data-mm-id=”_3g27gsb39″>About a month into the NBA season, the league and its broadcast partners are not bragging. The ratings for the season are off to rough start compared to last season's down year. As pointed out by Sports Media Watch, ratings for eight of the 10 TNT games have declined this season and, including ESPN's airings, nine games have already failed to reach one million viewers. That is compared to 19 all of last season. Another season with declining ratings has been my prediction ever since the discussion for this season began. The most protected and praised league by the sports media suffers from a plethora of problems that aren't going away. Most years there are only a select few teams that matter and have any national interest. This season, there are less than normal. There is little-to-no intrigue in any team not based in Los Angeles. And it's becoming increasingly hard to care for, or to watch, the Clippers. The team's star, and the NBA's best player, Kawhi Leonard, is skipping at least one game during back-to-back sets to rest. It's 50-50 if he is even going to show up, which screams to the fans that he, the team, and the NBA don't care about the regular season. Now, the fans are starting to not care, either.The regular season is an irrelevant display that is a waste of everyone's time. The outcomes don't matter. Over half of the league makes the playoffs, and many of the teams that make it in are not decent enough to compete. The players don't go full speed — if they even play — and several late games are decided on the free-throw line (Yawn). This includes the 26 or so teams that have no shot at winning a championship and are filled with players counting down the days until they can force their way to a new team. A method that is also a complication for the NBA. As much fun as the free agency madness has been over the past two seasons, it has hurt the NBA. The off-court rumors have become more fun than the games. Two seasons ago, it was about LeBron's decision. Last season, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard rumors took over the conversation. That doesn't exist this season and is not guaranteed to come back anytime soon. The troubling start of this season follows an NBA Finals that was down around 14 percent, according to Statista, in ratings, which followed a regular season that also recorded disappointing numbers. These numbers are likely a shock to the readers. It's hard for them to fathom any issues with the NBA as the coverage is 95 percent the media telling its audience how great it is, and 5 percent them defending its abundance of issues. Last season, I brought to attention how most sports shows were ignoring last season's lack of interest, the same shows and personalities that built programing around the NFL's ratings issues in 2015 and 2016. So it's no surprise this year's mess isn't getting attention despite the NBA being talked about nearly every day on nearly every single ESPN and FS1 program.The season is only a month in, and injuries to stars have made it even harder to watch, but it would be a tall task to convince anyone that bases their beliefs on facts that the league isn't in trouble. The current issues the league faces are not going away this season. Or next season when they will go up against the Presidential election. Sure, there will be defense and excuses, but like last season, none will be valid.
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Barcelona search for answers as Lisbon rout begs questions about Setien, Messi and a Camp Nou crisis
It was the darkest of nights for Barcelona in Lisbon s Stadium of Light.
How wonderfully merciless Bayern Munich were, as indulgent in their fondness for goals and insatiable in their will to humiliate the opposition as that great Germany side that humbled Brazil 7-1 at the 2014 World Cup.
But for Barcelona, the shame, the recklessness of it, the lack of spine. These footballing invertebrates will return to Catalonia not to fanfare but in disgrace.
They were possibly due a comeuppance, and here it was writ large.
A humiliation for history said the Spanish newspaper Marca on its website at full-time. The Barcelona-based Mundo Deportivo said it was an historic debacle .
That scoreline. 8-2. Eight-two. Barcelona shipped eight goals. Everywhere you …
Best Odds: 4/5
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Only days removed from their Premier League meeting at Anfield earlier in the week, Liverpool and Arsenal will turn their attention to EFL Cup duties on Thursday night.
Liverpool
Starting with the hosts, capitalising on Manchester City’s early slip-up and with Jurgen Klopp praising his side’s display on Monday night, Liverpool have certainly laid down an early marker since opening the 2020/2021 campaign. Coming from behind and landing what was a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win over the Gunners at Anfield earlier in the week, the defending champions have opened the New Year with a 100% start and are one of just three teams who can boast such a record heading into October. While the former Borussia Dortmund boss might have a mild headach…
Celtic announced that interim manager Neil Lennon has been offered a permanent contract after completing the treble-treble on Saturday.
Victory over Hearts in the Scottish Cup final with a brace from Odsonne Edouard saw Celtic complete a domestic sweep for the third consecutive season for the first time in their history.
Lennon replaced Brendan Rodgers who departed for Leicester City in February when the club had already won the Scottish League Cup, but he guided them to Scottish Premiership success before this weekend s triumph.
And with the 47-year-old only under contract until the end of the season, Celtic confirmed that they had offered Lennon the job on a full-time basis.
However, in a short statement on Twitter, the club did not reveal whether Lenn…
The pressure on Ronald Koeman intensified after his 10-man Barcelona side were held to a dire 0-0 draw by Cadiz at Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla on Thursday.
Speculation about the Dutchman s future has been rife following a slow start to the LaLiga campaign that had seen Barca drop points to Athletic Bilbao and Granada in their opening four games, while also losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Things did not get much better for the Catalan giants in Andalusia as Cadiz comfortably kept them at bay, with their misery compounded midway through the second half when Frenkie de Jong saw red for two bookable offences.
Koeman was also dismissed in the closing seconds for his protests during a frantic finish.
A point did at least move Barcelona up …
Liverpool were denied victory by VAR as Andrew Robertson was penalised late on to allow Brighton and Hove Albion to rescue a 1-1 Premier League draw at the AMEX Stadium.
Diogo Jota s ninth Liverpool goal looked set to prove enough for the Reds to move three points clear of Tottenham at the top of the table, but the Reds work was undone in stoppage time.
Robertson swung out a foot and clipped Danny Welbeck and, though referee Stuart Attwell spotted no infringement, he changed his decision once he checked the pitch-side monitor.
Unlike Neal Maupay, who drilled wide from 12 yards to let Liverpool off the hook in the first half, Pascal Gross made no mistake.
It was a third VAR call of the game that went against Liverpool, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane…
Although Atletico Madrid might not have been able to end the weekend at the top of the La Liga table, Diego Simeone s men certainly laid down a real marker in the capital.
Picking up a 1-0 win against , some across Spain have billed them as an early-season contender and few would argue that Los Colchoneros don t have a golden opportunity ahead of them.
Priced at 2/1 with to clinch their first domestic crown since 2014, how have Atletico played themselves into a real title hunt?
Finding a clinical edge
While Atletico Madrid might have built their reputation under for their rugged displays at the back, they have gained a string of plaudits this season for what has been a new-found clinical edge in the final third.
Shocking many and managing to bring the…
Inter secured Champions League qualification in their penultimate game of the Serie A season, dealing a fatal blow to Atalanta s own top-four hopes with a 3-2 win at San Siro.
The Nerazzurri – finalists in Europe s premier club competition this term – stormed into a two-goal lead within just two minutes and 49 seconds after Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella were on target.
Atalanta needed a result to keep their slim hopes of a top-four finish alive, and they were handed a lifeline by Mario Pasalic before the interval on Saturday.
Yet Inter added a deserved third through Lautaro Martinez after the break, making Andre Onana s late own goal a mere Atalanta consolation, as the Nerazzurri moved eight points clear of their fifth-placed visitors.
Lu-La photo…
Sassuolo 0-2 Napoli: Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen decisive yet again as Spalletti´s juggernaut powers o
Napoli s relentless charge to the Scudetto continued with a straightforward 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Friday, their key men at the fore yet again.
Victory at Mapei Stadium made it seven Serie A wins in a row since a 1-0 defeat to Inter in their first game back after the World Cup, extending the Partenopei s lead at the summit to 18 points.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia put Napoli in front early on with a wonderful solo effort, before their other talisman, Victor Osimhen, made it 2-0 just after the half-hour mark to become the club s first player to net in seven successive top-flight games in the three-points-for-a-win era.
Sassuolo somewhat contentiously had a goal chalked off late in the first half, but thereafter Napoli s game management was exceptional, with the only sha…
Chelsea have announced that club legend John Terry is to return to Stamford Bridge to take up a coaching consultancy role at the Academy.
Terry has been out of work since leaving his role as assistant head coach of Aston Villa under then boss Dean Smith in July.
The 41-year-old played for the Blues for almost 19 years before leaving for Villa Park in 2017 and will now begin a part-time role at Chelsea s Cobham training ground, which according to an announcement on the club s official website will include delivering on-field coaching, contributing to coaching discussions with colleagues, mentoring Academy players and supporting parent dialogue.
Terry will begin his new position at the start of January, and head of youth development at Chelsea, Neil Bath, said of…
According to Italian outlet , a swap deal between Chelsea and Juventus, involving strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Romelu Lukaku, could take place in 2024.
Chelsea have been struggling to score goals this season. Obviously lacking satisfactory input from summer signing Nicolas Jackson, their lack of another option in the centre-forward position has become notoriously clear. Lukaku is still on their books, but he simply hasn t been able to play at his best at Stamford Bridge and is currently on loan at AS Roma, with the Serie A clearly better suited for his qualities. This term, he has scored 13 goals in 20 matches across all competitions.
On the other hand, Vlahovic is Juventus top goalscorer this season, with six goals in 15 appearances in the Italian top flight. At the age…