Swept away

Is it just me, or are the NHL and NBA playoffs kind of boring this year?

The conference finals in the two sports are playing out pretty much the same as the previous rounds have, with a decided lack of drama.  The Chicago Blackhawks swept their way into the Stanley Cup finals on Sunday, a day later the Philadelphia Flyers ousted the Montreal Canadiens in five games.  Basketball has gotten a bit better with Phoenix winning last night to pull even with the Lakers, but even though the series is tied, there have been no individual games that were very compelling.  Boston took a 3-0 lead over Orlando and will likely finish them off in Game 5 this evening, where exactly is the playoff drama this season?

Now it has to be said that you can't force drama (well, that might depend on your view of NBA officiating conspiracies) and there have been some notable good games in these playoffs (see Canadiens, Montreal), but all in all, it's been kind of a snoozer.  Where are my multiple-OT thrillers?  Where are my last-second game-winning shots?  Perhaps this is all just a hangover from last year's Celtics-Bulls "best playoff series ever" coup de grace, but for the most part, when I've sat down to watch a big game, it hasn't ended up being big.  Yahoo's Puck Daddy blog posed an interesting query on this topic, wondering if first-round NHL upsets might've ruined later rounds by taking out the best teams early.(http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/What-We-Learned-Did-the-1st-round-spoil-Stanley?urn=nhl,243153)  It's a good question, given that big upsets are always very fun, but the underdog runs often tend to be over quickly, and in grisly fashion.

Then again, maybe I'm just being greedy about things, expecting compelling storylines and non-stop drama may just be too much to ask.  On a personal level there is still one great storyline in each sport keeping me tuned in; the Blackhawks first Cup finals in nearly 20 years while being led by my favorite college hockey player of all-time (Jonathan Toews) in the NHL being one, and the potential renewal of one of the greatest rivalries in sport (Lakers vs. Celtics) in the NBA being the other.  If you'd asked me what I wanted to see when the playoffs started, these Finals matchups wouldn't have been too far off, so should I really ask for much more?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes, because more is what we've been spoiled with in the past, don't blame me because the bar has been set high.  Great teams AND great games are a staple of the playoffs, with this year conspicuously devoid of the latter.  Maybe it is greedy, but since I don't get the enjoyment of watching either of my teams play even a single game, I feel I'm entitled.  Now let's hope the Finals in both sports make up for the couple of ho-hum weeks leading up to the.