There are four major sports leagues in the United States: NHL, NFL, MLB, and NBA. Of these four leagues, the NHL is the one US citizens least care about. Why is that? I believe that it stems from the fact that hockey was not even invented in the United States! It was first played in Canada sometime during the 1800s, and that's why we see lots of Canadian folks talking about hockey while here in the states, we talk mostly about football, baseball, and basketball because those sports were invented here in the states!
It's like in the states, if someone follows hockey and another person follows baseball, it isn't easy for them to be friends if one has no clue what the word "hockey" means in the lexicon. And heck I deal with it in real life too! Whenever I ask people a SIMPLE hockey question, they just act as if they're from the planet I-Have-No-Clue-What-Hockey-Means-So-I'll-Just-Make-Up-Whatever-Comes-To-My-Mind-Right-Now. Whereas whenever I talk hockey to my fellow youtube friends, they talk like they're an amateur version of Barry Melrose or EJ Hradek.
When the first professional major sports leagues came out, they soon quickly become popular mainly because of their initial success, and most US citizens would assume they are the BEST league in the nation for that particular sport, and it's been like that for as long as they've existed (around a century)! As the newer sports leagues came about, nobody seemed to care about them at all. Take this for example:
The USFL was founded in 1982 that tried to compete with the National Football League. The league lasted only three years, but it was the greatest opponent of the NFL since the American Football League before the merge. Facing a massive debt, the USFL tried to sue the NFL on an account of trying to eliminate the newer league. After much scuffle between the two leagues, the USFL eventually received a compensation...of $3.76. That money, in the form of a check, was never cashed and was never enough to save the USFL. It folded in 1988.
The XFL was a league that was played for only one season. It was owned by Vince McMahon, owner of WWE. However, nobody cared about the XFL at all. In the first game between the New York/New Jersey Hitmen and the Las Vegas Outlaws, only 14 million viewers watched the game on TV. However, the viewers count quickly declined as only a million viewers watched the championship game between the Los Angeles Xtreme and the San Francisco Demons. The league folded in 2001.
The AFL (Arena Football League) is a football league that is very underground, but still garners enough attention from fans to stay active for a 22nd year. While fans of the NFL would think the AFL is like a minor league, they don't realize that the AFL is a COMPLETELY different game compared to the NFL. Remember my post about the CFL vs. the NFL? If the CFL were a foosball table, and the NFL were a ping pong table, the AFL would be more like a deck of cards. With 50-yard wide fields, 8 men per team, players playing both offense AND defense, and not to mention those hard walls on the sidelines, it's so obvious to figure out that the playing style in the AFL is MUCH different than that in the NFL, yet NFL fans fail to realize that. Why? Because they're so concentrated on their own league they become ignorant of other leagues as well!
Put the NFL Europe on the list of ignored leagues as well. It was supposed to be a developmental league for not-so-good players to practice before the upcoming NFL season. After about seventeen years of operation, NFL Europe folded after it lost $30 million in their last season.
But enough about the history of different football leagues. I want to talk about WHY I choose to talk about underground sports like the AFL, Tour De France, NASCAR, and even the NHL for that matter.
Here at Sports Sector, we try to bring you as much news in the world of sports as possible. Does the world of sports consist of only the MLB, NBA, and NFL? NO. Although baseball is the main sport for the states in the summer, we should at least focus on some other sports like the Tour De France and the CFL, even if they're not being played in the states. Sports Sector's audience is NOT the United States. It's the entire WORLD. And if nobody else on the Sports Sector team (except for Doc and me) talk about sports outside the United States, then our audience will have been automatically diminished by over 90%! And that's not good if we want to popularize our blog internationally.
I took a brief look at our partners over in the SportsFullCircle website. I noticed that they mostly talk about the MLB, NBA, NFL, and not so much on any other league. Some of the sports I talk about are never even mentioned on their website! If I could leave them some feedback on their page, I would say this: "You guys at SportsFullCircle NEED to talk about more sports. I would MUCH rather see an eclectic variety of sports on there rather than just posts about the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry or how the Devil Rays are the best team in the MLB."
Here's an example. You're at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and you see all these great choices of food just waiting to be smothered in saliva. Would you rather eat steak continuously until you get full? Or would you rather try a little bit of everything? Well unless you're a carnivore, I would most likely assume you'd wanna take the "everything" path. Same thing with Sports Sector. Who would want to read JUST MLB, NFL, and NBA news for months on end? Wouldn't you rather like to eat a piece of brocolli every once in a while even though we all know how bad brocolli tastes? Wouldn't you do the same and read some articles about the Arena Football League even though it's not as popular as the NFL? I sure as heck would!
So there you have it. The main reason why I choose to talk about underground sports. The other contributors to Sports Sector mainly talk about the MLB, NBA, and NFL, and so do the other guys at SportsFullCircle. Do I have to be the same as them and write about these three leagues as well? HECK no! I want to be unique and write stories about unique leagues!
When I'm on a team, like here on Sports Sector, I try and identify our weaknesses. When I first joined, I noticed there were barely any news about the NHL, so that's what I started writing about. I filled in for their weaknesses and tried to add some more news about other sports to fortify our status as a sports news group.
Tony Stewart drives the #20 Home Depot car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Next year, he will be driving some other car. Today, Stewart has announced that he will not be a part of Joe Gibbs Racing next season. As a member of JGR, Stewart won thirty-two races as well as two Sprint Cup championships.
British rider Mark Cavendish won Stage 5 of the Tour De France with a time of 5:27:52 (5 hours, 27 minutes, and 52 seconds). The 23-year old, who rides for Team Columbia, almost won the third stage, but was unable to do so. Cavendish said, "Obviously after the other day we were really disappointed, so it made us motivated for today. For sure it is the biggest thing that has happened to me."
Reports indicate that the Washington Capitals have re-signed forwards Brooks Laich and Sergei Fedorov.
In his first start in a Brewer's uniform, pitcher CC Sabathia threw for six strong innings in a 7-3 win for the Milwaukee Brewers over the Colorado Rockies.
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