From: stu1d46@bnr.ca (Victor Koa)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Who made the NBA prosper? (Re: All North Carolina team)
Date: 21 Aug 92 19:28:35 GMT
Reply-To: stu1d46@bnr.ca (Victor Koa)
Distribution: na
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.

In article <1992Aug21.144110.12531@cbnewsk.cb.att.com>, lor@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (edward.lor) writes:

|> OK, Russ, how much have you noticed Wayne Gretzky? You know, the one
|> with some odd commercials like Avis (or was it Hertz) and Diet Coke(?).
|> 
|> MJ is no Gretzky in terms of dominance in the sport. No matter 
|> what you look at: stats, rings, honors, etc. Gretzky won ***NINE***
|> MVPs. How many have MJ won? Gretzky's routine 200 point season, in
|> terms of dominance, is like Wilt's routine 40 ppg season. Gretzky's
|> all time scoring record is like Kareem's all-time scoring record,
|> so far out that no-one can reach in the forseeable future. 
|> 
|> Yet, nobody cares about him. As a matter of fact, how many
|> of you people have watched any hockey games in the past 2 seasons? 
|> I haven't since it's not on TV.

The discussion about which super-star is more popular is all based on geography.
When you live in Canada, when the hockey season is on (or off for that matter),
hockey takes priority over any other sport.  I can remember when the Toronto
Maple Leafs made some insignificant trade with some minor league players, and
the report of that was on the sprots news before the NBA FInals between the
Celtics and the Rockets.  If you live in Canada, you know who Wayne is,
whether he does 6 million commercials or not.  The fact is that Wayne
doesn't have a lot of commercials because he's not a money-grubbing snot
like Michael Jordan who'd endorse Playtex if they gave him enough money.
Oh, by the way, I have seen a few hockey games in the last 2 seasons.  The
sports network in Canada (TSN) generally carries about 2 or 3 games a week,
and CBC will always carry one game a week.  You can also catch some minor
league (OHL) action once a week on Global.  

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that popularity of sports figures is
dependent on geography.  The fact that Wayne is god in Canada means that he
doesn't have as big a market to sell merchandize to, so doesn't seem as big
as someone like Michael.  

That's my 2 cents worth.

|> 
|> David Stern did a great job making the NBA, so did Magic/Bird. Had
|> the NBA televised its finals at 11:30 PM tape delayed, like the
|> 1980 finals, the NBA won't be that much better than the NHL. Had 
|> the NBA had an incompetent commissioner like John Ziegler,
|> MJ would have been like Mario Lemieux.

Just becuase I enjoy shredding people's opinions (especially someone like Ed),
I'll draw a lot of comparisions between Michael and Mario.  Both players were
drafted by teams that were basically non-contenders at the time, and weren't
treatening to tear up the league.  They both played for a couple of seasons for
mediocre (sp?) teams that either didn't make the playoffs or were eliminated in
the first round.  Eventually, a decent supporting cast was found for the 
super-star, and the team began threatening to win it all.  The last two years in
the NBA, the Michael Jordans (oops, Chigaco Bulls) won the NBA Championship.
The Mario Lemieuxs (oops, Pittsburg Penguins) won the NHL's Stanley Cup the last
two years.  Just what did you mean by MJ would have been like Mario?  They seem
pretty similar to me (except that Mario's english isn't that good, so that's why
he hasn't hosted SNL yet).

PS : I much as I hate agreeing with Ed, Ziegler is an idiot.

__

Reg Domaratzki   University of Waterloo Co-op student working at BNR in Ottawa
   "If you think nobody cares if you're dead or alive, try missing a few car
                                 payments."