Day 279

Fresh Start_279: Underdogs vs. “the Top heavy league”
Around this time last year, I wrote a column about underdogs and how a potential matchup of Toronto and Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals and the Tampa Bay Lighting facing off against either San Jose or Nashville.

I wrote that column about how underdogs had the potential to ruin the exact thing they represent with a possible matchup of underdogs. Toronto and Oklahoma City were up in both of their series and it was a possible matchup. The Tampa Bay hockey market is a “C” market at best and the way San Jose was last year, I could say the exact same thing. Pittsburgh ended up making the Stanley Cup Final—and winning being the favorite, so the underdogs lived yet another year.

Pittsburgh is back in the Stanley Cup Final again this year against the “Smashville” Predators—having the classic David vs. Goliath matchup with two great teams even with Nashville being the underdog in this scenario.

In the NBA it is yet again the Cavilers and the Warriors. “The Trilogy” is enticing for sure, but there is a need for an underdog in the NBA. With the Cavs and Warriors making the Finals for the third straight year—the casual NBA fan wants to see something different. It isn’t that interesting to bet on the two teams that have made the Finals the past two years to make it again. Their needs to be a Boston or a San Antonio in the Finals, and after the winner of “The Trilogy” I think there will be a different Finals next year.

It might not be Warriors because of how tough the West is in the playoffs. Let me say that again, the West is tougher than the East in the playoffs. The way the 7th seed in the Memphis Grizzles took the Spurs to six games is better than the Hawks going to six games against the Wizards—because of how close the games were, and the competitiveness of the games.

Teams like Washington, Boston, and Milwaukee will be around for the next five years to be the pest to the Cavilers and it is crazy to think that Lebron will continue to make the Finals for the rest of his career… right?

With the Stanley Cup Finals starting tomorrow, and the NBA Finals on Thursday the two leagues are in two total opposite directions. Even with the possibly of two underdogs draining the markets, the stories of them going up against the powerhouse is just what we live for in sports. The word “underdog” is probably the second best word in sports behind “Game 7.”  

Personally, I hope Boston, Washington, San Antonio, or even teams like Houston or Milwaukee to dethrone the Cavilers or the Warriors because seeing the same two teams in the Finals three years in a row is getting old. Even with the historic and ridiculousness that Lebron making the Finals for now the seventh straight year. Boston has the 1st overall pick this year so add the best player in the draft to a Conference Final team to make it tougher for Lebron and the Cavs. In the West, give San Antonio a healthy team, the series might go seven and anything can happen.

Next year will be the year that the NBA can sway into the top heavy league that the “experts” claim we are in right now, and this year is the year in the NHL that the league as a whole hits a prime—getting into households it wouldn’t get into if the Predators didn’t get into the Stanley Cup. It is truly amazing how different these two playoff series can be from one year to the next, and it is incredible to see what happens in these leagues with the way that the Championship series swing.
Sources:(bleacherreport.com)

Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

Image
   Now that the World Series is over five days from now the offseason begins. With that in mind, this is the biggest offseason that Brian Cashman will have in his 25-year tenure as Yankee General Manager. For the first time since 2016 the Bronx Bombers watched the postseason from their couches, and they earned that right. Amazingly, this team finished over .500, although not that far above that mark. This iteration of the Bronx Bombers finish with the same record as that 2016 team—but the feeling with this squad feels different. Following the 2016 season, there was hope of the two power bats that would usher in the “Baby Bombers,” and in that offseason, the farm system was rated in the Top 10 in all of baseball. There was almost certainty that Brian Cashman would put a championship team around Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino that would be a title contender for years to come. There was hope. And that hope almost turned into reality. Almost. But, that was then
Read more

The Question going into the Trade Deadline for the New York Yankees

  There is a crossroads in the Bronx in between River and 161 st Street right now. As New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone likes to put it “[the season] is right in front of them.” The second half of the season is for the taking. As we move into the dog days of summer the Bronx Bombers are nine games out of the division and now a game and a half out of the AL Wild Card race following a disappointing first series in Colorado. With that, the historic starting Tampa Bay Rays have cooled off, going 3-7 before the break while showing signs of being mortal. Baltimore, who has been keeping pace with Tampa, didn’t look like a Superpower when they split against the Yankees two series before the break. The AL East is still a Spartan Training Facility with every team above .500, the Orioles holding the first Wild Card spot, and the “struggling” Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees in the Wild Card race. And unlike Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, help is not on the way. Aaron Judge’s toe is still a m
Read more

The Answer for the Mets

  As Yogi Berra would say “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Buck Showalter is an all too familiar place. The 67-year-old manager has taken a time machine back to 2012. No, he is not managing in Baltimore anymore, however that’s what it feels like the end of Showalter’s Oriole tenure in Queens right now. The Mets simply can’t get out of their own way. With Pete Alonso likely headed to the Injured List, the Mets scored 10 runs last night in Atlanta. 10 runs on the heels of back-to-back gut-wrenching losses at the hands of the team that has foiled the Mets for the better part of almost three decades, the Atlanta Braves. 10 runs with their hired ace, Justin Verlander, who was looking to put together good starts consecutively for the first time all season. The Mets looked like they were about to exercise some demons in Atlanta last night, and then, the other shoe dropped. It wasn’t good enough. Again. Last night, I wrote that the Mets season was on the line with Verlander toeing the slab. Well
Read more