The fact that NBC dropped its plans to broadcast Sunday's Jazz-Pistons game in favor of the Lakers-Magic game elicits a couple of reactions.
On the emotional side, haven't we seen just about enough of the ever-annoying Lakers already this season?But on the pragmatic side, why, exactly, would any local Jazz fan care? It really makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.
Emotionally, it's hard not to be sick of looking at Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and that crowd. A little bit of arrogance goes an extremely long way.
NBC's decision was not a difficult one to understand, however. Networks are in the business of attracting as many viewers as possible, and the resurgent Lakers do happen to play in the second-largest television market in the country.
The Jazz, on the other hand, play in the 36th-largest TV market -- making them less attractive to the network for that reason alone.
(And getting upset about this ignores the fact that Utah's NBA team has already been on NBC four times this season -- albeit twice against none other than the Lakers.)
But, again, why should anyone in Utah care whether the Jazz-Pistons game was on NBC? After all, the minute NBC dropped it, local station KJZZ-Ch. 14 picked it up and made it available to local viewers.
If you're a Jazz fan in, say, Ohio, then you have reason to be ticked off. But not if you're a Jazz fan in Salt Lake City.
National television exposure is important to college teams. It helps with recruiting, and looking good on national TV can help with poll voters. Not to mention the money a college gets paid for appearing on a network.
But none of those things applies in the NBA. Pro teams don't recruit. They don't have to worry about voters. They don't have to worry about legitimizing themselves for fans across the country.
It's conceivable that an NBA team could go an entire regular season and never appear on NBC once -- and yet still go on and win the league title.
And, under the terms of the NBA's television contract, the teams all get the same amount of money no matter how many times they're on the network.
Not to mention the fact that NBC's decision not to carry the Jazz-Pistons game was actually a boon to Jazz owner Larry H. Miller -- it meant one more game his KJZZ-Ch. 14 could telecast and all the advertising revenue that goes along with that.
(Quietly and off the record, the folks at KJZZ haven't been all that thrilled with the number of games NBC has planned to carry. Four more are currently on the network's schedule, although that could change.)
For Jazzman Karl Malone to say that he'll never do another interview with anyone from NBC is, well, rather silly. It's an emotional reaction that ignores pragmatism altogether.
Maybe Malone was hoping the national exposure would help him secure endorsement contracts. In which case, perhaps he should be glad that the Jazz's collapse against and loss to the Pistons wasn't on the network.