Congratulations Steelheads and other Spring Sports

For me, spring is the worst sporting time of the year. Let me explain.

Even though 2 sports are in their playoffs and another is just starting I am still bored out of my mind. Wait wait wait… before I get to that, I wanna take a second and congratulate our very own Idaho Steelheads ECHL hockey team for beating the Dayton Bombers and winning the Kelly Cup. They won it last night in Dayton.

I will admit it was a bit anti-climatic. The game was not on TV. The best you could do was go down to the arena to watch it, or you could listen on the radio. We caught the end of the game at my parent’s house during my little sister’s birthday dinner. I was secretly hoping that they might lose, so the series would come back to Boise on Saturday and I could go to the game. The funny thing is, when the Steelheads won the cup back in 2004 they won it here at home. Was I at the game? Nope. I was hosting a poker party which had been planned for a couple months and couldn’t be canceled. That time I was also secretly hoping they lost so there would be a game 7 I could go to.

I guess what it boils down to is I like the Steelheads, but I’m not that invested in them. It is important to me that they win, only in so far as I would be able to see them win. Otherwise, I’m just not that affected. I guess that is what happens when you only make it to a handful of games all year.

Which brings me to the other sporting items on the agenda. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been going for the past month plus. How many games have I seen? Zero. Not a one. This is coming from the guy who 4 years ago was one of the biggest hockey fans on the planet. It is really just sad. The thing is, I don’t even really miss it. I guess once they destroy their fan base (lockout, horrible TV deal, etc.) I’m just not coming back. Your championship is on a channel called Versus that I don’t even have. Sorry NHL, you’ve lost me probably for good.

Major League Baseball has started, but that is one of those sports with just no urgency. They play every single day, so you just can’t keep up with what is going on. You really only need to check in once a week to stay current. Besides, the only 2 teams that are even remotely interesting any more are the Yankees and Red Sox, and the Yankees suck this year. I think baseball is in real trouble. But thats just my view.

That leaves the NBA playoffs as the last sporting event currently happening. Dear lord. I would rather watch paint dry. The worst part about the NBA playoffs is the media still thinks its popular. And maybe it is in some markets and to some people. I am not one of them. ESPN is all over the NBA. SportsCenter is packed with it. I listen to ESPN Radio at work and all they seem to talk about is the NBA right now. It is making me crazy. I cannot describe how little I care about the NBA, yet as a sports fan that is all there is right now. The only way to avoid it is to turn off.

I loved this little nugget. The Nielson Ratings for the rain delay of the Indy 500 last weekend were higher than the ratings for the NBA playoff game that day. Not even the race, but the RAIN DELAY. Does that tell you where the NBA is right now?

Basically, all I can do is bide my time. Three months from today, we will once again be in awash of college footballs opening weekend (including Idaho playing at USC… that should be fun) and the NFL will be starting in a week. All will be right with the world.

I can’t wait.