re: Ranking the Big 4 Sports: live vs tv watchability

Live:
NHL
MLS
NBA
MLB
NFL

Sports events are fun regardless, but football is the most cumbersome, it takes forever, parking is often atrocious with old stadiums, and it's missing the tailgating of college ball. Baseball live is fun too, but nothing beats live hockey or soccer. New MLS stadiums have incredible views, and I've never been to one with poor food or beer choices compared to the crap that's at NBA, MLB, and NFL games.

TV:
NFL
MLS
NBA
NHL
MLB

Much bigger gaps on TV. Football is essentially made for TV, soccer is awesome with the lack of commercials. NBA and NHL are alright, then there's a big gap baseball. Golf and Tennis would rank ahead of MLB.

i am as big of football fan as you will find. Diehard football fan. Go to several different games a year. Saints, Tennessee, Ole miss, MSU... but, with that said

NBA is the best to attend live by far and it isnt even close. Constant action, never a dull moment. Just a much more enjoyable event in person.

quote:

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Going to an NFL game is a huge pain in the arse and costs a fortune. Especially here with the Cowboys because you can't walk to the stadium and have to pay out the arse for parking.

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I used to work Cowboy, Mavs, Ranger and Stars home games for SportsTicker (1990's & 2000's) and Sports Network (80's).


For anyone who gives a rat's arse, here, in reverse order, are which ones I enjoyed most and what was good & bad about working them...

I felt the same way you do about Cowboy games. Long drive, have to park far away. Getting in and out is a hassle even though it's three hours before, and after, the game. Hard to tell what's going on from the press box and too many stats to keep up with. They have a PA guy that announces some info after each play, but I have to keep up with that and team and individual totals. At the old stadium I used to have to take an elevator down to ground level, walk down to the field and go up the tunnel the players go into. Most of the "electronic" media guys (radio, TV and me) left with five to 10 minutes left in the game, but I had to stay up there and make a phone call to talk with an editor when the clock hit 0:00. Never worked a game in the new stadium, but I didn't like working Cowboy games at all.

Stars games you're sitting way up in the rafters, but they have an announcer and media relations people up there in a small press box to answer any questions. Them being up there was essential because of my lack of hockey knowledge. Even though you're way up there, the view isn't bad. With hockey sitting in the highest "end zone" seats isn't bad because it's a great view to see each possession at your end develop. You can see guys breaking away from defenders and such real well at your end. Really anywhere in the arena, with the crowd, is great. I would advise people to buy tickets in different parts of the arena and "find" your favorite spot to watch from. Getting down after the game was over took awhile, but no where near as long as a Cowboy game. After the game, the drive up Central took 20 minutes at 11:30 pm.

Rangers games are fun to work, but there are way too many of them and the drive from Dallas sucks. I had to score the games and keep another whole page of stats. A media relations person roved around up there plus plenty of other media people are scoring the game if you missed something. The company I worked for didn't give me any forms, but I developed some that were perfect for my purposes.

Mavs games were my favorite to work. Sat right behind the scorers table on the second row in the stands. I was literally at center court because my seat was the second one from the tunnel where the Mavs came out. Had sheets where I scored the game and kept up with each players stats and the time. I had to message the score in to them every three minutes on the clock and give them the score and top three scorers from each team. The Mavs passed out a box every time there was a stoppage in play. Like the Stars games, there wasn't much hassle getting in & out and I parked really close.

While I was stat keeping and messaging, I was writing a rough draft of a game recap. After all of the games I had to go over the key plays, drives, runs, etc. with an editor, email my recap and discuss who I needed to get quotes from. Mavs & stars games were the easiest to do because the venue was smaller and easier to navigate.

Hockey, baseball, soccer >>>> golf

Live

NFL
MLB
NHL
NBA

On tv

NFL
NBA
NHL
MLB

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Every football fan should experience JerryWorld once though.

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I have been for a Cotton Bowl, but have never made a Cowboy game.

I quit working Ranger games before they moved into their new stadium. When they moved into the new stadium, I bought partial season tickets under the home run porch for the first three seasons. Batting practice down there was awesome, but you couldn't see replays or the big scoreboard. You really had to pay attention to know who was batting, etc. Seems like I read they were building something in left field that those folks will be able to see.

After I dropped my partial season tickets, I used to like to sit in the second section on the 1st base side. The area where they come take your order for drinks and food.

The best part about going to a baseball game is you can actually visit with whoever you take. You really can't do that at an NBA or an NHL game. You might miss something.