11.02.2005

NBA Season Starts

Or should I say: "NBA Season Starts?"

I don't know what has happened to the NBA. How is it that I barely even know that the season is starting? I did know that the season was starting, but it's unbelievable to me how unceremonial the NBA opener is. Shouldn't the giant marketing machine be in full gear for opening day? If nothing else, shouldn't I be hearing about opening day for the Bucks: The premier of the first pick in the whole draft (Bogut)?

It's hard to miss the NFL opener. It's obviously on Fox or CBS during primetime. They get some huge star - or stars to do the halftime extravaganza. They've got a parade, they've got commercials on every 3 minutes: it's just a big thing.

Even baseball has a bigger opening. Nowhere near football - but chances are very good that you know someone that took the day off of work to go to the Brewers Opening Day... and they haven't had a winning season in like 100 years (or so).

To illustrate how poorly the NBA has done: last night I was at a 7-friend poker game. All male. All mid 20s to lower 30s. The primary focus is playing cards but there's inevitably a TV in the background. and what was on it? On NBA opening day? After none of us had been able to watch basketball on TV for months? ... some NFL show, clearly produced in 1998 - about NFL coaches.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You expect hoopla for the Bucks in Madison!!? They don't even play MOST of the Bucks games on TV in Madison!! In fact, last year they didn't even show the Bucks first round play-off game on TV!!! A PLAY-OFF GAME!! The Bucks get no respect anywhere but in Milwaukee. The hype was and is big in Milwaukee, Bogut is ALREADY a hero. UPN24 in Milwaukee shows every game, I had to go to the Big 10 Pub for almost EVERY game when I lived in Madison. Madison even has UPN24, but it's their own, non-Milwaukee-Bucks, channel. Disgraceful!! - Foster

Whitney said...

Cause NBA Basketball sucks. Stick with the collegiates- they'll get ya through.

jimhalberg said...

Sam - Don't pretend you didn't watch the NFL opener this year praying for a "wardrobe malfunction" from Santana or really any member of the Rolling Stones for that matter!

Leslie Fedorchuk said...

I love being a lurker in these sports rants you go off on Jim. Most of the time I only have the vaugest ides of what the heck you are talking about...but love being able to read them - and the back and forth they provoke. See you both Thursday -

Anonymous said...

I'm with you, Jimmer! It is next to impossible to find a Bucks schedule, let alone a game on T.V.. I finally did a Tivo search of all NBA games that were on and discovered one on T.V.-IN MADISON-on Tuesday night. Go Bucks!

Sheila said...

Last year the only Bucks games we got on television were away games, and we live in Waukesha. The story might be different if we had cable, but on the local stations, we could only watch away games, home games were not broadcast. Guess I was suppose to go down and buy tickets if I wanted to see those games!