CNN
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Welcome to Trend Line, weekly installments on sports trends and what’s trending.
This week I’m talking about the hot, hot, hot NBA playoffs in town now (New York).
The New York Knickerbockers (or Knicks) are up 2-0 for rival Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Can the Knicks go all the time? I don’t know, but what I know is that tickets for Game 3 of the series with the Celtics are some of the hottest items in town.
That’s where we start with trending.
The cheapest tickets in current vibrant seats are around $600. Last week it was under $400. This is an increase somewhere between 70% and 80%, depending on how long you check the website.
It speaks to the fact that ticket prices are out of control, but I don’t know who has so much money to spend so much money on a seat.
Finally, the Knicks were able to score a face value playoff seat for $25 in the semi-finals. Taking into account inflation, even if that ticket is ten times higher in the secondary market, such seats will be less than what playoff tickets are currently on the way.
Who can afford something like this?
I admit I’m not the most enthusiastic NBA fan. So it’s a reference to basketball in the mid-90s. They didn’t fully understand how often the Celtics attempted this series and missed a 3-pointer.
In fact, the entire league is increasingly trying three pointers. The average team is currently trying 3 pointers less than 38 per game. When I was a kid, it was under ten.
I don’t know if I like the new style of play. I don’t think it works for some teams and others.
In this series, they don’t work for the Celtics, who were 100-25-25 (yes, the game averaged 50 attempts).
Did someone say bricks?
The Celtics may be missing, but there is no John Tesch’s basketball anthem. NBC’s well-known theme songs are back next season as NBC regains its NBA TV rights.
Apparently, many people, like me, are looking forward to the theme song. Google’s Roundball Rock searches are averaged this month than any other month on record.
Do you think I can say I’m not too surprised? Tesh’s song’s live performance has been viewed around 3 million times on YouTube.
But most of all, the theme song is full of nostalgia. The NBA has never gained more viewers than in the 1990s when “Round Ball Rock” was the national anthem for viewers.
The NBA is probably not that popular again, but perhaps the theme can bring them a good mojo.
