Just the Facts, Ma’am
I’ve been watching the NBA playoffs, and tonight culminated in an amazing game seven between the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and the upstart Sacramento Kings. Now I never questioned the out come of this series… I knew exactly who the winner was going to be: NBC. You could see it in the way the fouls were being called. One night Shaq is checking Vlade’s nasal passages with his elbow and the refs look the other way, the next night Shaq is called on two violations that other refs had never heard of. The saddest thing was the brothers that own the Kings. After the game, they were interviewed about how the felt. You could see it in their eyes… they really thought they had a chance to win. It broke my heart.
If you took the Lakers and the Kings, put them on a high school blacktop court with no referees and no hidden agendas. I think the Lakers would win 99 times out of 100. Why? Shaq and Kobe. As of right now, there is no team out there that can put down these two players. Period. So why you might ask did it come down to a crucial game seven that went into overtime? Ratings. It’s summertime and sweeps are over. All the big NBC shows have had their finales and the filler shows have hit the air. So NBC wants the series to go on as long as possible. And they want the marquee match ups. It didn’t matter from the east. New Jersey or Boston, both have good television demographics. But the real draw is the Lakers.
Well, the NBA wants NBC’s money. It’s a simple equation. NBC wants seven games of the Lakers and the Kings. The NBA control the refs… the refs control the game. Result? A seven game nail biting series. But the Lakers had to win, because no body wanted a Sacramento vs. New Jersey/Boston final. No one would watch. The ratings would be horrible. And everyone knows that the east has no real chance against the west. So NBC had to get the most out of this series. They had the New Jersey/Boston series go as long so that people would keep in mind that there was more basketball coming up… to keep the audience for the finals.
So in a few days the New Jersey Nets will take the court, the announcers will try to convince us that they are a good team and capable of taking down the Lakers. The refs will call enough phantom fouls to let the Nets win a game or two and then the Lakers will take home their third trophy in a row. NBC will take home good ratings. The refs will take home a descent paycheck and the NBA will go back to looking for the next Michael Jordan… or the next Kobe Bryant.
I’ve been watching the NBA playoffs, and tonight culminated in an amazing game seven between the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and the upstart Sacramento Kings. Now I never questioned the out come of this series… I knew exactly who the winner was going to be: NBC. You could see it in the way the fouls were being called. One night Shaq is checking Vlade’s nasal passages with his elbow and the refs look the other way, the next night Shaq is called on two violations that other refs had never heard of. The saddest thing was the brothers that own the Kings. After the game, they were interviewed about how the felt. You could see it in their eyes… they really thought they had a chance to win. It broke my heart.
If you took the Lakers and the Kings, put them on a high school blacktop court with no referees and no hidden agendas. I think the Lakers would win 99 times out of 100. Why? Shaq and Kobe. As of right now, there is no team out there that can put down these two players. Period. So why you might ask did it come down to a crucial game seven that went into overtime? Ratings. It’s summertime and sweeps are over. All the big NBC shows have had their finales and the filler shows have hit the air. So NBC wants the series to go on as long as possible. And they want the marquee match ups. It didn’t matter from the east. New Jersey or Boston, both have good television demographics. But the real draw is the Lakers.
Well, the NBA wants NBC’s money. It’s a simple equation. NBC wants seven games of the Lakers and the Kings. The NBA control the refs… the refs control the game. Result? A seven game nail biting series. But the Lakers had to win, because no body wanted a Sacramento vs. New Jersey/Boston final. No one would watch. The ratings would be horrible. And everyone knows that the east has no real chance against the west. So NBC had to get the most out of this series. They had the New Jersey/Boston series go as long so that people would keep in mind that there was more basketball coming up… to keep the audience for the finals.
So in a few days the New Jersey Nets will take the court, the announcers will try to convince us that they are a good team and capable of taking down the Lakers. The refs will call enough phantom fouls to let the Nets win a game or two and then the Lakers will take home their third trophy in a row. NBC will take home good ratings. The refs will take home a descent paycheck and the NBA will go back to looking for the next Michael Jordan… or the next Kobe Bryant.
<< Home