My kid is a WWE fanatic. I asked him the other day if kids in school like wrestling as well, or if they talk basketball and baseball all day. His exact words: "Nah, all my friends talk soccer all day." Unheard of 30 years ago.
Silver, LeBron, Pop (the founder of LM), the Warriors dynasty, tanking, and analytics -- those six things killed the league.
I used to watch a lot of basketball in the 90's and my interest waned in the early 2000's. Not just bball though, i only really followed boxing at the time. Even when i see NBA highlights there is rarely a time when i think it looks like something i'd want to pay attention to anymore. But i'm just one random guy. I''m sure there are plenty of people that enjoy it as much as ever.
It still has millions of global fans, but I had to check Neil on calling soccer faggy when objectively theres a lot more contact in a European football game than a 2026 NBA game where even a fuckin tickle is a foul.
I think it will take a while for north Americans to consider it less faggy of a sport than basketball when they have the NFL and NHL. Soccer has sadly earned the poor reputation to be sure, but another thing i noticed and read about was the intentional flopping in the NBA which doesn't help anything. Stars have always had more than the benefit of the doubt when it comes to foul calls, to see flopping is pathetic. How much more help from the officiating do you need? I saw some clips of James Harden and it was maddening.
Honestly, yeah! Those games were a helluva lot better than watching a 150-105 blowout. 65 is too low though. The sport was at its best when you had like 94-92 games. Back when games only exceeded 100 when it went into OT.
Believe it or not I was a pretty big NHL fan in the 90s. Not as knowledgeable as a Canadian, but I was higher than a casual. As for baseball -- I take exception to baseball because of how fuckin ungrateful they are. Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds literally saved a dying league that was suffering post 94-strike. And how do they reward those 3? They dont. They vilified them, even though they KNEW juicing was rampant at the time and they turned a blind eye. Thats why fuck baseball.
Low 90 point games was too low. My favorite team to watch was the pistons and despite their rep they were averaging 105-110 pts a game. Yes they played physical defense but they'd also get out and run off it and scored a decent amount
The 90's were actually a pretty low point for the NHL, a lot because of the New Jersey Devils and their stink style of play. I don't follow nearly as closely as i did as a kid in the 80s, but the sport is better now than in that period. Maybe that's part of the reason that even as a Canadian i think i watched more full basketball games at the time than i did hockey.
I'll take your word for it because I stopped watching circa 99-ish. I went to a Devils game about 8 years ago. My job at the time gave me free tix. I dont remember who they played.
The way i see is basketball is already a very high scoring game. One score made is pretty trivial in comparison to other sports. A guy left wide open to take his time and shoot? Meh, whatever team doesn't really care. Just ignore it or try to make up for it on the next possession or 5. When that happens repeatedly it's hard to take it seriously.
Also, theres too many games. Thats not MY OPINION, I never had an issue with 82 games. I still don't. The new generation can't handle that many games. The NFL, 17 games, and each and every one matters, that's a lot more appealing.
It's a problem in European football as well. (although the squad sizes are a lot larger) League game, cup game, this competition, that other one. The organizations are so greedy that they just see more games = more money and there is only so much you can convince people they are all relevant.
I'm a sucker for 90s nostalgia, but I wouldn't consider that THE peak of NBA watchablility. I think the league peaked around 2003-2010 when you had wing players like Kobe, Carter, Mac, Wade, Pierce, and LeBron all playing on an insanely high level WITHOUT an over-reliance on 3s and still having to overcome great perimeter defenders to get their points.
Yeah, but the current me would rather watch a CL game than an NBA playoff game. I'm not pure European though -- a nil-nil draw is boring AF to me. But like a 3-2 game? I'll take that over a 160-130 NBA game.
This is false. I'm not disagreeing that the NFL has gotten softer too, it has, but there is no league that has cut physicality as much as the NBA. Seahawks just won a chip on physical, lockdown D. NBA teams dont win on D anymore. It is actually Stern's fault to a great degree. He decided to systematically destroy defense after the piss poor ratings of the 05 finals.
NfL, a game predicated on violence has legislated much of it out of the game The nba has cut the hand checking on the perimeter out to promote freedom of movement. I can see taking issue with this because it becomes nearly impossible to defend/keep skilled offensive players in front of you And theyve tried to take away the hard fouls at the basket calling more flagrant This i dont really have an issue with, do you prefer seeing jordan get taken out of the air 2 or 3 times every game by some hatchetman? Also If you watch the current post play, they let the defenders be physical as fuck
I've fallen off to the extent that I wasnt even aware there still is elite post play. Like I know Joker is elite in the post, but I thought it was dying overall. Dream is my all time favorite player, even over Mike. So I appreciate the lost art of post-up brilliance.
The NFL was smart though. They made the appeal of the game centered around the QB rather than around violence. And it apparently works because the ratings are insanely high. In the 90s, NBA stars were bigger than any QB. Now guys like Mahomes and Allen are bigger stars than any NBA player.
There's still post play. Mid post more so than low post. Look at leonard, when he actually has been playing, he gets wherever the fuck he wants and there really isn't anyone who can stop it Against Durant Defenders try to use physicality, mostly smaller quicker wings, and he still manages to squirm and be slippery enough to get to his spots to shoot over them But the real banging on the block is obviously less common. thats because the league doesnt want it, they want perimeter play. Guys shooting 3s or driving to the rim. Jeff van gundy said as much when he was a broadcaster a few years ago "OUR league has shown what they prefer by how they officiate defense on the perimeter as opposed to in the post " As for nFL They both did the same shit. Slant the rules to favor offense. The nfL is simply a more popular sport In the 90s who were the players that were bigger stars than any QB, aside from Jordan
