said by Thane_Bitter:said by Anav:... the nostalgic look back at the good ole days when teams were teams and hockey players drank like fish and smoked like chimney stacks.
...and the ice was white, the boards free of ads, and tickets didn't cost an arm and a leg.
But at the same time the players weren't making a shiny nickel in comparison to what they make today. Most of them had real jobs in the off season (which wasn't just July and August).
It's greed, bottom line, on both parts, it used to be best of 3, then 5 and now they've extended to 7 for the each play off round. Nor did half the league qualify for the playoffs.
I really like how the NFL works, 16 games, 2 divisional rounds,the conference and the Superbowl 20 games tops for a team going to the Superbowl a season that lasts from September to February (and only because the networks want it for sweeps).Unlike Hockey where the potential is to play 112 games (assuming each round goes to 7 games0 to win the Stanley cup.