Top 10 of 2009

The Lakers took it in five. It was kind of disappointing, but we'll live, especially when King James and the Man formerly known as the Big Shaqtus win it all next year.

For now though, enjoy this top playoffs moments from the '09 playoffs: HERE

* The video did not fit well within this blog's formatt, so I provided a link to it.

Cheers,
Nate

2009 Salvation?

Nope, not really.

Well unless of course you're a Lakers fan.

The ratings slipped a little from 2008 but still held strong in leading what is hopefully an eventual resurgence of ratings from the 2007 finals. If nothing else, this preview video, done to the theme of Terminator Salvation, is pretty decent.

How could the ratings not rise!?

One Last Thing on the 2008 Finals

This is just a well done commercial that capitalizes on Garnett and the Champion Celtics.

Knee Injury?

Did Paul Pierce really hurt his knee? Who knows. But he did play pretty damn well afterwords.

Story Line After Story Line After Story Line After...

You get the point from the title.

The 2008 finals was special for so many reasons. I discussed many of them in my written report. There is however, someone you can never really talk enough about.

Bill Russell.

His numbers are legendary and his presence even more so. We all knew it and ESPN capitalized on it. They tried it again this year, but the effect wasn't the same.

Do you know what I'm talking about yet?

I'm talking about the interview between Russell and Kevin Garnett. Kobe is Kobe, and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are really good, but Kevin Garnett truly represented the soul of that Championship Celtic team.

The interview, is powerful stuff:

Resurgence

2008 saw another historic finals matchup. For our parents, it was a return to the glory days, for my generation, it was a chance to finally understand the draw of Magic vs. Bird. Celtics vs. Lakers. Destiny vs. Determination. Kobe vs. The Big Three.

The ratings showed resurgence. Never to the point of what Jordan could draw, but a step in the right direction certainly.

Enjoy the top 10 moments:

2007: A Finals to Forget?

You know the deal by now. The 2007 NBA Finals between LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs received the lowest average Nielsen TV Ratings of any Finals in the history of the NBA.

I love LeBron James, and it was truly impressive he was able to make it to the finals with the team he did, but there is really no question as to why this finals "sucked." How do you draw ratings when the most boring team in the NBA dismantles a team that didn't even deserve to be there? David Stern would still love to know that answer.

For now though, enjoy the video.

And click HERE for proof.

The Second Graph/Table

I can't seem to get the HTML working right now, but wikipedia offers the best graph/table illustrating the TV ratings received by each NBA Finals 1976 - 2009. As noted by the table, the 1998 Finals gathered the highest average ratings score of any
NBA Finals while the 2007 Finals gathered the lowest average ratings score.

I wish I could post the table, but you can view it HERE. Scroll down just a little to view the table in full.

The First Graph

Here is a graph that illustrates the ups and downs the NBA Finals have experienced in terms of viewership in millions of people from 1987 through 2008. Notice that the largest spike occurs during Michael Jordan's last trip to the promise land.




graph credit: (tvbythenumbers.com)

Media Analysis: The NBA Finals vs. Nielsen TV Ratings

As per the requirements for my Sports Journalism class this semester at the University of Iowa, I have created this blog in order to compliment a media analysis of the NBA Finals (specifically the '07, '08 and '09 Finals) and their respective Nielsen TV ratings.

Let's Begin....