Ok so I waited until 3 pm

The day after to bring this up. There are guys here who claim basketball (pro) is a valued legit sport. I believe it’s more entertainment and just a real short step ahead of Rasslin’ for being legit.

In Minnesota it’s
Vikings
Wild
Gopher basketball
Gopher mens hockey
Twins
Gopher womens hockey
Lynx
Womens Gopher basketball

Then after all those teams in popularity you have the Timberwolves. Just one little tick ahead of Soccer. And two ticks ahead of the Saints baseball.

In case anybody cares coach Tom Thibodeau got fired after the Wolves beat the Lakers.

But, nobody cares.

I never thought the barking at the top of his lungs approach by Thibs would work here..and after he gave Butler all the special treatment at the start of the season, his days were numbered..The things I really don’t understand about the NBA are the ridiculous contracts they hand out like candy, that and a majority of the players seem disinterested in putting out max effort every game..

Look how much money they gave Dieng! and Wiggins who looks like he has Mossitis “I play when I want to play” disease will make something like 35+ million EACH the next 5 years!…They have no killer spirit besides Towns and Gibson…I do like what Covington has brought to this team though…obviously would love to have the original Butler trade back, but I understand why they did it…

I think things would get alot better if they hire a GM that actually knows how to draft and develop young players and then get all of the bad attitudes away from Towns and maybe we have something in 2-3 years…

What about Gopher’s Football? I’d rank it in the top half of your list. I’m a fan and try to watch as many of their games as I can.

You don’t care. Why not just speak for yourself?

I’d love to know how you put that list together because it sure doesn’t reflect the reality of how people spend their money. “Popularity” — I can only guess this is your idea of what other people in the state “like” — but other people have a tricky way of liking what THEY like, not necessarily what YOU like.

For fun, match the following list of most recent reported revenues with the corresponding Minnesota’s mens professional sports teams. The last place team might surprise you: $408M; $261M; $204M; $142M

Karry Kyllo wrote:

What about Gopher’s Football

Dutch doesn’t like Gopher football.

tangler wrote:

$408M; $261M; $204M; $142M

Vikings, Twins, Wolves, Wild.

Dutch doesn’t mine Gopher Football. Dutch just doesn’t like smoke & mirrors. I just overlooked it. Not on purpose. For me I would have slotted them in after the Twins.

Tangler can you post the gross for the WWE?

mnrabbit wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tangler wrote:</div>
$408M; $261M; $204M; $142M

Vikings, Twins, Wolves, Wild.

I agree. Minnesota is a huge basketball state.

I did not think this was a throw away season.
I would like to have seen how it would have ended.

daddy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mnrabbit wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tangler wrote:</div>
$408M; $261M; $204M; $142M

Vikings, Twins, Wolves, Wild.

I agree. Minnesota is a huge basketball state.

Rabbit is correct.

Dutchboy wrote:

Tangler can you post the gross for the WWE?

Nope, but I can say this with confidence: Apples have a smooth red or green layer of skin. And orange skin is well, orange, and more dimply.

I’ll agree Minnesota is a huge basketball state. My point was it’s not a huge NBA state at least for the members here. You will have your 3-4 huge NBA fans for every 10 hockey fans on this site.

Again, this is only my opinion. If you like the NBA good for you. In my mind (again my opinion) the NBA is about as legit as the WWE.

Mookie Blaylock wrote:

I did not think this was a throw away season.
I would like to have seen how it would have ended.

Are you saying you would’ve liked to have seen how it ended with Thibs as head coach? I still don’t think it’s a throw-away season to be honest. Teams 4-14 in the west are all within 5 wins still so who knows?

A hockey lover not liking basketball??! WHAT?? WHAT??? Ha.

I would say NBA basketball has its spot in the top three or four. Winning breeds fans. When the wolves had Garnett in his prime I’m guessing interest in the Wolves was pretty darn high. Right now you have a disappointing team that hasn’t won in a long time. That breeds fan apathy. Who gets behind a struggling franchise in any sport? Hardcore fans will always be there. Fringe fans come and go with losing and winning in any sport.

twins wouldn’t even be on my list……..I got better baseball 2 blocks from my house in class B town ball!!!!!!!

do they call fouls in the WWE??????

You live in banana land if you actually think some of those teams, especially the womens sports, are more popular than Twolves basketball. I get the NBA isnt an white old man sport, but you need to get out more if you actually believe what youre saying!

Pricing the WWE as a whole, then what’s the NBA’s revenue, not the Wolves revenue…?

Looks like the Wolves have been drawing 14,000+ a game for the past 10 or 12 years and there’s been multiple 60 loss seasons in there. I cant imagine the Wild would be drawing those type of numbers with a similar stretch of losing seasons.

Curiously, the Loons drew 20,000 a game. Granted it’s in a honeymoon period but more than I thought.

I remember when the Twins were a firm #2 in this town behind the Vikings… arguably # 1 in the late 80’s/early 90’s. But even they’ve slipped for me in recent years. I attribute largely to sabermetrics… and the hyper-overanalyzing that leads to looooong pitch counts and far too many pitching changes = slow pace and too long of games = boring.

Twins May rival the Twolves near the bottom soon.

Dutchboy wrote:

If you like the NBA good for you. In my mind (again my opinion) the NBA is about as legit as the WWE.

Totally agree Dutch, professional basketball died when they stopped enforcing the rules (carrying and traveling in particular), and the players started running the league during the Jordan era. To be an NBA fan you either need to like one of the 2-9 teams that actually have a chance to win in a given year or just follow your favorite players. Following one of the 21 other teams is just crazy. And I love basketball

As for your list I’d say it’s Vikes, Wild, Gophers Football and Gophers basketball.

I am a non Minnesota native, so not interested in Gopher sports. However I grew up in a border state without professional sports, so I am a big time fan of Minnesota professional sports. I’m simply a football and basketball guy, so that’s what appeals to me.

Vikings – Won’t miss a play, let alone a game, no matter how good or bad.
Wolves – Have on in background while doing chores at night, not too interested in any NBA game not involving them though. Will sit down and watch when I can or when it’s close.
Twins – Didn’t watch a single game this year, used to go to 1-3 games a year just for the fun of it or have them on on TV for background noise, stopped doing that after lack of success. I’ll be a bandwagoner and watch them if they start winning. October baseball is fun to watch to TV.
Wild – Didn’t grow up in a state where hockey is popular, so it simply doesn’t really appeal to me. I will admit that playoff hockey is as good of a sporting event on TV to watch though, as far as intensity level of the players.
Gopher Sports – I enjoy sports, so I follow them, but will not go out of my way to really watch them as I’m not a Gopher fan.

FryDog62 wrote:

I remember when the Twins were a firm #2 in this town behind the Vikings… arguably # 1 in the late 80’s/early 90’s. But even they’ve slipped for me in recent years. I attribute largely to sabermetrics… and the hyper-overanalyzing that leads to looooong pitch counts and far too many pitching changes = slow pace and too long of games = boring.

It might be the slowness, but I’d argue the bigger issue is bullpen management, which predates the sabermetric revolution. Guys like Tony LaRussa micromanaging every matchup and at bat lead to wayyy more delay than someone trying to draw a walk more often. They’ll never do it, but I would love to see a rule implemented that limits the amount of pitcher changes within an inning or something.

BigWerm wrote:

To be an NBA fan you either need to like one of the 1-3 teams that actually have a chance to win in a given year or just follow your favorite players.

Fixed this for you!

I don’t have anything against the players or fans, but I’m not a huge fan of basketball because of how large an impact one player has on a team’s success, and all the superteams. I don’t fault the players, or care about their salaries, but when 1 player guarantees a finals appearance every year I just lose interest.

When you can pick the final 2 or 4 in the playoffs on day 1 of the season, I just lose interest.

philtickelson wrote:

Fixed this for you!

Haha yeah I bumped it up to 9 since that is how many teams have won a championship basically ever.

BigWerm wrote:

professional basketball died when they stopped enforcing the rules

Hope you dont take offense to this, just genuinely curious. You cant handle the occasional non-traveling call in the NBA but you can handle what we see in college basketball? Inconsistent whistles, incredibly soft foul calls every time down the floor, timeouts every two minutes, and frankly, very poor quality of basketball. Theres absolutely no flow to the game either.

Cant wait for someone to come in here and tell me that they dont play defense in the NBA.. or that its fixed

Try watching Hermantown hockey; you’ll abandon all other sports, teams, etc.

shady5 wrote:

Try watching Hermantown hockey; you’ll abandon all other sports, teams, etc.

Now youre starting to sound like that guy that talks about his class B team down the street having more talent than the twins lol

We should be back down in St. Paul in March, tbro! Let me know if tou need anything from Duluth!!

philtickelson wrote:

They’ll never do it, but I would love to see a rule implemented that limits the amount of pitcher changes within an inning or something.

I strongly think they need to speed up the game, they’re just shooting themselves in the foot the way they allow players and managers to draw things out. I don’t know if I like limiting pitching changes just because that is part of the game and strategy.

What I think they could easily do is limit mound visits from ANYONE to, say, 2 or 3 per game. That incluces managers & pitching coaches when not pulling a guy, catchers, infielders, etc. I’ve had people argue with me that those visits are crucial to employing strategy, but compare them to timeouts in football; you get 3 per half. You take one early in the 3rd quarter because you don’t like the formation on the other side of the ball and you may regret it in the 4th quarter when you need time. Nothing worse than seeing the pitching coach call time and walk painfully slow to the mound just to chat several times a game.

tbro16 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>shady5 wrote:</div>
Try watching Hermantown hockey; you’ll abandon all other sports, teams, etc.

Now youre starting to sound like that guy that talks about his class B team down the street having more talent than the twins lol

that be me and darn straight. I don’t miss many up north hockey teams playing in the state tourney.

I noticed all you do is criticize, so… Whatever.

glenn57 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tbro16 wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>shady5 wrote:</div>
Try watching Hermantown hockey; you’ll abandon all other sports, teams, etc.

Now youre starting to sound like that guy that talks about his class B team down the street having more talent than the twins lol

that be me and darn straight. I don’t miss many up north hockey teams playing in the state tourney.

I noticed all you do is criticize, so… Whatever.

I would be thin-skinned if I all I had to root for were St. Paul teams, too! ????