Less is More

Posted by Keith Haney on October 23, 2007

Pre-seasons in professional sports are entirely too long. The Jazz will play 8 games spread out over an entire month. While I enjoy watching the games, I don’t know as though they really need that many. Maybe I’m just too impatient, but I’m ready for the regular season to begin. This “drag it out as long as possible” strategy that professional sports are moving towards is driving me nuts. Don’t even get me started on the egregiously long NBA playoffs. I’ll write about those in seven months -when they start! I’m a strong believer in the philosophy that “Less is More” and it certainly applies here.

Let’s not make this all about my needs though. Doesn’t the risk of injury outweigh minor gains of so many exhibition games? We see this every year in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. The Jazz have avoided any disasters so far but had a nice little scare when Deron Williams tweaked his wrist against Phoenix. Wouldn’t 4 games spread out over 15 days do the trick? I think so. While we’re at it, lets cut the NFL and MLB preseasons in half too.

But wait, isn’t it good to have all of these warm-ups so that rookies and camp hopefuls have a chance to make the team and learn the offenses? I would argue that there are better methods available. The Development League allows for that nowadays. Anybody being looked at to make a team roster has the chance to show their worth all season long on the new Orem Flash or some other D-League team.

Of course, I could just choose to not watch the pre-season and all might be well. I’m an addict though and can’t help myself. So please Mr. Stern, make this change for next year. If you can’t do it for me or the players, do it for my wife. Lord knows she’d be happy to have my attention just a little longer over the summer.