Parity in sports

Originally posted by Melanerpes
the irony is that the NBA has the strictest salary cap system - and it seems like all the salary rules make it almost impossible for one of the bad or mediocre teams to become good enough to contend for a title. As it stands now, the rebuilding strategy has become "clear up enough cap space and successfully sign King James in 2010 or else go bust". When J ...[text shortened]... remain with Cleveland there will be a lot of unhappy campers, especially in the New York area.

The reason that the NBA has so many repeat champs (or repeat after missing a year, etc.) is that one or two great players can dominate forever. Get Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and surround them with a bunch of role players and you can win titles year after year. Kobe and Shaq, Duncan and Parker, etc.

In other sports, you need, at minimum, 5 or 6 contributing key players to win. Jordan getting to play every day would be like Johan Santana getting to pitch every day for 9 innings.

In hockey, the goalie is big, but to generate offense, your really need 4 or 5 good offensive players. Crosby can't win a Cup without Malkin, Stall and Gonchar.

Originally posted by Palynka
I find it interesting how this contrasts with your political views.

I don't. You simply misread my aim in regards to my political views. My goal is to spread the wealth by spreading the power. You know, I favor state rights over federal rights, I favor small business over the large corporation. I detest elitism and the hording of power and wealth which is what you have in MLB and what you now have in the current administration in Washington. I would say that MLB is now the sport of the statist.

Originally posted by trev33
in the past 10 years there's been 7 different superbowl winners.

8 different world series champions.

8 stanley cup winners

and 3 nba chumpions

and you wonder why the nba is considered the most boring of north american sports.

look at the european soccer leagues in the past 10 years, you'll find it difficult finding a league with more than 4 d ...[text shortened]... he mets and their wage bill.. 24 years is a long time. the little teams always has a chance.

In MLB add up the teams over .500 and those under .500. The last time I checked, of the top 15 payroll teams there were only 6 under .500. However, those of the bottom 15 payroll teams there were only 6 over .500. You see, for the most part you can buy a winning season, but a short playoff series is much harder to control. What you end up having, as you have this year, are all top 15 pay roll teams in the playoffs, except one miracle team, which are the Twins who will soon die a quick death in the playoffs to the Yankees.

Originally posted by quackquack
[b]I think parity is the worst thing that can happen in sports.

You must love MLB.

Originally posted by quackquack
. In MLB right now Pittsburgh and Kansas City might fit in that category. The sport should not cater to its worst franchises it should eliminate them.

Don't forget about my Reds. Thats right, perhaps its time for the oldest professional sports team in US history to bite the dust!!

Originally posted by Palynka
I find it interesting how this contrasts with your political views.

it's better to have contrasting views than to have no views like some people i know...

Originally posted by trev33
in the past 10 years there's been 7 different superbowl winners.

8 different world series champions.

8 stanley cup winners

and 3 nba chumpions

and you wonder why the nba is considered the most boring of north american sports.

look at the european soccer leagues in the past 10 years, you'll find it difficult finding a league with more than 4 d ...[text shortened]... he mets and their wage bill.. 24 years is a long time. the little teams always has a chance.

I think the yankees, red sox and LA Angels shouldn't have to play the regular season. Just give them automatic entry into the playoffs and let the other AL teams play each other for the final position.

Makes perfect sense to me because NYY BOS LAA are in the playoffs virtually every year now anyway.

Originally posted by trev33
i didn't check russia or (who cares) malta. italy and germany both with 5 but wait 2 years and it will be 3 in italy and 4 in germany.

my point stands in comparison to n. america.

I'm in agreement with you regarding the lack of competitiveness at the top of the European game which has become increasingly polarised. I would very much like to see a wider variety of teams competing for the major honours with more surprises.

However, whilst looking purely at the champions does point in favour of US systems if you look further down the idea of parity quickly breaks down. When was the last time an American side was able to rise through the ranks on playing merit. What chance the rise of a club like Wimbledon, Chievo, Hoffenheim or Terek to the upper echelons of the game (and yes I do realise some financial backing there) instead of a team getting in purely because they happen to be in the right market.

It's only parity within a small, selected band of teams. Look outside and those claims quickly fall down. When was the last time a team from outside one of the big four major US leagues actually lost a compeitive fixture to a side outside them? For that matter when was the last time they actually got the chance?

As for the reference to Malta - who cares? Well hopefully the Maltese, though I'd certainly prefer to watch a game in that league than a Premiership or Serie A game. Admittedly I'm in a minority on that count. However, one thing which I dislike about the modern game in the lack of people who care about some sides, favouring those (especially distant) on TV instead of somewhere they could actually go and watch in person and represents their own community.

Originally posted by uzless
I think the yankees, red sox and LA Angels shouldn't have to play the regular season. Just give them automatic entry into the playoffs and let the other AL teams play each other for the final position.

Makes perfect sense to me because NYY BOS LAA are in the playoffs virtually every year now anyway.

Well said!!

Now where is that Yankee/Twin game so I can avoid it on TV?

What do you think, will the Yanks sweep them?

Originally posted by whodey
Well said!!

Now where is that Yankee/Twin game so I can avoid it on TV?

What do you think, will the Yanks sweep them?

You can watch your TV today in total freedom -- Yankees-Twins don't play today. But don't you want to enjoy another Yankee ALDS choke-fest? 😀

Yankees won the first game - they'll probably lose the next three. That's been their playoff pattern as of late.

On the other hand, they always seem to beat the Twins, even in the playoffs. So something's got to give.