And another thing- NBA

[danny_galaga]

SO, I'm catching more american sports on the telly while Im here in Hong Kong. So instead of a few seconds on the Australian news, naturally there is more time devoted to other sports, like basketball.

So tell me, sports fans, what's with the weird 'leg warmers' on some of the players (or is that 'playas') arms? Is this some sort of tribute to Denis Rodman? Has he passed away? Shouldn't there be more mascara or something as well?

Whatever happened to 'uniforms' in team sports? Now everyone's gotta be an individual. Wanna be an individual? Play tennis or golf...

[amendonz]

i love nba, the ones they wear on their arm are normally shooting sleeves, they help your shot, (or so they say..)

[Vigo]

Yeah, NBA is actually pretty popular over there.

The bands on the arms, from my understanding, is to keep the sweat from dripping down their arms into their hands.

More likely, it's just a "basketball fashion" thing.

[amendonz]

What it is: A form-fitting sleeve, typically made from a synthetic blend of nylon and spandex, that's worn over the forearm and bicep or your shooting arm.

What it's supposed to do: Keep the shooting arm warm, prevent muscles from cramping or overstretching, and help you maintain proper shooting form.

What it actually does: Looks cool. Makes your arm sweaty.

What it says about you: The shooting sleeve was first popularized by Allen Iverson and has been worn by other fan-favorites such as Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony. Yes, those guys are All-Stars, but don't be fooled; this is not a performance-enhancing device. NBA players may claim that the sleeve provides some kind of superficial assistance to their play, but we all know it's more of a fashion statement than anything else, like cornrows, tattoos, and Kobe Bryant's Peter Pan-style tights.

[CCM]

The NBA sucks.

[Malenko]

The NBA sucks.

+1



watch hockey

[Vigo]

I hear these armband things are starting to invade baseball now, too.... 

[CCM]

The magazines I read at the gym says all that stuff is supposed to reduce fatigue and injury and all that.  To me, they're glorified leotards and those have been around only 150 years so obviously this is cutting edge sports strategy.

Hockey or basketball I could take or leave.  I enjoy watching both in person and go see the local teams occasionally.  You need to keep reasonably up to date with the Spurs to talk to strangers around here, though.

Didn't your parents teach you not to talk to strangers?


And MLB sucks too..

[Vigo]

The magazines I read at the gym says all that stuff is supposed to reduce fatigue and injury and all that.  To me, they're glorified leotards and those have been around only 150 years so obviously this is cutting edge sports strategy.

Hockey or basketball I could take or leave.  I enjoy watching both in person and go see the local teams occasionally.  You need to keep reasonably up to date with the Spurs to talk to strangers around here, though.

I thought around you, if you didn't know what you are talking about, you can just cover it up the conversation easily with "guns" and "the Alamo". Then you just kinda mosey off while holding on to your belt buckle.

[hypernova]

NHL +1

[danny_galaga]

The NBA sucks.

+1



watch hockey

Yes personally, out of the 'american' sports, ice hockey seems the most interesting to me. It's one of my regrets of my stay in Canada that I didn't see a hockey game. Yes, I know hockey wasn't invented in America.

I can't wait to see who will be first NBA playa to go out on the court without any pants because it's more streamlined and helps to 'make air'. Maybe no pants, just an arm leoTARD and a balaclava. That wouldn't be ghey at all...

[Vigo]

I became disenchanted with NHL ever since there was so much bitching about money that they cancelled a whole season. That and we lost our team here in Minnesota because the team owner was bitching about not having enough money (North Stars).

Of course, I am very cynical about American sports leagues in general.
NHL sucks
NBA sucks
MLB sucks
NFL is on the verge of sucking.
 

[CCM]

I probably watch more MMA than any other sport these days, with NHL being a close second, and NFL a distant third.



I haven't watched an MLB or NBA game in years.

[ChadTower]

I became disenchanted with NHL ever since there was so much bitching about money that they cancelled a whole season. That and we lost our team here in Minnesota because the team owner was bitching about not having enough money (North Stars).

+1,000,000

Change it to the Nordiques and that is exactly my opinion.  Sad, too, because of how little Denver appreciated the championship we gave them, and how long I played and loved hockey as a kid.

[Malenko]

I became disenchanted with NHL ever since there was so much bitching about money that they cancelled a whole season. That and we lost our team here in Minnesota because the team owner was bitching about not having enough money (North Stars).

So were you pissed in 1993 when they moved the team (mostly due to poor attendance and that pesky sexual harassment suit) or in 2004 when they had the lockout? Did you decide to be a real fan and cheer on the Dallas Stars?

[ChadTower]

The NHL had a strike in 1992.  Not a whole season but it did happen.

[ChadTower]

BTW, same thing applies to me with the Expos too.  All those hall of famers that came up in Montreal and left due to payroll issues.  The best record in baseball wiped out by a strike.  They kept cranking out the best players in baseball and losing them right as they hit their prime.  Now the team is gone too.  I had already given up on MLB before the Expos left but now I doubt I'll ever go back.  I paid a little bit of attention as the Sox won their two titles because everyone around me was so caught up in it but that might be all of the MLB I have seen in the last ten years.  Keep in mind I played 15 years as a kid and coached another ten plus.  This is the first year since I was a little kid that I won't be on the field as either a player or a coach.

[Vigo]

I became disenchanted with NHL ever since there was so much bitching about money that they cancelled a whole season. That and we lost our team here in Minnesota because the team owner was bitching about not having enough money (North Stars).

So were you pissed in 1993 when they moved the team (mostly due to poor attendance and that pesky sexual harassment suit) or in 2004 when they had the lockout? Did you decide to be a real fan and cheer on the Dallas Stars?

To elaborate, it was mostly the 93 move of the team that made me lose interest in Hockey, the 92 strike added quite a bit to my anger. In 2000, we got the MN Wild, and I didn't warm up at all to hockey until 2002/2003 when they started playing well.
Then the 2004 strike came and at that point I decided to completely throw in the towel on hockey for good. Haven't cared a lick since.

Even though in 2007 I literally moved two blocks from the arena where the Wild play, and even though have a friend who is a VIP coordinator for the wild games and can get me dirt cheap tickets anytime I want....I haven't cared enough to walk on over and see a game. That's how done with hockey I am.

I became disenchanted with NHL ever since there was so much bitching about money that they cancelled a whole season. That and we lost our team here in Minnesota because the team owner was bitching about not having enough money (North Stars).

+1,000,000

Change it to the Nordiques and that is exactly my opinion.  Sad, too, because of how little Denver appreciated the championship we gave them, and how long I played and loved hockey as a kid.

Wasn't the owner's excuse for taking the Nordiques to denver that he said he couldn't convince the Quebec government to pay his players salaries for him. 

Oh, and nothing sucks more than your favorite team getting turned into/replaced by a team name that is a verb. Wild? Avalance? WTF?

The awesome thing about the Dallas Stars was that they were setting attendance records and won the Stanley Cup.     I went to Minnesota that summer and it was just ---smurfette--- ---smurfette--- ---smurfette--- at me when they found out I was from Texas.

[ChadTower]

Wasn't the owner's excuse for taking the Nordiques to denver that he said he couldn't convince the Quebec government to pay his players salaries for him. 

Eric Lindros did a lot to their status in the NHL, too.  Threw it right in the toilet.  The trade to Philly actually worked out fantastically for Denver in the long run but at the time Lindros refused to play for the Nordiques it kicked the franchise straight in the nuts when it could east afford being kicked.

Karma got that guy, though.  His brother too. 

[Malenko]

Lindros to Philly was/is the most lopsided trade ever. Denver got championships, Philly got concussions.

[Mikezilla]

Thats why I love MMA, its not a team sport. Some stupid bastard that screws up (Chael Sonnen), you dont get to see him fight anymore cause he is a dumbass. There arent AS many rules as of yet, and I dunno, I like being a fan of someone, under one banner (UFC) to really prove that they are the best. Besides, you dont hear about MMA fighters raping chicks, or doing all kinds of drungs, or shooting people, or dogfighting, getting arrested... Go NBA and the NFL...

[ChadTower]

Sure you do.  That took about 5 seconds to find.  There are plenty of others.  You don't hear about most of them because there aren't many MMA fighters on the mainstream media's radar. 

[Mikezilla]

I guess you have a point about them not being as mainstream, but keep in mind they dont get paid nearly as much as the clowns in the major sports like NBA NFL etc. Not to mention people dont look to MMA fighters as "heroes" like sports people try to make the players of major sports out to be. I dont know, if I was deemed a role model, and got paid as much as they did, I would be a little more respectable than the athletes in sports such as the NBA or NFL.

[ChadTower]

Not to mention people dont look to MMA fighters as "heroes" like sports people try to make the players of major sports out to be.

The media sure doesn't, I agree there.  Go to the mall and look around, though.  Every single teenage boy has an MMA based shirt on.  Every one of them.  Tapout, Affliction, UFC, Extreme Couture, or some other random fight group most have never heard of... all of them.  Those kids are looking up to the fighters at least as much if not more than team sport athletes now.

[ChadTower]

Is MMA still about 20 minutes of build up about how the fighters have been studying mystical martial arts for 50 years and then turns into "who can tackle the other guy first and punch him in the face"?

Cause if it is, I got over that crap in the 90s.

Now it's a jiu jitsu - boxing - wrestling triangle often decided by whoever is better at their second best discipline.  On rare occasions someone has some other skills but it is almost always two guys dealing with those three specific skillsets.

[Mikezilla]

Not to mention people dont look to MMA fighters as "heroes" like sports people try to make the players of major sports out to be.

The media sure doesn't, I agree there.  Go to the mall and look around, though.  Every single teenage boy has an MMA based shirt on.  Every one of them.  Tapout, Affliction, UFC, Extreme Couture, or some other random fight group most have never heard of... all of them.  Those kids are looking up to the fighters at least as much if not more than team sport athletes now.

Im with you on that too, but its mostly because the UFC (Im well aware that the UFC is a brand, and MMA is the sport, but cmon, its the only real organization so Im just going to refer to it as that) is trendy right now. I live in a fight town too, so believe me, you can see all the new kids that have seen the last season of the show and think that they can be "a fighter" even though they have never thrown a punch. I wouldnt go as far to say that they are looking up to them, but mostly in the sense that being a fighter commands a different type of respect than a major athelete would. More of a threat. Unless youre a big black guy wearing a jersey lol. Kinda like "hey watch out, Im wearing a fight brand t-shirt so youre supposed to think that Im a fighter so back off" kinda mentality.

[danny_galaga]

Is MMA still about 20 minutes of build up about how the fighters have been studying mystical martial arts for 50 years and then turns into "who can tackle the other guy first and punch him in the face"?

Cause if it is, I got over that crap in the 90s.

Now it's a jiu jitsu - boxing - wrestling triangle often decided by whoever is better at their second best discipline.  On rare occasions someone has some other skills but it is almost always two guys dealing with those three specific skillsets.

Can they hit each other with chairs? I think that's the most important thing...

[vorghagen]

Is MMA still about 20 minutes of build up about how the fighters have been studying mystical martial arts for 50 years and then turns into "who can tackle the other guy first and punch him in the face"?

Well........ yeah http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/7/15/

[hypernova]

All matches in MMA devolve into a hug-fest at some point or another.

Ironically, I find the few matches that I've actually watched a total borefest.

What amazes me is the amount of people willing to shell out $40 or $50 or $60 or whatever it is for each "main event"...and wow.  UFC is actually charging for HD versus SD.  What a bunch of ---Deutsche Frankfurters---.  And looking at the schedule over their lifetime...

Started in '93 with UFC1.  Had about 3-5 events per year up until the mid 2000s.  It jumped, and in 2006, there are nearly 20 per year.  In 2010, there were 24 main events.  Of those, 17 were numbered.  24 events total.  Every two weeks.  How exactly are these supposed to be billed as big events when they happen biweekly??  So far they've got 20 scheduled through October this year, with a 21st unnamed in November.

I'll give 'em this:  They're milking this cow for all it's worth while they can.

And I'll concur with Chad.  For most young males, it's all I ever see on these people.  And their cars.

[DCsegaDH]

I actually enjoy pro wrestling more than MMA, I think MMA is super boring. And I know that pro wrestling is not real, but I actually like it more even though it's not as popular as UFC. I use to be kinda into the UFC back in 2009, but I can't find anything I like about it anymore.

[danny_galaga]

I actually enjoy pro wrestling more than MMA, I think MMA is super boring. And I know that pro wrestling is not real, but I actually like it more even though it's not as popular as UFC. I use to be kinda into the UFC back in 2009, but I can't find anything I like about it anymore.

And you can hit each other with chairs (",)

[wp34]

And I know that pro wrestling is not real

Next time use a spoiler warning.   

My kids have gotten me into the WWE recently.  One kid thinks it is real and the older one plays along like Santa Claus.  We have a lot of fun watching as a family.

[DCsegaDH]

And I know that pro wrestling is not real

Next time use a spoiler warning.   

My kids have gotten me into the WWE recently.  One kid thinks it is real and the older one plays along like Santa Claus.  We have a lot of fun watching as a family.

I just said that because I don't want someone being smart and telling me that. I'm more into TNA and ROH, but I watch WWE sometimes too, TNA has a lot of cussing so a lot of adults probably don't like it, but I use to watch WWE during the late 1990's and I turned out just fine

[CCM]

All matches in MMA devolve into a hug-fest at some point or another.

Ironically, I find the few matches that I've actually watched a total borefest.

What amazes me is the amount of people willing to shell out $40 or $50 or $60 or whatever it is for each "main event"...and wow.  UFC is actually charging for HD versus SD.  What a bunch of ---Deutsche Frankfurters---.  And looking at the schedule over their lifetime...

Started in '93 with UFC1.  Had about 3-5 events per year up until the mid 2000s.  It jumped, and in 2006, there are nearly 20 per year.  In 2010, there were 24 main events.  Of those, 17 were numbered.  24 events total.  Every two weeks.  How exactly are these supposed to be billed as big events when they happen biweekly??  So far they've got 20 scheduled through October this year, with a 21st unnamed in November.

I'll give 'em this:  They're milking this cow for all it's worth while they can.

And I'll concur with Chad.  For most young males, it's all I ever see on these people.  And their cars.

While there are pay-per-views every month, there are still a ton of free UFC fights on Spike, Versus, and Facebook.  And if you have Showtime, then you get all of the Strikeforce fights as well.   And there are a TON of free fights on HDNET from all over the world.

The last ppv, UFC 129, had a total of 12 fights on the card.  Of the 12, 7 were available for free, 5 on Facebook and 2 on Spike.   The upcoming UFC 130 has 10 fights, 5 of which are free on either Facebook or Spike.

The Ultimate Fighter finale is free on June 4th, UFC on Versus 4 is free on June 26th, UFC on Versus 5 is free in August.  Strikeforce has shows 'free' on Showtime on June 18th, June 24th, and July 30th.

I will be the first to admit that not all fights are exciting, it makes for a very boring fight when you get a good wrestler that is just going lay and pray for 3 rounds but I think there are more good fights than bad.

Again, going back to UFC 129, of the 12 fights I think 11 of them were great, exciting fights!  The only snoozer was GSP vs Shields.

As far as the UFC charging more for HD ppv as opposed to SD, I know WWE does that as well, so that's not a UFC exclusive...

I am obviously a huge MMA fan, and I think MLB is the most boring sport in the world... so at the end of the day, to each their own...

[ChadTower]

The only snoozer was GSP vs Shields.

That, right there, is the main problem.  "Every fight was entertaining except the one everybody paid to see."  It's common for the title fights to not be all that action packed because the champion has so much to lose.  It's the exact opposite problem Mike Tyson had when he was knocking out guys in the first round and everybody was pissed they paid $50 for 90 seconds.  At least MMA addresses that with a recognizable undercard but still people complain.

As far as the UFC charging more for HD ppv as opposed to SD, I know WWE does that as well, so that's not a UFC exclusive...

They do it for nearly everything on PPV and they do it for regular TV too.   The HD packages cost more than SD.

Every sport has people who don't get it.  I would never shell out $50 to see soccer but much of the world does.  I do shell out too much for the NFL Sunday Ticket.

[javeryh]

Dirk is ridiculous.  One of the best performances I've ever seen in the playoffs and definitely the best by a 7 footer.  SICK.  I really hope he gets a title this year.

[Malenko]

Dirk is ridiculous.  One of the best performances I've ever seen in the playoffs and definitely the best by a 7 footer.  SICK.  I really hope he gets a title this year.

Dirk is not ridiculous, hes daring. The way he saved the princess from that dragon, and then later escaped his evil mother in law

[hypernova]

A dirk is a short dagger.  I don't know what the hell you people are talking about.  

[CCM]

I thought he was talking about Dirk Diggler..