The NFL has, for decades, been the master of manipulating the sports schedule to stay in the news and in front of viewers.
NBA Summer League wedges its way into 365-day sports calendar
Enjoy it if you want, but also recognize that sometimes it's OK to take a break from sports.
July 11, 2022 at 4:49PM
It's hard to say when exactly this run of dominance started, but it's not hard to trace its origin to the increased visibility of the NFL Draft. Two tipping points: The NFL Network joining ESPN with wall-to-wall draft coverage in 2006, and then the expansion to a three-day draft in 2010.
The Super Bowl leads into hiring season, which leads into free agency, which leads into the scouting combine and draft, which leads into minicamp.
We are in that blissful 10 seconds or so (more like five weeks) where the league sort of quiets down and all that's left of the league is to talk about Aaron Rodgers' latest attention grab (tattoo).
Other leagues have tried to copy the model with varying degrees of success. By far the one that has made up the most ground in recent years is the NBA, which Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday's Daily Delivery podcast.
The NBA has done genius work turning every trade deadline, draft and free agency season into months-long speculative fodder.
But nothing quite compares to the task of turning the NBA Summer League — glorified scrimmages featuring draft picks and roster filler — into a buzzworthy Las Vegas showcase during an otherwise fairly dead spot in the live sports calendar.
It's to the point that every game is available to watch, primarily on ESPNU and NBATV. If you are enjoying watching Summer League or are even out in Vegas networking and living it up, please know that I am not here to trample on your experience.
Rather, think of this as a tip of the cap to the NBA on one hand and a pondering on the other of what a non-stop sports calendar means in the big picture.
I go back and and forth (mostly in my head) between the competing notions of too much sports being unhealthy escapism ... and the idea that people should just do whatever makes them happy and fulfilled because escapism is a construct.
If watching Wolves first-round pick Wendell Moore Jr. and a bunch of players you will probably never see again makes you happy — even when they combine with Memphis to make 7 of 64 threes like they did the other day — I'm here to observe and not judge.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
