Why the Stanley Cup Playoffs Are the Best in Pro Sports

If you don't like the Stanley Cup playoffs, you're not really a sports fan.

There. I said it.

Seriously. I can't understand how anybody can go on about how much he loves sports but then have the nerve to tell me how boring and dull the NHL is. I suppose it doesn't help that you have to wait roughly 20 minutes to find out who won last night's playoff games during Sportscenter yet the show has no problem telling us about a meaningless baseball game in April during the first five minutes of the broadcast.

Quick aside. Sportscenter is terrible and there's a reason fewer of us are watching it these days.

Back to my original point. The Stanley Cup playoffs aren't just awesome. The tournament to determine which team gets to hoist La Coupe Stanley is without question the most exciting in all of professional sports. There really is no comparison. Don't believe me? Here are the reasons why I am right and you are probably a snobbish American sports fan that prefers to watch the NBA and all its lameness.

First reason why the Stanley Cup playoffs are the best in pro sports: Tradition

Thanks to that wonderful source of information, Wikipedia, I learned that the Stanley Cup was first donated in 1892. The NHL unofficially took possession of the cup in 1926 and did so officially in 1947. For those of you curious, the first ever World Series was 1903. Simply put, there is no trophy in North America with a lineage like that of Lord Stanley's cup.

Second reason why the Stanley Cup playoffs are the best in pro sports: Fans

NHL fans are the best sports fans found in the United States. I say this because you have to be a die-hard fan in order to watch hockey in the US. Thanks to God-awful live coverage as well as highlights of maybe three games if Sportscenter gets around to doing so, the common sports fan probably knows little about the NHL other than the fact that this young guy named Sidney plays in Pittsburgh.