From my perspective, though, I'd love to have less SportsCenter and sports-radio time spent on the two major professional team sports I care about the least.
My only interest in the NBA is following how the former Carolina players are doing. Otherwise, I hardly ever watch except possibly for the last few minutes of NBA Finals games.
I do watch NFL games, but the amount of hype surrounding the sport is irritating. I don't have a favorite team and wouldn't miss it if there was no season.
I thought it was hilarious a couple of weekends ago when Mel Kiper Jr. was talking about how terrible it would be if the NFL preseason was canceled. To me, going without the NFL preseason would be like going without a Dook T-shirt.
The only professional sports I'm passionate about are the NHL and Major League Baseball.
At least NFL and NBA fans never have had to endure a lost season (like the NHL in 2004-05) or going without a champion (like the NHL in 2004-05 or MLB in 1994).
I even went to a UNC hockey games in Hillsborough during the NHL lockout because I missed watching games so much. And that's only a club sport at Carolina! At least there was minor-league baseball for a month once the 1994 baseball season ended.
I wasn't happy with baseball after the strike, but I immediately embraced the sport and my hapless Cubs when it returned. Of course I loved what happened after the NHL lockout: My Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup! (Nice two years for me with the Heels winning a title in 2005 and Canes in 2006.)
My point is that while I'll feel sorry for passionate fans of the sport, I would love to go through a football season with all of the focus (other than labor-dispute coverage) of the national media on college games. I have little hope that the NHL would get that much more coverage if the NBA lost a season, but I'd love to find out.
If the lockouts also lock out the NFL hype, that would be welcome!
