The Effect of a Strike

It's no secret by now that the NFL is looking at the cold reality of a strike in 2011. Sure there would still be high school football and college football. Fans will still be able to get their "fix," but there won't be the lore of a Sunday game at Lambeau or 89,000+ going wild at Jerry's World. In essence, it could be disastrous for the NFL.

Most of you are thinking, the fans will flock back. And yes, the die hards will be back quicker than you can snap. However, this is a case of history repeating itself. Baseball's strike had the same effect. The die hards came back, but the casual fans weren't so quick to lend their love back. It took an era of steroids to get fans back. A home run race we could all be proud of. Baseballs biggest record had to be broken for people to attend games and flip on the tube.

The NBA was fortunate their 1998-1999 season was only shortened and not erased for seasons at a time. The ratings are low enough for the regular season and that would have almost certainly killed a league gaining momentum. However, that wasn't the case and a new breed of players has blossomed carrying the league to it's growing prominence.

However, hockey was an unfortunate casualty. FOX, ESPN and NBC all carried the NHL during the 1990's. When the strike happened, bye bye TV. ESPN dropped them like they were hot. Hockey hasn't recovered in America since. It has it's cult followers, but just now the casual fan is making their way to the ice with the help of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

This season is a year for fans to be proud of. There is parody with the Flyers and the Blackhawks in the finals. The Canadiens knocked out the Senators, the popular pick to win the title. The Flyers came back from a 3-0 series deficit against the Bruins to make it to the conference finals. The NHL is making it's way back. Slowly, but surely. The Olympics had an excellent effect on how Americans viewed hockey this season. Also, fans like outdoor hockey. The NHL Winter Classic has been in existence three years and each one of those three seasons a representative from that game has gone on to play for the Stanley Cup. In the next two years, NBC and Versus will look like geniuses for their hockey coverage.

There's no doubt the NFL would recover from a strike quicker than all the fore mentioned sports. It's easy to say, but actions speak louder than words. Let's hope for the sake of love that the NFL will have their collective bargaining agreement taken care of before the 2011 season. It might be a cold, long and hard 2011 winter with no NFL football.

Luck of the Irish?

Either the Boston Celtics magically got hot at the right time, or we aren't giving enough credit to a veteran savvy team.

The Celtics went 3-5 in April before the playoffs tipped off. Their home record this season (24-17) compared to last season (35-6) was horrific. However, Boston owned the road. The Celts went 26-15 which is tied for second best in the league. It was a season that seemed like their payroll was equal to their age.

After those sloppy last 8 games, the Celtics turned it on. They made quick work of Miami in the first round winning the series 4-1. Had Beantown not squandered away a late lead in game 4 against the Heat, brooms would have made an appearance in the sunshine state.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the best team in the NBA this season, came next. The two teams split their 4 contests in the regular season. Boston looked youthful in a game 1 loss, that quite frankly should have been theirs. Game 2 the Celtics opened the flood gates. So that brings us to tonight.

Game 3 is a little under 7 hours away. Boston has stolen home court from Lebron and the Cavs. Now with "Elbow-gate '10" underway, writers and talk show hosts will say that is the key to the series. "James isn't himself." They will say. It helps, but it's not key.

The Celtics are neutralizing the king. Rondo is playing lights out as he just set a Celtic playoff record with 19 assists (none of those came in the 4th qtr), Pierce is his usual self, KG is hanging in there and Rasheed even showed up for a game! The Celtics, while seasoned, are playing near their title form in 2008. The question that fans across the NBA should be asking is how long will it last? This team flipped a switch, which most teams in all sports almost never do. It might be only a matter of time before Boston's Irish luck runs out. In the meantime, this run should be chalked up to playoff experience with a deep supporting cast. Tonight will tell us a lot about how deep a run this team can make.

Hard To Swallow...

Lessons are always hardest when learned by losing. Tonight the Oklahoma City Thunder learned a lesson. Don't struggle down the stretch. OKC was fighting for the sixth seed in the West at the end of the season. In their final 11 games, the fighting Clay Bennett's lost 5 games by eight points or less. That caused them to be the eighth seed and face the defending NBA champion Lakers in round 1.

However, this isn't an all negative post. We mustn't forget that a young Thunder squad who wasn't supposed to win 30 games all year came within 0.5 seconds of forcing a game 7 against the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. In addition to that, the team went 50-32. That would be good enough for the fifth seed in the East, at the very least.

I could say the future is bright for this team, but that would be an understatement. With the team buying into Scott Brooks defense, Sam Presti doing a phenomenal in the front office and the fans in OKC as hyped as they are, this team may no doubt become a contender in the West, as early as next season.

Sure, it's hard to have a moral victory of "We almost" and "We were this close" but with another year comes more experience and with more experience comes more wisdom. This team has nothing to hang their heads about. It could always be worse. The Thunder could have been just like the Dallas Mavericks. 2 seed losing to the 6 seed Spurs and being bounced from the playoffs in the first round 3 of the last 4 years. The Thunder have the ingredients to make noise each year. We just have to let the oven preheat before baking.