The Future of Sports

[mathking]

The NHL has cleaned up its act a lot in the last five years or so, particularly since the lockout. But I can remember a number of nasty brawls in the late 90s. The increased fighting and what to do about it was actually a topic of a lot of heated debate. There were many people worried that if they cracked down on fighting fans would stop coming to the games. I always thought this was pretty condescending toward the fans, and it turns out that after they toughened the penalties for fighting people actually started enjoying the hockey.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by mathking

The NHL has cleaned up its act a lot in the last five years or so, particularly since the lockout. But I can remember a number of nasty brawls in the late 90s. The increased fighting and what to do about it was actually a topic of a lot of heated debate. There were many people worried that if they cracked down on fighting fans would stop coming to the games. I always thought this was pretty condescending toward the fans, and it turns out that after they toughened the penalties for fighting people actually started enjoying the hockey.

While I won't disagree that there were a number of nasty brawls in the '90s (several involving my beloved Avalanche), there hasn't been a bench clearing brawl in quite some time. That is, players haven't been jumping out onto the ice once a fight starts to help their team out. Other players currently on the ice may jump into the action, but new ones don't clear the boards to engage.

And maybe steroid in baseball aren't such a bad thing compared to this alternative...

[Nawaid Ladak]

im going to answer the question that i saw as the thread title

"The Future of Sports"

well, lets see what we got.

NBA-up to 20 officials involved with gambeling.
NFL-conduct discipline issues,
-Tank Johnson, Guns
-Adam "Pacman" Jones, making it rain inside a strip club and numorious other offenses
-Micheal Vick, Dog Fighting
MLB- roids
NHL-Not being noticed
NASCAR-Ratings starting to drop

the list goes on

so lets get started...

first the NBA issue... Mark Cuban looks right all the way through on this issue. The NBA is in trouble, FOR NOW with this issue, after a couple of down years, it will rise once again because of all the stardom around the league, (Kobe, Lebron, Wade...). This will happen if the NBA finds a way to keep it's officials on a leash, ie GPS or something.

the NFL will most certainly survive for the following reason, the NFL is beyond a sport, it is now a show. it's seen in most American households and pretty much as close to a national sport as you can get. Canadians are passionate about their hockey, well Americans are pationate about their football. Football WILL survive this, it's just that the players might not.

MLB, my opinion about Barry bonds first, people forget that most of the people who have been cought using roids were PITCHERS, so someone, please remind me again who throws the ball to Bonds?

Baseball has been down for a couple of years now, the only teams you ever see on ESPN are those Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs or Angels, (TEAMS not Players.) you see the braves as well on TBS, This need to change, teams such as the Devil Rays need to improve their fan base, and some teams just need to start winning, thats all it takes, seriously, who was a die hard Tigers fan 3 or 4 years ago? Baseball will survive if this happens, and even if it doesn't, it will still be around

NHL- They need to sign a deal with SOMEONE! forget Versus or NBC, make a deal with someone like ESPN/ABC or FOX. someone who will respect the leauge and it's players in America. (I say bring CBC Canada to cable in the US!).

NASCAR: I don't know, maybe the beginning of the end for the sport. all things that go up must come down.

But there is one sport that i see a bright future for in the states.

Soccer: With David Beckham's arrival, and all those kids who played for those minivan driving soccer mom's. are growing up, there could end up being a nice talent pool here in the states. Baseball is boring in my opinion, in soccer atleast you have EVERYONE moving on the field, no pitcher or shortstop in one place, even the goalie has to move often in soccer. This is the rise of the 4th major sport in the US, maybe replacing the NHL of the mid 90's.