And just like that we are reminded Basketball is better
Posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 8:30 am by Brian Robinson
I can see it now. The new Sonics return. They have an amazing season where they start the season with a winning streak, capture the interest of the city, do everything right from a marketing perspective, and secure home court advantage for the playoffs.
The fans come from all over. The game is sold out and attendance an all time league high. Emotions are crazy and then…the game ends in a tie.
I don’t want to be percieved as slamming the Sounders or being anti-soccer in any way. I really think that the franchise has been completely and totally brilliant in their first season. I didn’t make any games but I do want to and am really happy for their fans. I wish them nothing but success.
Still I look at the NBA and the playoffs are where I am hooked. I can compare it to MLB and say that the series in baseball just get too long for me. I can look at the NFL and say that no matter how hyped the one week of a playoff game is it sometimes feels like it is over before a true crescendo is reached. For the vast bulk of teams they are just eliminated before the hype builds.
The NBA is the mecca of playoffs. You start to feel the playoff intensity early in the season when division rivals play. Episodes and rivalries from past playoff series and potential future ones emerge as storylines from the very begining of the season. Then you have literally a couple of weeks to focus on an opposing team, analyzing all the various matchups, disecting the strategy. I JUST LOVE IT!
So I love the Sounders. I wish nothing but the best for the franchise and their fans. In light of the 0-0 debacle at Qwest Field last night I just find myself needing to say I MISS THE NBA PLAYOFFS!!!
No Ties, EVER.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Its an aggregate playoff game so in a way the 1st half ended in a tie. The second half happens next week.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Bill Simmons was on the Colbert Report last night. Crappy interview. He spent most of the time having to defend why he preferred baskeball over baseball.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Ties are kinda lame. But then again I have trouble, and I have tried to get over this, staying interested in soccer when there is no scoring in 90 minutes of play. It’s almost like an exercise in frustration. Like a guy who really wants to score with some gal, really really needs to score, he spends his whole evening on it, and comes up empty.
I want to get into soccer, especially now with the loss of the Sonics. I just am having a hard time with it. As someone mentioned here a while back, there are a lot of technical aspects to the individual player movements that make the game for some folks; those are lost on me. But the crowds are great! When the Mexican teams come here, you have got to get down for tailgating with tacos and beer. And hotties.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:06 am
I played soccer in HS only because I was not tall enough to play basketball, the sport is lame and I was good at it, i’m happy we have a team I just cant watch 90 min. and some extra time at the end an official makes up every game just to watch 0-0 or maybe if lucky 1-1 LAME LAME LAME. oh and if there is a game that cant end in a 0-0 or 1-1 they shoot for it, thats like free throws to end the nba season, lame lame lame
October 30th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I’m a Sounders/soccer fan…..and yes ties are lame. But thats just the way it is.
Yeah Speed. In order to really appreciate soccer you have to appreciate the small things. If all you focus on is scoring your going to hate it. Watch for the strategic elements/tactics. Think about how hard it is to head the ball. Trapping the ball and making it playable at your feet isn’t that easy. Give and goes. Appreciate how far Kasey Keller can throw the ball. Can you accurately throw a ball 60 yards? Can you kick it that far?
Soccer is arguably the hardest sport to play fitness wise. So much running. I think the average player runs 5-7 miles per game at a herky jerky pace. Go out and try and play sometime. Its brutal. But to the spectator all of that is taken for granted as well.
I think the same kind of goes with hockey. Personally I’m not a big fan of watching it. But when I watch it, I try to recognize how hard it is to do the fundamental things in that game. Skating is hard. Hitting the puck with that much accuracy…..one times. If you take all that for granted its not that cool.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Go sounders!Keep going sounders!Don’t come back sounders!Sound off sounders!
October 30th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
at least in hockey there are monster checks into the boards and usually sanctioned fights on a fast surface with a lot of constant movement. if we had a team i’d be a hockey fan for sure.
i agree Speed, one of the Sonicsgate crew is a soccer fan so we’d have the games on in the background a lot, and it seemed like the whole game was “oooohhhh dammmit! almost!” the blue balls of sporting events.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I had the privilage of attending last nights game, my first in Seattle, the MLS or US for that matter. I’ve been a closet diehard soccer fan for years….
Ties are frustrating… and they do take away from the enjoyment a casual fan is looking for. Casual fans want goals and excitement…just like fights in Hockey and crashes in Nascar… but look around the world… not many causal fans or newbies… Soccer’s in your blood at birth in most places and they do appreciate the little things.
Maybe 0-0’s not fun to watch, but how entertaining is a 65-70 Spurs-Pistons game? How fun is a 2-1 pitching duel to watch? It depends on what you’re watching for. Also, if you watched the game last night but forgot about the scoreboard, it was a pretty entertaining game to watch. The thing I like about the Sounders is that they really try to focus on the hardcore fans, hoping that they can drag in some casual fans… Sonics, Mariners and Seahawks are trying to get as many causal fans as possible, knowing the diehards will attend no matter what…
October 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
“one of the Sonicsgate crew is a soccer fan”
Make that two, Adam…
One of the only football coaches you will ever see enjoying soccer as much as I do.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Darren is a big Sounders fan so we watched quite a few games while editing the movie. i will never get it but i at least made an effort to understand. i would honestly still rather watch the WNBA at this point.
to each his own! i always sucked at soccer. i’m pretty good at basketball and grew up playing, hence my allegiance. Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Doug Christie and others have shown us that soccer is good for basketball footwork, but real men use their hands!!
October 30th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I always played football and baseball, but I actually love playing soccer, even though I am a stocky dude. It is probably the most running I have ever done in any sport ever. Then again, I never played for the Arkansas teams under Nolan Richardson
I am usually the fatter one gagging for breath, bent over, reassuring everyone that I got my side of the field covered hahahaha…
Ps…Royce Young is a tool…”you can’t blame Clay Bennett, he’s a hero”…loser.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
“But then again I have trouble, and I have tried to get over this, staying interested in soccer when there is no scoring in 90 minutes of play.”
I hear that … but MLS play in general is really snooze-inducing compared to Mexican league or Europe Premier League. Last night’s game is a perfect example … Houston didn’t have to play for the win. All they had to do was play not to lose since a tie is pretty much equal to a win for them.
I think if MLS took away the ties and went to 5 min OT then shootout it would theoretically incentivize teams to play less conservatively. Just my opinion.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
and hey, the NBA has problems at the end of games too. the intentional foul + timeout routine can be pretty boring for the casual fan (as my girlfriend constantly reminds me).
but then you have crazy OT games like that Chi-Bos series last playoffs. i agree Brian, there’s nothing comparable to that excitement in a 7-game series.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Speed, next time you’re here definitely hit me up! I met up with “Criminy” for the Bill Simmons book signing. He lives in NYC and I know his brother. He made the connection between my name here and facebook. We grabbed a couple brews while we waited for our numbers to be called. I bailed after 3 hours because I didn’t have a book, but he stayed and got Bill to sign “F*** Oklahoma.” We were both wearing Sonics gear and got a few comments from people in line.
“the blue balls of sporting events.” That’s priceless Adam lol.
RE the original topic. IMO soccer is horrible. I appreciate that it’s the biggest sport in the world and that the Sounders are doing well, but it’s personally insulting that someone might think it replaces the Sonics. The NFL is garbage too. It’s easily the worst hype to substance ratio of any sport. I’ve tried watching games, Seahawks, Monday Night, playoffs, Super Bowl, whatever, it sucks. The 2 best are the NBA and MLB for playoffs!
October 30th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
apparently Rasheed Wallace thinks watching basketball is boring:
http://bit.ly/hcnlZ
October 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
at least in hockey there are monster checks into the boards and usually sanctioned fights on a fast surface with a lot of constant movement. if we had a team i’d be a hockey fan for sure.
- Agreed. Comparing Soccer to Hockey is no contest. The most boring aspect of Soccer is that 75% of is played at midfield so there isn’t even a chance of a score happening. When you don’t have the great athletes that you see in the World Cup it just gets boring after awhile.
- BTW, I have to assume that Brian meant the “season” is too long in Baseball and not the Series…because the MLB playoffs is second only to the NBA play offs in how much they drag it out and kill the momentum. NFL playoffs is still the most exciting playoffs for me…plus Im not really ever sure I considered a December game against Utah or Denver to be that huge of a match up in terms of play off implications. DEC/JAN/FEB in the NBA is a pretty brutal stretch where the good teams just sort of coast and the bad teams still suck.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
The thing that kills me about baseball is that it seems to me like so many teams are out of it so early. I mean the M’s were mathematically eliminated with what seemed like 3-4 months left in the season. The trading deadline comes and teams just unload all their talent every year. It makes it hard for me, the casual fan, to keep interest in a team once you know so early they aren’t going to make it…..or even trying to make it that year.
The pacing of the game is what makes hoops my favorite game. Besides the last few minutes of the game there is somewhat continuous action. Score. Take it out and your headed the other way.
As much as I love NFL there are so many TV timeouts and breaks in action that games take forever. Baseball is great but how many times does the pitcher need to step off the mound? How many times does the batter need to call time and step out?
October 30th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Menace - extreme co-sign on pacing. i used to enjoy in May/June when there was baseball and basketball, just watching the Ms quietly for a few minutes and then flipping back to an NBA game and noticing the difference in pace, crowd noise etc. baseball announcers are particularly boring since they have so much time to fill with pointless ramblings between the action.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Football rules. But the pace of that game can be pretty brutal from the penalties + tv timeouts + challenges. Its pretty normal for a 15 minute quarter to take 45 minutes to an hour.
Its not good for my liver or wallet to go to professional sporting events that go longer than 2.5-3 hours.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“NBA” Pinball game at Shorty’s, guess who makes it?
October 30th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I agree Menace…wait until you watch the WSU v ND game tomorrow…it is brutal. The television breaks seriously feel like they take 10 minutes apeice. Every other football game has a three hour time slot scheduled by tv. But, for ND it is 3.5 hours. The UW vs ND game (with OT) started at 1230 and i think sometime between 430 and 500. Brutal…
October 30th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Stern Pinball makes it! LOL
October 30th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
“Ties are frustrating… ”
Often yes, but one of the most exciting soccer games that I’ve ever seen was the US’s tie against Italy in the 2006 World Cup. The score was 1-1, not 0-0, but the excitement was not so much in the scoring but rather in the way that the US held its own against arguably the best team in the world (Italy went on to win that World Cup). Three red cards — two of them to the US — added to the excitement, as the US had to play a man down much of the game.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
The score was 1-1, not 0-0, but the excitement was not so much in the scoring but rather in the way that the US held its own against arguably the best team in the world (Italy went on to win that World Cup). Three red cards — two of them to the US — added to the excitement, as the US had to play a man down much of the game
- Sure…one of teh best hockey games most Americans have ever seen is the from the 1980 Olympics. I don’t think using any World Cup soccer game is a valid comparison to why the MLS and Sounders are entertaining.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I have no idea how age is going to affect the Mavs…but Marion is the perfect addition to their team…
October 30th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I have no idea how age is going to affect the Mavs…but Marion is the perfect addition to their team…
I was thinking the same thing - Dallas is one of the deepest teams in the league, with the versatility to play pretty much any kind of ball. Certainly looking good tonight.
The battle for the West playoff seeding is going to be interesting this year. Assuming the Lakers get #1, it will be a dogfight between DAL, SAS, DEN, and maybe PDX to stay out of the 4th spot to avoid one another in the dreaded 4 vs 5 1st round matchup and LA in the 2nd round. Worked out perfectly for the Nuggets last season…
October 30th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Our team is 2-0… but now they got a tough stretch coming up.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:22 am
They are not” our team” anymore they are the Okies team, we will have to see if the curse the jilted Sonics fan put on them continues this year, but they do look improved. I hope they never make the playoffs but if they do I hope we have another team back before they do. If they make the playoffs and we still don’t have a team that would be too painful to endure.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:10 am
I like how the Sixers have gone back to their older, more iconic logo from their glory days. If we do get a new Sonics team I hope we go back to the old skyline-in-a-basketball logo. That was one of the best in the league, from my biased perspective. The logo they came up with after Howard bought the team always reminded me of the Heinz relish logo:
http://gogameface.com/content/uploads/heinz_sweet_relish.jpg
October 31st, 2009 at 2:12 am
See what I mean?:
http://www.buyutec.net/data/media/14/Seattle-SuperSonics.jpg
October 31st, 2009 at 6:07 am
Personally I was a huge fan of the last sonics logo. there was nothing wrong with it at all. to me it was a modernized, updated version of the 1979 championship year logo color scheme - simple, effective, and aesthetically pleasing. I absolutely hated the previous one, where we had the ugly ass red during the 90s. That was a complete joke, ugly, and embarrassing.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:05 am
Soccer and basketball are both great games, but they are very different and should never be compared. I like soccer, but basketball is the sport I am most passionate about. I can’t tell you much about the history of professional soccer, but I know pro basketball because it’s been a big part of my life. I went to one Sounders game this season, in a suite no less, and it was a blast. I would love to go again. The excitement generated by the Sounders this year is fantastic, and great for our city and fans. Still, nothing beats a Sonics game for me, and I’ve attended hundreds in my life. The last few seasons were crappy for sure, but that was beyond our control. With the right ownership and management, a great team can be built quickly. As much as I despise the OKC group, they are doing a fantastic job of team building. Presti is a shrewd operator, and assuming they are willing to spend when the time comes, they seem to be laying the foundation for a Spurs-like franchise, which was their stated intention. The signing of Nenad Krstic was a big step. They now have a real center with skills, something the Sonics management was unable to acquire no matter how many times they tried, through free agency or the draft. The fact that the Blunder appear to be an up and coming team is going to be thorn in the side of us old Sonics fans for a long time to come. No way around that unpleasant fact. As far as logos are concerned, my favorite was the 1973-74 era. I like the yellow uniforms and the swoosh style name. The last Sonics logo was good also, but I agree the red one from the mid-late 1990’s was weak. In my mind, I imagine what a future Sonics team’s logo and uniforms would look like. I can imagine Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut modeling them now…
October 31st, 2009 at 9:06 am
Lets all hope that the curse is still working because the Okies look like they are much improved. They stole our team and for their wrongdoing are supposed to forever suck not look like an early threat to make the playoffs. And with all their future 1st rounders I am really starting to get concerned now. Look at the team we could have now if soon to be ex mayor Nickels hadn’t sold us down the river!!!
Vote for Mallahan and Isreal
October 31st, 2009 at 9:52 am
I work at a coffee shop in Brooklyn so Starbucks comes up a lot, always about how it sucks. The other day a man came in and said “know why Starbucks is so burnt? Because that’s how they drink it in the Northwest.” The drip coffee I’ve tried at Starbucks around NYC is burnt and nasty and they call it the Pike’s Place Blend. As if you needed another reason to hate Howard.
Damn I can’t stand that they’re 2-0 and looking as good or better than any Sonics team in the last decade. F You Howard.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:28 am
Good will always prevail in the end I always believe that. Baltimore didn’t deserve to lose the Colts. Cleveland didn’t deserve to lose the Browns and Houston didn’t deserve to lose the Oilers and all three cities got a replacement team back. So we are just the latest we didn’t deserve to lose the Sonics and we just have to be strong and hope and have faith that things will turn for the better and we can get another team.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:22 am
D-Sport,
I agree… This will like watching paint dry or water boiling but it will happen eventually. When I guess depends on us.. in the mean time feel free to burn some time on a Reidster Buddy Cop Classic. “Haymaker and Sally”. http://2rfilm.com/haymakerandsally/
PS there is only one bare ass scene, lots of swear words and tons of violence and debauchery.
October 31st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
“wait until you watch the WSU v ND game tomorrow…it is brutal. ”
Agreed. Except it’ll have nothing to do with time or pacing.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
” the blue balls of sporting events.” LOL that’s perfect!
October 31st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Thanks Camp - been waiting to see that one!
October 31st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Just watched the “Haymaker and Sally” .
Two big thumbs up to:
Saint Luke’s Class of ‘92
Klayaha Swim Team 1989
They said we would never amount to anything. After watching that flick, you guys obviously proved em wrong.
-Splifton