Christmas Day Sports

On Christmas Day fans saw one NFL game and five NBA games including a huge matchup between the LA Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Basketball has had games on Christmas day for several years now, but not everyone is a fan. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was clearly not happy about his team playing on Dec. 25 sayng:

"I would rather not play on Christmas. This is a day to spend with your family. The league has been good to all of us in terms of what we get out of these TV games, so it would sound a little disingenuous to complain too much. But if I had my way, we'd take a five-day Christmas break....I think we get a little carried away with ourselves with sports thinking we're more important than everything else. But that's the way it is. 'There's nothing more important than the NBA on Christmas Day'....I won't watch one second of the other four games. I have no interest. That's not great advertisement for the league, but I actually feel sorry for people who have nothing to do on Christmas Day other than watch an NBA game."

And coach Van Gundy is absolutely right. The desire to play on Christmas day I believe stems from the Thanksgiving football tradition. Football isn't just something to watch that day, but has actually become a part of Thanksgiving to many people. While being away from your family must be hard for the players, coaches, and personnel who make such games possible, it is not a religious holiday. Christmas is religious and the last thing on my mind that day is 'who's playing?" While I understand the desire to try and tap into the huge popularity the NFL enjoys from Thanksgiving games, how low are both leagues willing to go? Neither league is struggling for money or ratings. What do they lose by giving teams the day off? I really don't think the fans will complain if they have to wait until December 26 to watch their team again.

I have to wonder who's going to these games? The stadiums are packed and my guess is that the ratings must be pretty high if the NBA is pushing five games, but I can't imagine asking my family to go to a basketball or football game on Christmas day. While it does seem like there are a lot of people with nothing better to do that day, I'm sure they could find something to tide them over for 24 hours. At some point you have to ask what's more important? Does the NBA have to give these people a game to go to or can they allow people like Van Gundy to spend Christmas with his wife and four children? People can live a day without basketball. There's an entire offseason and somehow we manage to avoid the apocalypse every year during that time.

The day after Christmas I heard an interview with Washington Capitals winger Matt Bradley. Earlier this month, his wife gave birth to their first child. In the NHL, there were no games on Dec. 24 or 25 and he was talking about how special it was to spend time with his son on his first Christmas. Those moments are ultimately more important than the ratings you get on Christmas Day.