Gilbert Quinonez The stat geek is
dreaming of an Expos-Twins world series. E-mail him at bcscomputergeek@hotmail.com.
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April ““ the month of the year when UCLA sports fans
finally come to the realization that their basketball team lost in
the Sweet 16 again and need another sport to follow. Most turn to
the NBA playoffs for their sports excitement. I, the stat geek,
will show the NBA playoffs are boring and will watch the NHL
playoffs for my sporting high.
In the NBA, the Eastern Conference is to the West as the Big Sky
Conference is to the Pac-10 in college sports. To compare them, I
will give the Western and Eastern teams a similar schedule by
giving them the same number of games against each other and using
the won-loss records of each team against each conference.
After extensive use of spreadsheets ““ the best idea since
sliced bread ““ the New Jersey Nets, the East’s No. 1
team ends up with a record of 51-31. While this may seem
impressive, this would make them tied for sixth overall with
Portland. Already, I’ve shown five, maybe six Western teams
are better than the best Eastern team. The trend continues, as all
eight Western playoff teams would make the NBA top 10.
Because of this, the entire Eastern conference playoffs are
meaningless. Now, I’ll move to the West. Most people seem to
think the Lakers are vulnerable this year. The defending champions
ended with the second best record in the league (58-24) behind only
Sacramento, giving the Kings hope that they can win the title.
However, the stat geek knows best. Last season, just like this
year, the Lakers had a lot of problems during the season, but went
15-1 in the playoffs and won the championship. Their record last
year: 56-26, second best record in the West. If the Lakers did
worse last year and still ended up running away with the title, why
won’t they do it again?
“With home-court advantage, the Kings will beat the
Lakers,” said an unnamed Daily Bruin sportswriter who is
crazy, probably drunk and a Sacramento fan. What many fail to
realize is that the Lakers went 3-1 against the Kings this year,
including a win at Arco Arena.
Why watch the NBA playoffs? The Lakers are going to win anyway.
Besides, in the playoffs, the games take longer because there are
more timeouts.
Twenty-second timeouts take 30 seconds, which only makes the
“most exciting part of the game” even longer and more
boring.
Instead, sports fans should devote more time to the NHL
playoffs.
In the NHL, the two conferences aren’t nearly as different
in quality of play as the NBA. The only exception is the sickening
Detroit Red Wings, finishing 15 points ““ two for a win, one
for a tie in hockey ““ ahead of every other team in the
league. However, unlike the Lakers in the NBA, big upsets happen in
hockey and with the Red Wings. As you read this, the Red Wings have
already lost their first playoff game.
In 1994, the No. 8 San Jose Sharks beat the No. 1 Red Wings. In
1998, the No. 8 Ottawa Senators beat the No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers.
Last year, the No. 7 Los Angeles Kings beat the No. 2 Red Wings and
forced a Game 7 with No. 1 Colorado.
Also, the NHL playoffs are always exciting with close games
riding on every shift down the ice. The whole game is exciting, not
just the fourth quarter like in basketball. In hockey, a couple of
early goals could set the pace for the rest of the game. In the
NBA, a couple of early baskets go unnoticed.
For those of you who don’t know much about hockey,
learning the basics doesn’t take long. I picked up on the
rules and learned enough about the sport to enjoy it after watching
a couple of games.
So, when you get tired of watching the Sixers and Celtics go
back and forth in the 2nd quarter, switch to hockey. You’ll
thank me for it.