finals and I may not be alone in feeling that way. Watching the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup is routine for my family and I during this time of year and imagining not watching them just blows my mind.
Being an underdog and the story that comes with it is amazing in itself and winning is how movies are made. However, I can’t help but think that if the underdogs win in 2016 it will damage the game and halt new fans from coming into the sports. Turning the tables on the stigma of the underdog story being good for tv. Now I’m not saying that I will be routing for any team to lose because I would enjoy seeing the matchups but I will be extremely conflicted to watch because of interest. If all the underdogs win than it becomes less Hollywood and turns into mediocrity playing for something that is will become lost in history. If all the underdogs win there is no David verses Goliath story. Nobody wants to see average David against himself. The interest flies out faster than a five year old with an untied balloon. So is routing for the favorite wrong?
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