On Tuesday night, a friend of mine was utterly disappointed that the St. Louis Blues had been eliminated from the NHL Playoffs. After posting a regular season record of 51 wins, 20 losses, and 11 ties, the Blues were regular season champions and came into the playoffs with high expectations.
My friend expected the Blues to win the championship and to bring home a second title to St. Louis this year, following the lead of the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Alas, his visions of Chris Pronger sipping from the Stanley Cup and a St. Louis ticker-tape parade were dashed in the first round. Many analysts predicted that the Blues would easily defeat the Sharks and meet the defending champions, the Dallas Stars, in the second round. The experts were wrong.
Who eliminated the Blues and in the process defied the analysts and saddened my friend? The San Jose Sharks happen to be the culprits. The San Jose Sharks? How can this be? The San Jose Sharks, the same team that actually lost more games in the regular season than it won by posting a record of 35 wins, 37 losses, and 10 ties, defeated the mighty Blues? Yes, the same San Jose Sharks that barely clinched the last playoff berth in the Western Conference defeated the Blues.
The Sharks' triumph over the Blues is a prime example of why I love the post-season, playoff system that determines the champion of every major professional sports league in America. This format provides the opportunity for Cinderella stories, for upsets, for intrigue. The system allows for contemporary David and Goliath-type stories, like last year's New York Knicks, the number eight seed who won the NBA's Eastern Conference only to lose in the NBA finals.
However, is there another way to determine a champion, a format that presents other intriguing elements to league play? There most certainly is. This other format may surprise some Americans, who take for granted the playoff system. Take for example the Premier Soccer League in England. With a few games remaining in the current season, the powerhouse club Manchester United has already claimed the league title. How? Well, there is no playoff system in the English Premier League. Manchester United has claimed the title by winning more games than any other club in the season.
So, if we assume that the United States' army had lost the Revolutionary War and that we were still British colonial subjects, then the St. Louis Blues would be NHL Champions. Seriously though, which system is better?
With the playoff system, teams jockey for home-court/field advantage by virtue of better regular season records. However, individual regular season games under the post-season, playoff system aren't necessarily as important as under the alternative format.
Proponents of champions being determined without a playoff system argue that each season game means more and is much more exciting and that the post-season, playoff format enables teams to tank games from time to time. Their logical conclusion is that many regular season games under the playoff format mean virtually nothing and that a system without a post-season makes every season game important. This point is valid, because NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL teams assured of a playoff berth do tank games from time to time knowing that champions are crowned in the post-season.
Don't be confused though. America's got it right, post-season play is better than no post-season play. Regular season games in leagues with a post-season champion are important, because they determine post-season seeding and provide the opportunity for home-court/field advantage. And, not every game in leagues without a post-season is important.
In the current English Premier League season, Manchester United has already been crowned champion, but there are still games to be played. What was that about meaningless regular season games? The remaining games for English Premier League clubs only matter to the cellar dwellers, the few last place teams trying to avoid being dropped into the second division.
So, here's to the post-season. The system provides so much more drama and potential for upset. Often, teams that ended the regular season with the best record win the championship in the post-season, thus making the post-season merely a formality. But from time to time, the underdog sneaks up on everyone and defies the odds. It is teams like the San Jose Sharks and last year's New York Knicks that make the entire season worthwhile and the post-season that much more exciting.
America loves an underdog, and it is the playoff system that provides underdogs. Isn't it great that they have the opportunity to amaze us and to prove their worth against Goliath? Thank George Washington and the revolutionary forces for driving out the British back in 1783. For if they had lost the war, the St. Louis Blues might be the reigning NHL champions, and the San Jose Sharks would just be another team with more losses than wins.
