Time for a quick break from the college basketball and NFL free agency talk you've been hearing on the show and reading on here. And no, this isn't Tyler. This is Tony, and I want to talk some hockey.I've never had a problem with hockey. In fact, I used to play hockey. As I got older, though, I learned a hard lesson: There are only so many hours in a day. With sleep requirements, eating requirements, and school requirements, there simply was not enough time in the day for me to rationalize caring about hockey - especially when the Ravens were preparing for the draft and the Terps were making their annual end-of-season bubble push. Hockey just wasn't ... fun enough.
Then, Alex Ovechkin (pictured, left) and Sidney Crosby came along. Their almost-daily highlights on ESPN followed shortly behind. Intrigue followed that, because I couldn't watch this and not think it's one of the coolest things you've ever seen in your life. They play each other, and it's on NBC, and I watch a period. I read about it after the game and learn that Ovechkin thinks Crosby is a whiner; Crosby thinks Ovechkin is a dirty player. Now I want to watch another game between them, this time all the way, and hopefully I see them go at it. During the process, I see another Ovechkin goal and I start checking the "NHL" page on ESPN.
Wait, did I just become a hockey fan again?
I still don't follow the Capitals, or any other hockey team, religiously. But if I flip through channels and a hockey game is on, I'll probably stop to watch, especially if it's Ovechkin. Such has one man completely changed my perspective on a sport I thought I didn't have time for.
It's really the same type of deal for the NBA. There is one notable difference, though. I still loved the game of basketball. I have never not been a college basketball fan. The NBA to me, though, was a completely different sport. There was no teamwork. Traveling was allowed. Players really didn't care until the playoffs started.
Enter LeBron James.
Remember that Ovechkin goal? Try this play, and you'll find they're about on the same plane. You have to get excited. Go a few days, and you see LeBron puts up something silly like 38, 13, and 11 or something. You think to yourself, "Man I have to see if he's for real." So you tune in to a Cavs game one night, but it's not on because they're showing the end of a Lakers game, and you watch as Kobe Bryant hits a fade-away three to beat the buzzer. You've never cared about the NBA, but instantly you are going to watch the next game because you want to see LeBron top that.
Like it not, you care about the NBA now.
The NFL and MLB are undoubtedly the top two professional leagues in America, but both the NBA and NHL are surviving. It's now no wonder why. Individual players are driving both of these leagues, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as you know what you're getting when you go in. So, for the next few months, enjoy Ovechkin and LeBron singlehandedly will their teams on their championship runs. These are once-in-a-generation players, so don't miss them.
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