Allegations Against NBA Referee Tim Donaghy

[Reggie_Miller]

was that this year's stats? look at this year's draft class....mainly in 03-04, NBA was the only thing worth watching

[theproudestmonkey]

what do you mean this year?? this year HASN'T STARTED, lol....that is the last season stats, and have been the same for many years though. i get it, your a basketball fan, but facts dont lie and they definately dont back up your statements. not gonna argue with ya cause its not even a legitimate, debatable discussion. take care

[the_future]

First of all… I never said the NBA was the MOST popular. I said it was ONE of the most popular. Close to being the most popular BEFORE the allegations against Donaghy. The NBA was at a high when the Spurs won there 4th championship in the past 10 years. Dynasty? MLB doesn’t have a dynasty I can think of. NFL: Patriots maybe. NHL: No current dynasty I can think of.

IMO, the top 4 sports at the moment would be…

1. NFL: Hard to beat. However, the Vick & Pac-Man Jones incidents hurt the sport a little bit.
2. NASCAR: This sport grew in popularity a lot in the past decade.
3. NBA (Close behind NASCAR): Before allegations against Donaghy this sport was #3 IMO. It is the only sport that I can think of that has a dynasty (SA Spurs).
4. MLB (Steroids. I’m sure there are fans out there that lost interest. I did.)

[theproudestmonkey]

First of all… I never said the NBA was the MOST popular. I said it was ONE of the most popular.

you did say one of, but also threw in "if not the most popular"

Exactly. The NBA has been one of the most popular sports (if not, the most) in the past 5 years, because of the amount of talent that has entered the league (LeBron, Wade, Melo, and now Oden & Durant.) I could name off more, but these are the main ones that come to mind.

look, there are only 5 major sports in this country, and the nhl is more of a canadian sports....so of the 4 major sports in the states, to say that the nba is 3 of 4 doesn't make it a "fan favorite" by any means.....and i might argue that baseball is a more "watched" sport (MANY more die hard fans than the nba has....not many dying 90 year old men watching their beloved celtics)

just clarifying things, i did quote you correctly the first time though

[theproudestmonkey]

NASCAR has the second highest American television viewership of all sports behind American football, but people outside the United States couldn't care less about NASCAR and American football. In terms of global impact - which is greater than mere national impact - basketball is second only to soccer.

that depends on if you are talking about the sport or the league....yes, basketball is probably right behind soccer (but baseball is also HUGE world wide so i could debate that)....i dont think that the NBA is that big in europe or most of asia (except china for obvious reasons)....the nfl is the only franchise that has already expressed intentions of "branching out" to cities outside of the US for regular season games....that has to show some kind of international interest....they sold 100,000 tickets in mexico city for a regular season game....i think you might be surprised how big the nfl is globally

[the_future]

NASCAR has the second highest American television viewership of all sports behind American football, but people outside the United States couldn't care less about NASCAR and American football. In terms of global impact - which is greater than mere national impact - basketball is second only to soccer.

I was going to make that point earlier. I promise. Lol.

proudestmonkey- You did quote me correctly. Although, what I meant by making that follow up statement ("if not, the best") was that it is very close behind the NFL & NASCAR. The NBA's international popularity makes it a decent debate though IMO...

[theproudestmonkey]

Baseball does have a considerable worldwide influence - especially in Japan and Latin American countries - but basketball is huge in Europe, and is now booming in China, thanks to Yao Ming. Europe and China together are much bigger than the whole of Japan and the Latin American countries in terms of population.

As far as football's plans for games outside the United States, they are not the only ones to have them. In fact, there have been pre-season games played now in China between NBA teams for the last couple of years, and Stern would like to find a way to incorporate some international play into the regular season in the future. He's stated this several times.

again, if we are talking about the sport as a whole and not just the pro leagues leagues in north america, then i cant argue basketball's popularity world wide. but lets face it, in north america we dont follow international sports (most people - i think of myself as VERY well versed in all walks of sport - i watched a freakin cricket match the other day, lol)

the fact that college basketball is so popular in the states gives it even more credibility in the arguement as a sport

[RenegadeLonghorn]

to the general public, professional basketball is just a few rungs above the nhl.

Really now? Funny how much NBA coverage (games, commentaries, highlights) I see on ESPN. NHL games are not even televised on ESPN anymore. ESPN is the #1 provider of sports to the public. To say that the NBA is a "few rungs above" above the NHL is an inaccurate statement.

I don't know revenue facts but my guess is the NBA makes more money than NASCAR. I still don't see how NASCAR has more fans. Do millions of people sit down and watch a Daytona race on TV? I know for sure millions of people watch an NBA finals game.

[theproudestmonkey]

Really now? Funny how much NBA coverage (games, commentaries, highlights) I see on ESPN. NHL games are not even televised on ESPN anymore. ESPN is the #1 provider of sports to the public. To say that the NBA is a "few rungs above" above the NHL is an inaccurate statement.

I don't know revenue facts but my guess is the NBA makes more money than NASCAR. I still don't see how NASCAR has more fans. Do millions of people sit down and watch a Daytona race on TV? I know for sure millions of people watch an NBA finals game.

of course there is more nba on television than the nhl - not a very strong arguement, lol

and yes....MILLIONS of people watch nascar on a weekly basis, not just the big races

[theproudestmonkey]

true, true....but none of the other individual sports can come close to nascar's fan base

thread did get off topic a bit, lol.....dude is in some trouble, thats for sure!! i have never seen so much "controversy" across professional sports as there is right now (bonds in baseball, vick in football, donaghy in the nba)....every time i turn on espn there is a commish speaking!! any actual sports being played right now??