The Amazing Game 7

Let me start my first blog post of 2013 with a rant.

Manu “Mr. Rogain” Ginobli’s comments after Game 6 last night made me sick to my stomach. As a former athlete, and someone who still works in athletics, I was appalled by his remarks stating, “I have no clue how we're gonna be re-engergized. I'm devasted. There's no Game 8. We're gonna have to play our best game." Are you kidding me? I went from being in the, ‘Manu annoys me, but I don’t mind rooting for his male-pattern baldness hanging around,’ camp to the, ‘Holy crap, did he just say that? I can’t stand this guy,’ camp. If you can’t get energized by the Game 7 for the NBA Championship, get out of professional sports. I realize that last night’s game had to be emotionally draining for him; single-handedly giving the game to Miami in overtime will do that. But let’s be serious here.

With tomorrow’s Game Seven looming as one of the biggest NBA Finals games of the 2000’s, I got curious about the Magnificent Game Seven. Everything is riding on the outcome of this one game. The legacy of LeBron James and the Miami Big 3 rests on tomorrow’s outcome. Of course, the conspiracy theorists out there will say that this Game Seven was inevitable from David Stern and the NBA, and this made me curious. If Game Seven is the ultimate money-maker for the league, there should be a lot of them, right? There are three major sports that use a series format to decide their ultimate championship (NBA, NHL, and MLB). As a result of ignorant bar-talk conspiracy theorists, I'll explore the "money-making" Game Sevens of each league.

NBA Playoffs
I'll start with the NBA Playoffs, since it is most relevant to the times. In order to keep this in true games of significance, I will be looking only at the Conference Finals and the NBA Championship. In the last ten years (2004-13), there has been seven Game Sevens. Five of those seven have been Eastern Conference Finals matchups (2005 Detroit over Miami, 2006 Detroit over Cleveland, 2008 Boston over Cleveland, 2012 Miami over Boston, and 2013 Miami over Indiana). The only NBA Finals to go seven games is this seasons (Miami and San Antonio) and 2010's Finals (LA over Boston). Wouldn't there be more Game Sevens of the NBA Finals if a it was such a money maker? Why has there only been seven in the last ten years?

I'd like to hear/see responses to this one. Leave comments below or in the Facebook comments section. What's your opinion on Game Sevens? What do you think of Manu Ginobili's comments? Who will win Thursday night's NBA Finals Game Seven?