Champion of Tournaments

[Ksyrup]

ESPN went Marmel on us and did a "what if?", pitting a number of tournaments against each other to crown an ultimate "tournament champion."

I have no problem with the winner (which I'm sure will not be the winner in the public opinion poll), but my beef with this playoff is this - in Round 2, NHL Playoffs vs. NBA Playoffs, he's set to pick the NHL in an upset, except for the fact that the NHL allows "exactly 1,464 teams" in its tournament. Great argument, wrong opponent. The NBA and NHL have the same number of playoff teams, but the NBA has fewer teams in its league, meaning an even greater proportion of NBA teams make the playoffs than in the NHL.

Just kind of curious reasoning. I guess he came up with a great joke about all of the kinds of teams that make the NHL playoffs and he had to make his decision to support the joke.


http://espn.go.com/page2/s/neel/030325.html

[Marmel]

I should have copyrighted. :(

This is standard fare for ESPN. They never research anything they print.

[henry296]

There is only a difference of 1 team in the two leagues, 30 in the NHL and 29 in the NBA. The comment goes back to the pre-expansion NHL when 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs.

Todd

[MikeVic]

I HATE that article. How can World Cup not win? Or NCAA? Those two are the greatest. I can't remember that last time I watched a World Series or NBA Finals... I love watching NCAA, you just never know what will happen. Same thing with NFL. And World Cup. Get the picture?

The postseasons with only one game (well, World Cup has that whole group thing first, but thats kind of like a short season for them or something) are the most interesting to watch. If a postseason format has a "best-of X," it's the same as all the rest.

I hardly watch baseball anymore. Maybe the last inning or two. NBA same thing.. maybe the last quarter. I watch NHL, NCAA, NFL, and World Cup postseasons the most. NHL just because I find it intense..