Are you happy that the season is closer or sad that the summer is going?

[wintersej]

It was a very pleasant summer in New England. Fall is great. Winter is great.

Spring sucks until the playoffs start unless you are a mud farmer or something.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

People rushing to get past summer are crazy:

-warm weather
-pool/beach
-light until 8-9 pm
-socializing outdoors

Give me the summer. I could really do without hockey at this point.

I follow the Rangers to be part of the community on here. I sit down and watch a game that the Rangers aren't playing in like once a year. I'm over it.

Why, my friend? What is piquing your interest nowadays?

 

[Machinehead]

Why, my friend? What is piquing your interest nowadays?

I got into basketball a lot more. The higher scoring takes a lot of getting used to, but once you get into it, it's like, you see people hit these 40 foot shots into these little baskets and then you turn on the hockey game and somebody scores accidentally off of a skate because that's the way the roulette wheel decided to turn that day.

That's not to say there isn't a ton of skill in hockey, but the randomness is off-putting. It's really nice to watch sports where the team that deserves to win wins 95% of the time. And I say this as a fan of a team who has built a relatively successful franchise, that's done everything but win the Cup over the last 10-12 years, on the basis of their opponents having the puck most of the game. And even though they're usually good for 50 wins and a round or two, that gets exhausting to watch too.

There's also a lot of player movement in other sports which I find satisfying. Most of the contenders didn't do f***ing anything this summer. I don't want a capless NHL by any stretch, but the lack of flexibility and lack of adjustment to inflation built into the current cap system is frustrating. Everyone kind of gets to where they get to and then you watch basically the same rosters until it's time for everyone to rebuild and the next group comes in.

Granted, the NBA just had a pretty bad year from an entertainment perspective because the Celtics just didn't belong in the league with everyone else, and we knew they were winning it all by Christmas, but other teams have the ability to adjust. I don't feel like the Knicks are locked in to never improving their roster for the next few years because they signed Jalen Brunson. Meanwhile, Trouba and Panarin expire after the 2025-26 season and that'll be Igor's extension plus one other big move. And that's it. That's their roster until Zibanejad expires going into the 2031 season. Meanwhile, what are we doing for those two seasons? Just sending the same team out and hoping the bounces are different.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

I got into basketball a lot more. The higher scoring takes a lot of getting used to, but once you get into it, it's like, you see people hit these 40 foot shots into these little baskets and then you turn on the hockey game and somebody scores accidentally off of a skate because that's the way the roulette wheel decided to turn that day.

That's not to say there isn't a ton of skill in hockey, but the randomness is off-putting. It's really nice to watch sports where the team that deserves to win wins 95% of the time. And I say this as a fan of a team who has built a relatively successful franchise, that's done everything but win the Cup over the last 10-12 years, on the basis of their opponents having the puck most of the game. And even though they're usually good for 50 wins and a round or two, that gets exhausting to watch too.

There's also a lot of player movement in other sports which I find satisfying. Most of the contenders didn't do f***ing anything this summer. I don't want a capless NHL by any stretch, but the lack of flexibility and lack of adjustment to inflation built into the current cap system is frustrating. Everyone kind of gets to where they get to and then you watch basically the same rosters until it's time for everyone to rebuild and the next group comes in.

Granted, the NBA just had a pretty bad year from an entertainment perspective because the Celtics just didn't belong in the league with everyone else, and we knew they were winning it all by Christmas, but other teams have the ability to adjust. I don't feel like the Knicks are locked in to never improving their roster for the next few years because they signed Jalen Brunson. Meanwhile, Trouba and Panarin expire after the 2025-26 season and that'll be Igor's extension plus one other big move. And that's it. That's their roster until Zibanejad expires going into the 2031 season. Meanwhile, what are we doing for those two seasons? Just sending the same team out and hoping the bounces are different.

Ahh this is sad to see. I get some of your points, but I'm not sure basketball is it.

Before last year, basketball's parity problem was better, but they just came out of the GSW era. Before that, it was whatever team LeBron was on. Wouldn't doubt if this Celtics team wins something like 2 of the next 3 or 3 out of 5.

My major problem with basketball, aside from the lack of parity, is game flow. There are so many commercials and the last 2-3 minutes of close games are awful to watch with the incessant amount of timeouts called. It kills the flow and diminishes the amount of drama.

The player movement thing does suck but let's hope the rising cap alleviates some of that. You bring up the Knicks, but they are the perfect example of not good enough to win. Brunson is not on the level of Giannis, Tatum, and (a healthy) Embiid. Sure they have depth, but can you see them beating Boston or even Denver without massive injuries? At least in hockey, as long the teams are reasonably matched up, the result is not as predetermined.

 

[FMichael]

While I enjoy the summer break - by early August I'm craving me some Red Wings hockey.

 

[Machinehead]

Ahh this is sad to see. I get some of your points, but I'm not sure basketball is it.

Before last year, basketball's parity problem was better, but they just came out of the GSW era. Before that, it was whatever team LeBron was on. Wouldn't doubt if this Celtics team wins something like 2 of the next 3 or 3 out of 5.

My major problem with basketball, aside from the lack of parity, is game flow. There are so many commercials and the last 2-3 minutes of close games are awful to watch with the incessant amount of timeouts called. It kills the flow and diminishes the amount of drama.

The player movement thing does suck but let's hope the rising cap alleviates some of that. You bring up the Knicks, but they are the perfect example of not good enough to win. Brunson is not on the level of Giannis, Tatum, and (a healthy) Embiid. Sure they have depth, but can you see them beating Boston or even Denver without massive injuries? At least in hockey, as long the teams are reasonably matched up, the result is not as predetermined.

You bring up some salient points.

You have to keep in mind, also, that there's an exhaustion element to it. I've been watching hockey for 30+ years. I'm still very much on here and very much at the arena when I can be, and I like talking about it. It's just, when it starts going bad, it's like "oh this again?" I don't have the energy to react to the bullshit anymore with anything besides laughing at it.

I can be positive about basketball. I'm still too dumb to know better.

I had a conversation with a buddy of mine before game 6 of the ECF. He's super into basketball and we go to games and such, but he casually follows the Rangers because he knows it's my thing. And he's trying to get me going before game 6. "C'mon man, you gotta have faith, win one game, game 7 at home, etc. etc. etc." And I'm just like "listen, this isn't a matter of I think the Rangers are going to lose tonight, I know the Rangers are going to lose tonight." And I was right. I'm always right. I smelled the blood in the water. I have a dangerous amount of experience in this sport. I can far too often give myself spoilers.

I should also mention that, while I like the Knicks, my #1 team is the Liberty. The WNBA slaps. The quarters are 10 minutes instead of 12. It makes a world of difference. You get a compact, relatively low-scoring, two-hour experience where every momentum swing has a lot of gravity because you can't afford to just go down 20 like you can in the NBA. The W also has one of my favorite rules -- the reset timeout. It's a mini "timeout" where you get to advance the ball and...do nothing else. You just advance the ball. The whole thing is like ten seconds. A lot of people have brought up that point about the lack of flow, and it's a great solution. I would like to see the NBA start using it.

It also doesn't hurt that unlike at MSG, I can afford to consistently go to Liberty games and in pretty good seats too.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

As an Australian I'm happy that the season is coming and also happy that summer is coming.

 

[bobholly39]

I'm mostly sad the Olympics are over now

 

[Soedy]

Hate the summer. So happy for the season to start.