Paul Gallico, an author and sportswriter in the 1920s, said that he quit writing about sports because of the lack of the month of February in the modern sports calendar. Sports flies through the seasons. There is baseball's opening day, the Masters, Kentucky Derby, Boston Marathon and "March Madness" in spring. Summer brings the French Open, the Belmont Stakes, Wimbledon, the Indianapolis 500, baseball's all-star game and the British Open leading right into the U.S. Open and the World Series in baseball in autumn. The year is wrapped up with winter's rivalries and bowl games in college football, NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. Yet the month of February, after the Super Bowl is over, becomes a seemingly vast wasteland. While it would be apropos for some sportswriters to lament about this lack of action, upon further inspection, basketball and hockey, are going to provide plenty of flavor this February.
The NBA in the era after Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan has lost much of its allure. Even the posteseason has lost excitement. There used to be huge games played on all the big holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years), but those days of Knicks vs. Bulls/Heat/Pacers or Rockets vs. Sonics/Jazz/Suns, or other intense rivalries of a decade ago, have fallen by the wayside. Defense is a far second to high scoring, wide open play, big dunks and behind the back passes. While it is always common to lament about the state of the NBA today, it is important to look closely and see that some very big games are being played.
There should be no more inter-conference games. The West is like the varsity team and the East is the J.V. squad. If the conferences were put together, the season ended today and the top 16 teams made the playoffs, five out of the 16 teams would come from the Eastern Conference and only one would come from the Atlantic Division.
Westerm teams still play some big games. Sacramento, Minnesota, San Antonio, the Lakers, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Memphis and Utah are all over .500 in the West and all provide great match-ups when they meet. One of these teams over .500 right now will not make the playoffs, which is amazing. They will all be battling hard down the stretch, while also looking over their shoulders at Seattle and Portland who aren't too far behind. Shaq, Kobe, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Peja Stojakovic, Carmelo Anthony and Yao Ming all play in the beefed up Western Conference. The match-ups they create every night put lots of fannies in the seats and should bring in a lot of viewers, especially down the stretch. The hall of fame destined starting lineup of the Lakers, the play of Sacramento without Webber, the amazing offenses in Minnesota and Dallas and the young, overachieving teams in Utah, Denver and Memphis are all storylines that make the Western Conference such an interesting subject to follow the rest of the season.
Then there's the East. The Pacers, Pistons, Nets, Hornets and very surprising Bucks will all be competing in the playoffs. But the storyline in the East is the teams that are going to sneak into the other spots that will try to upset them. Will it be the Toronto Raptors with Vince Carter and Jalen Rose? Or the new look Knicks with Allan Houston and Stephon Marbury? Or the Boston Celtics being carried on their shoulders by Paul Pierce? Or maybe the Miami Heat who lost the first 7 games of the season but have surged under the rejuvenation of Eddie Jones and Lamar Odom?
And don't forget about Allen Iverson or LeBron James lurking in the background. While they may not be able to compete with the West, the East definitely will have some exciting match-ups as the season nears a close.
What the NBA needs to do to really rejuvenate things is to beef up the Slam Dunk competition again. In the past decade, only Vince Carter's performance has made any dent in the American public. Less and less people tune in each year to view the event. What the NBA needs to do is to make it mandatory in each player's contract that, if they are not on the team's injured reserve, and the NBA picks them for the slam dunk competition, they need to compete. Imagine a slam dunk contest this year with LeBron, Kenyon Martin, Kobe, Garnett, and Carter. It gets me salivating just typing it.
The NHL on the other hand, is enjoying great successes in leveling the playing field. The Eastern and Western Conferences both have strong teams and weak teams.
The biggest problem with the NHL is the lack of interest in most American cities. When I mentioned going to a Bruins game last week, someone who I consider a pretty knowledgeable sports person asked who the heck the Bruins were. The problems of fan loyalty in the NHL are going to be exacerbated by the seemingly inevitable upcoming work stoppage at the end of this season. But while this season goes on, there are some important things to watch.
Colorado vs. Detroit is one of the best rivalries in hockey and probably in all of sports. Since the mid-90's they have gone at it on a pretty consistent basis in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Both teams have won Stanley Cups and both teams had the opportunity to keep the other from reaching that goal. The likes of Kariya, Forsberg, Selanne, Sakic, Tanguay, Hejduk and Rob Blake vs. Datsyuk, Brett Hull, Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Mathieu Schneider and Lidstrom make for one of the best match-ups in the NHL. Even with a goaltending edge going to the Red Wings, this match-up is about as even as it gets, as shown by the teams sitting first and second in the Western Conference.
The Western Conference features many young, fast and exciting teams. Los Angeles is in the hunt for a playoff spot despite missing many key players to injuries, and Vancouver has rode one of the strongest front lines in hockey and great goaltending. The San Jose Sharks started slowly but have surprised many people by coming up lately, and Nashville is looking to make their first playoffs.
The Eastern Conference has some great stories too. The usual suspects of Toronto, Philadelphia, Ottawa and New Jersey are in the hunt again this year. But teams like Tampa Bay, the Islanders, Montreal and Boston will be right on their tails. If the Islanders or Montreal start to slip, they need to watch out for the Rangers, Atlanta,and Buffalo to jump up and take the 8th spot.
February may be a slow month in sports, but this February should see some good action from the NBA and NHL. Bridging the gap between the Super Bowl and March Madness and the opening day of baseball, this time by the Hot Stove provides for some interesting match-ups.
All in all, 32 teams will make the playoffs in those two sports, and, with the All-Star games for both coming up soon, signifying the start of the playoff push, many cities across the United States and Canada will start gearing up for an exciting finish. This should be a great February for sports. If not, Texas Hold 'Em can be played in any season.