Thing I miss in sports

[Spearhead]

^{The Southwest Conference.}

^{Dungard and double bar facemasks (gray, thank you.)}

^{Bowl games named for products and not sponsors}

^{Sleeves on football uniforms}

^{The Houston Oilers, Baltimore Colts, LA Rams, St. Louis Cardinals}

[Xist2inspire]

Teamwork, excitement, and fun in the NBA.

[walby2]

Whatever happened to divisional team logos on outfield fences? IIRC they were arranged in the order of the standings. Any teams still do that?

[pianoknight]

Watching NBA on NBC the theme by john tesh kicked ass

Yes, it did.

I STILL hear that song in my head when I flip through the channels and come across an NBA game.

[dbadefense1990]

TV:

Aerial blimp shots showing the city during sponsor plugs (especially in the Super Bowl, where such shots have been replaced by Skycam shots of the playing field).

Networks doing animations for major playoff/championship series logos (the NHL on NBC is one of the last to do this).

Using unique shots during broadcasts (not using as much stock footage).

NFL:

ABC's Monday Night Football.

Playing the Super Bowl the week after the conference title games (no bye week between those games).

Pro Bowl the week after the Super Bowl.

The way FOX announced the match-ups during the intro of FOX NFL Sunday (most prevalent in the late 1990s).

Any NFL on CBS theme before 2003 (the current E.S. music).

The 2006 version of "The Challenge" (the NBC SNF post-game show in LA before Petros arrived and before they cut the number of questions from 8 to 4).

The NFL in Los Angeles.

NBA:

NBA on NBC.

NBA on CBS.

Lakers on KCAL-9.

When broadcast openings did not have some pop song playing (Bieber, Pussycat Dolls, Destiny's Child).

Actual defensive basketball (last decent year: 2005).

NBA Inside Stuff.

Any EA NBA Live video game before 2006.

MLB:

The "Anaheim" Angels.

Dodger Stadium before the 2005 renovations.

Montreal Expos.

San Francisco Giants before 2010.

The prevalence of baseball curses (Bambino, Billy Penn, Black Sox, Keith Hernandez).

The late-1990s Yankees playing at old Yankee Stadium.

MLB on NBC.

MLB on ABC.

This Week in Baseball.

FOX producing their own MLB pregame show (although I hated Jeanie Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy).

MLB on FOX theme before 2010 (when they made their NFL theme the universal FOX Sports song).

Only having Eastern and Western divisions.

Dodgers road jerseys before 1998.

NHL:

NHL on ABC.

NHL on ESPN.

Kings on KCAL-9.

NHL on FOX.

Gary Thorne.

Kings "silver Chevy" sweaters (Gretzky era).

Ducks and Sharks logos and sweaters before mid-2000s change.

Ties.

Coyotes late-1990s logo.

The crease before 1999 (an actual semi-circle).

Home teams wearing white.

No corporate logos on the ice.

Penguins logos and sweaters in the 1990s.

Everything about the Kings in the early-2000s.

[Lights Out]

Teamwork, excitement, and fun in the NBA.

All of that exists in the NBA currently.

[Yac12]

The Baseball Bunch

[Xist2inspire]

Teamwork, excitement, and fun in the NBA.

All of that exists in the NBA currently.

You gotta look harder and harder for it though.

Teamwork: Only a few teams in the NBA really appear to stress teamwork, and it's something that's obvious to see. The majority of the NBA still keeps relying on the "one or two 'star' only" strategy.

Excitement: This is probably due to the weakened talent pool these days (too many dudes jumped out of high school/spent one year in college and didn't refine their skills. Not everybody can be LeBron or KD, gotta hone those skills at the college level), but remember when more teams had something to get excited about? Even teams that were sure to be lower seeds had some energy. Not so today. It's really only the top teams (around 4 in each conference) + who the hell else cares.

Fun: Not silliness. Again, the "fun" aspect is almost something you can see and feel. Maybe it's just me getting older, but I really see the NBA getting dryer and dryer, and as someone who really loves basketball, that's very disappointing. And sheesh, it's not like I'm that old anyway (22 later this month).

[Evil G]

Won't Andrew Wiggins excite?

[BBTV]

Whatever happened to divisional team logos on outfield fences? IIRC they were arranged in the order of the standings. Any teams still do that?

I think that started to die with the 3-division realignment in '94, and then went for good (in most places) once interleague play started. I think the Cubs still do flags.

[OnWis97]

Whatever happened to divisional team logos on outfield fences? IIRC they were arranged in the order of the standings. Any teams still do that?

I think that started to die with the 3-division realignment in '94, and then went for good (in most places) once interleague play started. I think the Cubs still do flags.

The Twins have flags for the AL divisions, sorted left-to-right with the standings. I think more advertisements on the walls may have played a role too.

[BBTV]

Also it was much easier in the days of the concrete donuts.

[Gothamite]

Yankee Stadium has team flags all around the roof, arranged by division and then by standings.

[pianoknight]

Yankee Stadium has team flags all around the roof, arranged by division and then by standings.

What are those first four flags on the left side of the picture?

Obviously #1 is the Stars & Stripes, and I'm guessing #2 or #3 is the State Flag of New York.

But is #4... Mexico?

[Funky Bunky]

AT&T Park also has flags for each team, but I don't think they're organized by standings.

[Kramerica Industries]

these things right here:

(fully aware this is a two-year old post)

I had completely forgotten that those Georgia black jerseys had become such a thing that they actually wore them when they destroyed Hawai'i in the 2007 2008 Sugar Bowl.

Damn you, Alabama.

[The_Admiral]

What are those first four flags on the left side of the picture?

Obviously #1 is the Stars & Stripes, and I'm guessing #2 or #3 is the State Flag of New York.

But is #4... Mexico?

City flag of New York?

[cmm]

Yankee Stadium has team flags all around the roof, arranged by division and then by standings.

What are those first four flags on the left side of the picture?

Obviously #1 is the Stars & Stripes, and I'm guessing #2 or #3 is the State Flag of New York.

But is #4... Mexico?

#1 = USA

#2 = POW/MIA

#3 = Purple Heart flag

#4 = NYC

EDIT: Here's an article with a zoom-able closeup of the Purple Heart flag:

http://www.herkimertelegram.com/x931241110/Veteran-daughter-instrumental-in-Purple-Heart-flag-over-Yankee-Stadium

[infrared41]

^{Bowl games named for products and not sponsors}

I'm not sure I understand the difference. Do you mean bowl games named after fruits, flowers, reptiles, places, and so on? Like the Peach Bowl, Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl, etc? If that's the case, I agree.

[JayMac]

Defense and the running game in the NFL