If you are reading the sports page, you have more than likely played basketball recently. You may have even played outside and taken in the beautiful weather. But if I was a gambling man, I would place the mortgage against the possibility of you playing ice hockey lately.

No petitioning from a mangy columnist will change that one. I myself would probably rather get a good run in at basketball instead of falling all over myself in hockey. But the time of the year is late April, which means that basketball is out and hockey is in.

During the regular season I recall watching two NHL games on the television, which is actually more than a lot of sports fans probably took in. Every single night of the NBA season I watched at least part of a hoops game. But as soon as the playoffs start, the NBA season becomes extremely boring and in excess of foreshadow. The NHL postseason is anybody’s trophy and the outlook can change night by night.

Already the one seeds in the NBA are looking too powerful for their lesser foes. San Antonio and Detroit are going to meet in the finals. How boring is that? The NBA playoffs have just started, the series are one game in, and I am positive that the same teams from last season are going to meet again in the finals. The broadcasters will try to make up backstories, but in essence the league sucks, and without hesitation the ability to proclaim the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Champs requires little effort, if any at all.

In the NHL playoffs, both one seeds have already lost their home-ice advantage. Detroit and Ottawa are the two most talented teams in hockey, and over the long season finished with the most points. In the shortened NHL playoffs, it’s the team that gets hot at the right time, the team that wants it more and the goalie that becomes the brick wall that brings home the coveted trophy.

I have a team in both leagues, the Nets are my NBA and the Devils are my NHL. But as I look at it, the Nets are good – they can provide ticket holders with highlight dunks, but they stand no chance of winning a championship. Maybe they can make the conference finals, but who cares? They would still be two series away from a title. On the contrary, the Devils finished in the same spot as the Nets but have as good a chance as anyone to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Because I am lucky enough to adore one of the greatest franchises in sports, the Devils, I have celebrated three Stanley Cups. What the hell is the basketball championship trophy? What is its name? Where is its history? Show me a player who lives and breathes with the trophy and not the next paycheck. Watch an NBA team win the championship; they smile and hug a few times and that’s that. Last year’s win by the Spurs was so impossibly regular that it appeared they lost and were congratulating each other for making it that far.

When a team wins Lord Stanley’s Cup, its legion of bearded warriors lose whatever minds they had to begin with. Men with gaping wounds on the sides of their faces from the tough playoff road cry like babies after what they have done. The Cup is all that matters to a hockey player. These are men who grew up not focusing on catching a football or hitting the winning jumper, but the sting of a body-check. From day one of playing hockey, the dream of hoisting the Cup floats over your head like a sports halo.

So from today, if you’re a Pistons or a Spurs fan, continue watching your playoffs. If you have any connection at all to a hockey team, jump on the bandwagon and enjoy the ride.

Ian Gold is a senior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].