OT: - Which pro playoffs are the best? | The Boneyard

OT: Which pro playoffs are the best?

Jaydumo20

Jaydumo20

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In your opinion which pro playoffs are the best? Why?

Please try to keep this subjective. TV numbers, or revenue generated doesn't make it make it the most enjoyable for YOU.
 
I say baseball. It doesnt have the same numbers as the nfl but these wild card games were better than any football playoff game I've seen in decades. Every pitch is important. And the 1 on 1 pitcher/batter battle is unreplicated in most other sports. The tension is unmatched and the proximity of the fan base to the players adds to this. Plus the strategy completely changes in post season games (for the better)
 
NBA - way too long
NHL - same, boring TV sport
NFL - pretty cool, week apart, one game format, winter
MLB - feel like there is a disconnect in how the regular season flows into the playoffs - needs a reformatting. Makes no sense that a 162 game season leads to a 3 game WC.
World Cup - pretty cool
 
MLB playoffs are exciting, no doubt. But baseball teams separate themselves over the long term. It's not uncommon for a 95-win team to lose six in a row in mid-June or whatever.

There's no good answer to this, but the only way to determine actual best teams would be to make the regular season as meaningful as possible. That's not good for ratings, so the opposite is happening, and as a result you get third-place teams in the World Series.

Still, exciting.
 
For me it's FB...mostly because the game is more interesting to me. I'll watch a lot of FB playoff games even if my team isn't playing (and since I'm I Giants fan...they aren't).

Even when I followed the Yankees more (95-05), I rarely watched a non Yankee playoff game. I think that still holds true for most people...baseball is a team specific watch...FB is a sport watch. I don't watch any baseball playoff games other than flipping over to check score once my team is out.
 
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Jaydumo20 said:
In your opinion which pro playoffs are the best? Why?

Please try to keep this subjective. TV numbers, or revenue generated doesn't make it make it the most enjoyable for YOU.
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In the US I tend to watch the MLB playoffs more than any other playoffs even though the number of teams and rounds is starting to give me fatigue especially if my team is not involved.

The comment about the World Cup was valid. I am not a huge soccer fan but the world wide participation and the fact that it is only every four years draws me in.

All Ireland Football is very exciting. It is county vs county and Ireland being such a small country geographically rival teams are always fairly close to each other.
 
cullaville said:
In the US I tend to watch the MLB playoffs more than any other playoffs even though the number of teams and rounds is starting to give me fatigue especially if my team is not involved.

The comment about the World Cup was valid. I am not a huge soccer fan but the world wide participation and the fact that it is only every four years draws me in.

All Ireland Football is very exciting. It is county vs county and Ireland being such a small country geographically rival teams are always fairly close to each other.
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We need to find a way to create a relegation system in the US - it's good entertainment.

As for NHL - truly an acquired taste. I for one, find it incredibly boring watching a tiny puck shoot around on TV. It's organized chaos. No real sets or alternate possessions, just madness. Reduces the drama. Also, major drag when one of these Floridian expansion franchises dominate vs storied franchises in real hockey playing locations. If a hockey game isn't within one goal or two within the last period or so, find it truly pointless to watch.
 
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NHL no question. Every moment is critical because a goal can be scored very quickly. The size, strength, speed, agility and finesse of these athletes is amazing to watch.

NFL is the absolute worst. The super bowl is the single most overrated championship. One single 60 minute game which has more downtime than action determines the champion. The biggest take-away is always about the half-time show, and usually not in a good way
 
Kolumbo said:
NHL no question. Every moment is critical because a goal can be scored very quickly. The size, strength, speed, agility and finesse of these athletes is amazing to watch.

NFL is the absolute worst. The super bowl is the single most overrated championship. One single 60 minute game which has more downtime than action determines the champion. The biggest take-away is always about the half-time show, and usually not in a good way
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You're def in a small minority with that take. How would you reason that the NFL has taken off like a rocket ship, while the NHL has stagnated? NHL playoff hockey ratings were down 27% last year year over year. What you're seeing, the people aren't getting.

​

 
RuffRuff said:
You're def in a small minority with that take. How would you reason that the NFL has taken off like a rocket ship, while the NHL has stagnated? NHL playoff hockey ratings were down 27% last year year over year. What you're seeing, the people aren't getting.

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IMG_1191.jpeg
 
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navery12 said:
NHL playoffs for me. It's the only sport I think that converts a casual regular season fan into a viewer
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Yep. I almost never watch regular season hockey but I always tune in for the playoffs.
 
RuffRuff said:
You're def in a small minority with that take. How would you reason that the NFL has taken off like a rocket ship, while the NHL has stagnated? NHL playoff hockey ratings were down 27% last year year over year. What you're seeing, the people aren't getting.

​

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I agree with @Kolumbo.

Id say Fantasy football is THE reason for the NFL's ascendancy not the quality of the product. The game changed to adapt to fantasy. That's how powerful it is. It courted casuals, office workers and women. Almost 50% of the NFL viewership is women now and that number was miniscule before fantasy. Think back to when you were a kid, women didnt care about football. I have been part of fantasy leagues where half the owners are not sports fans. Its something to do, and winning money and owning your own team is attractive. They're not watching games that dont feature their rostered players.

NFLs success, IMO is based on gambling, culture, bars and sex, more than it is the product itself. CFB is based on regional group identity, with many of the games featuring the top programs being absolute blowouts.
 
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RuffRuff said:
You're def in a small minority with that take. How would you reason that the NFL has taken off like a rocket ship, while the NHL has stagnated? NHL playoff hockey ratings were down 27% last year year over year. What you're seeing, the people aren't getting.

​

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I actually appreciate that I am in the minority. I think the general population consists of a bunch of lazy idiots too. I don't try to rationalize why McDonalds is still in business, why people need to park illegally or use drive-thrus and are too lazy to walk across a parking lot, why so many reality or otherwise awful tv shows are successful, the list goes on. The last thing I want to do is be compared to the herd.

One football game vs. up to 7 play-off games. They are not even in the same universe in terms of action and entertainment. Baseball and basketball are also far better than football simply because there is so much more to watch.
 
I've really become an NBA guy. Yeah, it's way too long but man there are some INSANE performances, individual- and team-wise.

I love the MLB playoffs when the Sox are in it (d'oh) but I'm not going to tune in to a random game unless it's the ALCS/NLCS/WS.
 
MLB playoffs, although I do not like the changes they have made over the past few years.

UEFA Champions League. Again, I do not like the changes and expansion they have done but the product is still very good.

World Cup and Euro Cup are a class of their own. Pretty perfect, but FIFA and UEFA are doing their best to try and ruin a good thing.

I have become a casual fan of the NFL.
 
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RuffRuff said:
As for NHL - truly an acquired taste. I for one, find it incredibly boring watching a tiny puck shoot around on TV. It's organized chaos. No real sets or alternate possessions, just madness. Reduces the drama. Also, major drag when one of these Floridian expansion franchises dominate vs storied franchises in real hockey playing locations. If a hockey game isn't within one goal or two within the last period or so, find it truly pointless to watch.
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I used to feel this way until I started watching, that every goal was essentially an accident and it was basically just chaos. It's not. When you get into it and start to understand the rhythms of the game you appreciate how much skill is involved. There are goals that are the product of some unbelievably skilled puck movement, or incredible individual skill, and sometimes there are goals where somebody just rips a clapper off someone's ass.

But the NHL playoffs are fantastic. There are few experiences like having a rooting interest in OT of a game 7.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
I used to feel this way until I started watching, that every goal was essentially an accident and it was basically just chaos. It's not. When you get into it and start to understand the rhythms of the game you appreciate how much skill is involved. There are goals that are the product of some unbelievably skilled puck movement, or incredible individual skill, and sometimes there are goals where somebody just rips a clapper off someone's ass.

But the NHL playoffs are fantastic. There are few experiences like having a rooting interest in OT of a game 7.
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I saw a key goal bounce accidentally off of another offensive players skate last year - when I said, this sport is kinda dumb, to me. It's just not my thing. I'm sure if I spent the time to understand it more, played it, had a child play it, I could get into it. I just don't have it in me to learn that sport. I'm not downplaying the skill at all, I think it takes a ton - I'm simply stating viewing the sport from a TV set loses my attention fast.

Again, I prefer sports where there is an organized back and forth, a clear defense and offense. In hockey, it's just all kinda blended together into one chaotic mash. Not into it.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
I used to feel this way until I started watching, that every goal was essentially an accident and it was basically just chaos. It's not. When you get into it and start to understand the rhythms of the game you appreciate how much skill is involved. There are goals that are the product of some unbelievably skilled puck movement, or incredible individual skill, and sometimes there are goals where somebody just rips a clapper off someone's ass.

But the NHL playoffs are fantastic. There are few experiences like having a rooting interest in OT of a game 7.
Expand ...
I barely watch, but when the team you're rooting for is on the power play down a goal or tied or is short-handed and trying to protect a 1-goal lead late in the game, there's probably nothing more exciting in sports.

I'm not really a hockey fan anymore but in the early 1990s I was a gigantic Rangers fan, and holy s did Mike Richter (and the goalpost) face an onslaught against Vancouver.
 
NHL for me. For my money you cannot beat the speed, skill and excitement and it seems that every single game presents some sort of cliffhanger ending. I particularly enjoyed last season's Oilers/Stars matchup.

IMO
 
I agree that NHL is the most exciting. I love baseball so MLB is up there as well. NFL follows closely and NBA is a distant fourth,

I did play a lot of pond hockey and organized hockey and baseball/softball.
 
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