Across the pond

Author: Adam Clayton

Over the last few days, amid much work, I have been asserting my right as a European to skip class in order to watch football - the Champions League to be exact. Final papers, group projects (sorry guys) and any other obligation will be postponed, or simply ignored, as I watch ESPN2. As you have probably guessed, I thanked the heavens for the rare opportunity to see European football. For those of you who are foreign-exchange students, I'm sure many of you have held the same prayer, withholding any religious differences.

For those of you unaware of the vast divide between European and American sports, here is a general observation from an objective outsider: American sports are communist. There, I've said it.

The greatest irony of the 20th and 21st centuries exists within the four major American sporting leagues. McCarthyism seemingly missed the most glaring example of communism in the institutions most U.S. citizens hold dearest in their heart - the NFL, NBA, NHL and the national pastime. With salary caps, luxury tax and a draft whose sole purpose is as an equalizer, American sports sound like they took cues straight from Marx's guide to developing sports.

The results are a more even playing field intended to create greater competition - just look at the NBA last year and compare it with today. For this Americans should be proud.

In the UK or in Spain the closest many fans get to celebrating a victory is watching Manchester United or Real Madrid lose (the Yankees complicate things), while in the States, even the Clippers can go from being the most ridiculed team in NBA history to, well, being replaced by the Knicks, whose team single handedly demonstrates that basketball could probably do without such restrictions. So what, you may be asking, is the downside to all of this? Surely more competition and unpredictability is better.

There is a downside. Despite all the benefits, it is unfair to teams, players and fans to be subjected to such tyranny. For a start, it doesn't reward individual players to the extent that they should be. "Starbury" sits (quite literally) on the same maximum contract as LeBron, while fans have to see well-designed teams establish dynasties that then fall apart once their players decline. Above all, managers and coaches can sit back in the knowledge that a poor season will gift them a draft pick that can help save their job the following year. All of these are disincentives for maximum effort.

If you're still unsure, go to a bar and watch the fans at the end of the NBA finals in June and compare them to fans celebrating the Champions League Final one month before. Without wishing to discredit the passion of the NBA, I'm sure you'd find a much greater expression of joy among the latter.