4/8: Playoff Upsets, Upset At The Masters
6:30 p.m.
• I’m not a huge golf fan, but I don’t hate on the sport. In fact, whenever one of the “big” tournaments is on I watch some of it if I’m in the mood. I just had the Masters on and Tiger Woods hit his second shot on Hole 17 into a sand trap. CBS’ audio picked up him saying, “Honestly, what the hell just happened.” LOL. I love Tiger.
And that Zach guy who is probably going to win this year said to a reporter guy that Jesus was with him out there with him today. Right. It’s Easter Sunday and Jesus decided to hang out with you on the golf course.
4:30 p.m.
• The NHL is wrapping up, and that means its second season, the Stanley Cup playoffs, will be starting soon. The cool thing about the NHL playoffs is that it seems anything can happen, and many times it does. Unlike, in my opinion, the NBA playoffs, just about any seeded team can make a serious run. Take for example the Edmonton Oilers last year. After almost not getting into the postseason, the number-eight seed came within one game of winning the Stanley Cup. Below are the last seven seasons and the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals matchups. The bracket numbers are the seedings of each team.
2005-2006: Hurricanes (2) d. Oilers (8) 4-3
2004-2005: ------------
2003-2004: Lightning (1) d. Flames (6) 4-3
2002-2003: Devils (2) d. Ducks (7) 4-3
2001-2002: Wings (1) d. Hurricanes (3) 4-1
2000-2001: Avalanche (1) d. Devils (1) 4-3
1999-2000: Devils (4) d. Dallas (2) 4-2
Below are the NBA Finals matchups during this same span.
2005-2006: Heat (2) d. Mavericks (4) 4-2
2004-2005: Spurs (2) d. Pistons (2) 4-3
2003-2004: Pistons (3) d. Lakers (2) 4-1
2002-2003: Spurs (1) d. Nets (2) 4-2
2001-2002: Lakers (3) d. Nets (1) 4-2
2000-2001: Lakers (2) d. 76ers (1) 4-1
1999-2000: Lakers (1) d. Pacers (1) 4-2
How many top seeds in each league made it to the finals of their respective sport: NBA 5, NHL 4.
Number two seeds: NBA 6, NHL 3.
Number three seeds: NBA 2, NHL 1.
Number four seeds: NBA 1, NHL 1.
Number five-eight seeds: NBA 0, NHL 3.
Eh, that doesn’t really validate my point. Let’s see what other numbers I can manipulate. I know, let’s see how many upsets were in each round of playoff competition during this time. Because the NHL didn’t play during the 2004-2005 season, I’m discounting that year’s NBA playoffs, too. (In that year there was a 3/6 seed upset, a 4/5 seed upset and two second- and third-round upsets.
First-round upsets:
8s defeating 1s: NBA 0, NHL 3
7s defeating 2s: NBA 0, NHL 7
6s defeating 3s: NBA 3, NHL 4
5s defeating 4s: NBA 4, NHL 2
Second- and Third-round upsets: NBA 14, NHL, 12
Total upsets in First, Second and Third rounds: NBA 21, NHL 28.
I still don’t know if this validates what I said above, but it’s interesting nevertheless -- especially since there have been more first-round 1/8 upsets than 4/5s in the NHL.
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