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[Jubilee]

Wait, in America, if you win the league, you go into playoffs?

Man, that's crap. Winner should remain the winner.

[vinnypic]

Number of games played has nothign to do with how good a sport is.

Yes, but the quality of the game does. The NHL has a global pool of players and isn't as watered down as the national pool of talent the NFL has.

[rdrsfn82]

Wait, in America, if you win the league, you go into playoffs?

Man, that's crap. Winner should remain the winner.

We don't do the whole league thing in quite the same way. I'll use the NBA as my example.

The teams are in two groups based on geographic locations, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Then those two conferences are broken down into three divisions. The team with the best record at the end of the season wins the divisions and then move on to the playoffs, along with the next five best teams in each conference. So you have 8 teams in the playoffs for each conference. The East teams play each other and the West teams play each other, then the winner of the East plays the winner of the West for the championship.

[Jubilee]

We don't do the whole league thing in quite the same way. I'll use the NBA as my example.

The teams are in two groups based on geographic locations, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Then those two conferences are broken down into three divisions. The team with the best record at the end of the season wins the divisions and then move on to the playoffs, along with the next five best teams in each conference. So you have 8 teams in the playoffs for each conference. The East teams play each other and the West teams play each other, then the winner of the East plays the winner of the West for the championship.

Ah, that's a very good way of doing things in all fairness.

[rdrsfn82]

Ah, that's a very good way of doing things in all fairness.

Everyone plays everyone in the regular season and it usually works out pretty good overall. It's not quite as good as the way we do college basketball (which is the actual best sport in the US to watch the playoffs of) but it works. Also since each playoff series is best of 7 you generally, unless there are injuries, get the better team winning. Not necessarily the higher seed, but the team that deserves it more. One off night doesn't cost you the title.

[KING King Impulse]

Hockey's full of Canadians beating the crap out of each other

I can't think of anything more entertaining

[misac]

The state of soccer in the US is horrible. US had a match and it wasn't even on ESPN. I watched it on a Mexican channel, not that I would have watched it in English anyway. The announcers on Galavision are much better.

[Carrie]

That's true. It's also not readily available. Sure, we have MLS, but that's even more boring than european soccer. Pretty much the only time they show soccer here is for big events like the World Cup or Euro 08, or such.

You don't watch enough Fox Sports World...

[March Haire]

Hockey has the best playoffs in all of sports, a 2 month long war of attrition to hoist the most famous trophy in sport.

Then you have the Penalty Shot, which is in and of itself the most compelling moment in any game on the planet.

Plus, Hockey has the potential to be murder on ice, which is fucking badass.

When two good teams go at it, it's one of the fastest, most dizzying sports around.

Multiple overtime playoff games!

The Detroit Red Wings!

How can you not like hockey?

[chap22]

Everyone plays everyone in the regular season and it usually works out pretty good overall. It's not quite as good as the way we do college basketball (which is the actual best sport in the US to watch the playoffs of) but it works. Also since each playoff series is best of 7 you generally, unless there are injuries, get the better team winning. Not necessarily the higher seed, but the team that deserves it more. One off night doesn't cost you the title.

my only problem with a "best-of-___" series is that home court almost invariably plays a HUGE factor. March Madness is better because, while some teams do get geographically beneficial draws, nobody plays on their own home floor. i think that cancels out the "one bad night" caveat.

[chap22]

Plus, Hockey has the potential to be murder on ice, which is fucking badass.

When two good teams go at it, it's one of the fastest, most dizzying sports around.

Multiple overtime playoff games!

The Detroit Red Wings!

How can you not like hockey?

because it sucks, that's why.

(although i have to admit, i like lacrosse, which is basically skateless hockey, so i'm not just incredibly consistent...)

[zombiemichaeljackson]

The state of soccer in the US is horrible. US had a match and it wasn't even on ESPN. I watched it on a Mexican channel, not that I would have watched it in English anyway. The announcers on Galavision are much better.

WAY better, and I don't even speak spanish. The American(and the European commentators they bring over to help) always sound like they took a handful of tranquilizers before the match. It's not fucking golf! Show some emotion!

Anyway, as an American who started really paying attention to futbol(it's just easier for me to spell it that way) during the US. World Cup, it really is startling how much worse MLS is than pretty much every other league in the world. I've tried, but haven't really been able, to get into the EPL but the lack of knowledge about the history of the league has really hampered my ability to enjoy it. I think I like international play because I have at least some kind of understanding about who the teams are representing. I can wrap my head around the concept of France. Chelsea and Newcastle only remind me of an Elvis Costello song and Beer, and Man U just makes me think of the Yankees, which doesn't help much. I do watch a lot of South American futbol, which is always really exciting, fast paced, and has an artistry to it that is often lacking in European futbol. Weirdly, of the European teams in Euro 08 Russia is the team that most reminds me of the South Americans.