I’ll Take Mine with Ice

In the eyes of the Bleacher Creatures, spring is one of the most exciting times of the sports year. Think about: NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, the baseball season getting into full swing, NASCAR, hell even the Triple Crown of horse racing takes place during the spring. Out of that list, there are two events that stand out: the NHL and NBA playoffs. Think about it again: there are 162 games in a baseball season, so if you really, truly care about the first 60 then you have no life; about as many people watch Survivor: Fiji as NASCAR; and a “sporting event” that lasts about 1 minute and 30 seconds does not count in our books. So, once again, the NHL and NBA playoffs are the crème de la crème of sporting events during the spring season. That leaves us to the question: which one is better? In my books, the NHL playoffs are far and away better than the NBA playoffs. And that is not just coming from someone who plays hockey and is a dedicated fan of the game. I could be, hell, a NASCAR fan and I guarantee you I would still rather watch two teams battle it out on the ice rather than on the hardwood. Here’s why:

1) Teamwork- It may be just me, but it seems as though teamwork is not a characteristic of the NBA. It seems like basketball teams are made up of a bunch of overpaid players who have no sense of team, just a sense of self and egos are bigger than their shoe sizes (Why do you think basketball players are basically the only professional athletes who get shot?). Then there is the NHL. Every guy on a team knows that it the team is only as strong as its weakest link. While there are certain players who are better than the rest, there is no superstar on the team. Every player is key to the team’s success. If Kobe Bryant drops 60 points and his team loses, it is still a good game (for him, at least). If Jaromir Jagr scores 4 goals and the team loses, it is not a good game. NHL players have a much better sense of what a team is than NBA players, plain and simple.

2) Overtime- Is there anything better than overtime in sports? Yes, but not much. Is there anything better than overtime during the playoffs in sports? Well, yes, but very little. Overtime in sports is simply amazing, and that being said overtime in the NHL is better than the NBA (we are talking playoffs here, so shootouts were not factored into the equation). See, while basketball overtimes are only five minutes long, they can take up to thirty minutes because of TV timeouts, free throws, a player complaining about a stubbed toe, etc. Most of the time, the outcome of the game is decided before the finish, and you still have sit through all the crap to get to the end. In hockey, overtime could last 5 second or 5 hours. Ever heard of an NBA playoff game lasting until 3 in the morning? Didn’t think so. Ever heard of an NHL playoff game lasting until 3 in the morning? Umm, yea, it happened this year actually. In hockey, overtime could be over in the blink of an eye, and because of the pace of the game it is hard to stay in your seat. Any shot- no matter how harmless looking- could end the game. Normally in basketball you know if a shot is going in or not. Another big plus about NHL overtimes- no TV timeouts. I guess there is a good thing about having little media attention.

3) Toughness- Someone once tried to argue with me that the NBA was a tougher league in the NHL. I promptly laughed in his face and told him if he kept up that level of thinking during his life he would end up taking drive-through orders at Burger King. It is just one of those none arguable facts of life: hockey is a tougher sport than basketball. Bulls star Scottie Pippen once missed most of an NBA playoff game because of a headache. Kwame Brown of the Wizards sat out a postseason game because of a stomach virus. Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ruslan Fedotenko has no recollection of playing in Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup final because of a concussion suffered earlier in the series. Oh, and Fedotenko scored both goals in Tampa Bay’s 2-1 victory (that information was provided by the St. Petersburg Times). In basketball, it is big news when a player gets a bloodied nose (see Steve Nash). In hockey, it’s big news if someone’s face hasn’t been bloodied by the end of the game. It is just plain and simple, hockey is a tougher and more physical sport than basketball. And that’s what makes it better to watch.

4) The Trophy- Please name the NBA Finals trophy. No, couldn’t do it? Alright, this is a bit easier, sketch it out on a piece of paper. Still having trouble? Not much of surprise considering the NBA Finals trophy is the most unrecognizable trophy in all of sports. The Stanley Cup, however, is one of the most famed trophies in all of sports. Players say that they always dream about lifting the cup over their head’s and skating around the ice to the cheers of 20,000 fans. Lifting the Holy Grail means so much to players, especially the old veterans who have never won the cup, that tears are shed as a player takes hold of it. Ray Bourque, arguably the best defenseman of all time, was traded just so that he could hoist the Cup once before he retired. And when he brought the cup back to his hometown of Boston, 20,000 people gathered and cheered as he lifted it over is head. And, while each player on the winning team gets to spend 24 hours with the Cup after winning it, there is only one Cup. No replicas, duplicates, anything. The players who win the Cup on a certain year are hoisting the same Cup that Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Mario Lemieux hoisted way back when. Darn it all, it is even the same Cup that 1927-28 New York Rangers held aloft. The legacy and history of the Stanley Cup alone outweigh the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy (oh, yeah, that’s the name), so please, if you don’t agree with anything else I have said or will say in this article at least agree with me on this: The Stanley Cup is one hell of a trophy and is far superior than the no-name, duplicated trophy the NBA hands out every year.

5) Passion- My last point is the most important. Any playoff series needs to have passion to be good. And the NBA Finals doesn’t seem to have that much passion, at least compared to the Stanley Cup playoffs. What do you think Kobe Bryant is thinking about more during the playoffs: taking his team to the championship or how much money he’ll get from jersey sales this season? Judging from the last few playoffs series I have watched him played in, I’d take the latter. Yea, Dirk Nowitzki said he was upset after his team lost in the first round, but I bet a week later, with the MVP trophy being awarded to him and a nice little bonus from Mark Cuban, a.k.a the world’s biggest bitch, he wasn’t so pissed off about losing. He’ll get ‘em next year. Throw a punch, hip check, elbow in the NBA Finals and I bet you you’ll get suspended for at least a game (see Spurs-Suns series). Throw a punch, elbow, hard check in the Stanley Cup playoffs and at most you’ll go to the box and feel shamed. Yes, I’m saying it’s okay to fight, claw, scratch and bleed when it comes to winning a professional championship. And in the NHL the bleeding normally isn’t the result of cheap shots by players who are upset about how they are playing or because someone called them a bad name as it seems to be in the NBA. No, the blood comes from the pure passion the players have for winning the Cup. And the fighting isn’t only for goons, no, not when it comes to the playoffs in the NHL. Remember in 2004 when Calgary captain Jarome Iginla traded punches with Tampa Bay superstar Vincent Lecavalier. That was a defining moment in NHL history. You think Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade would start throwing punches in a game. Hell no, they don’t want to hurt their public image or mess up their pretty faces for upcoming photo shoots. Iginla and Lecavalier fight showed the NHL players were playing for pride, not shoe contracts and bonus money. Why do think teams in the NBA Finals are never able to come back from a 3-0 deficit or a 3-1 deficit? Well, besides that fact that it is pretty tough, it is because when a team gets in a hole like that they basically give up, roll over, and call it quits. Why do you think there are so many series in the NBA playoffs that end up as 4-0 sweeps or 4-1 blowouts? It is because lower seeded teams have no passion, no grit, no guts to will out a win. Until Golden State’s win over Dallas, a No. 8 seed had never beaten a No. 1 in a best-of-seven NBA playoff series. Never. That has happened seven times in the NHL since 1994. Here’s more: Since 1994, the No. 7 seed has won more series (14) than the No. 2 seed (12). NHL teams don’t care what seed they are, they don’t care if the media says they are going to get blown out of the water. It doesn’t matter to the players. They take control of the situation, go out there and play their hearts out. They fight, claw, scratch for every inch they can get, even if they are down 4-0 in the game and they know they aren’t going to make it. There is no giving up. That’s passion, guys, that’s all it is.

I hope I have given you enough to show that I truly believe the NHL playoffs are in a different league than the NBA playoffs. I am not saying that the NBA playoffs are a joke. There have been some great games, great moments, and I always catch myself watching a good bit of the Finals on ABC. But there’s so much about the NHL playoffs that makes them superior to the NBA playoffs. The passion, the excitement, the surprises, the upsets, hell even the fans are much better. When Golden State fans turned Oracle Arena into a golden house of noise, ESPN made a huge deal of it. They put a decibel meter on the screen to show how loud the arena was getting. They don’t do that in the NHL playoffs because the fans are always loud and passionate. No matter if their team is about to get swept, they still pack the seats, wave their towels, and blow the roof off the arena. According to The Hockey News, an unofficial reading of 134 decibels was measured in the RBC Center during Game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, which featured the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers (an 8 seed, mind you). It is the loudest reading ever at an American sporting event. Yes, part of my tendency to like the NHL playoffs so more is because I simply like the NHL more than the NBA. But there is also so much about the Stanley Cup playoffs that would push me to watch them rather than the NBA playoffs if I was someone on the fence about the two sports. It is unfortunate that the media seemingly controls what people watch because of its TV and rights deals that ESPN and ABC have made. It is unfortunate, it is ridiculous that more homes cannot experience the greatest playoff series in all of sports. And to be honest, I am getting sick of seeing ESPN headlines that deal with the NBA playoff games that start four hours later when an overtime thriller between the Anaheim Ducks and Detriot Red Wings just took place. Quite frankly, it is quite absurd. But, for now, all the consolation I have is that I love the playoffs, hockey fans love the playoffs, and the 20,000 fans that pack arena’s around the country during playoff time, cheering their throat’s out, certainly seem to love them too. Sorry NBA fans, but the NHL playoffs are simply better. It’s reality, people, that’s all it is.

–Barney