When it was all said and done, this was the most iconic image of the 2011 NHL Playoffs (Photo courtesy of the National Post)

Has there ever been a better time to be a sports fan? Mid-April to mid-June caused for some serious “recall” pushing on the remote control as both the NHL and NBA Playoffs provided some of the most entertaining moments in sports. Aside from the sheer athletic skill dozens of athletes demonstrated for plenty of viewers world-wide, there was the overarching storylines, in-game serials, off-ice/court antics, trash-talk, and the drama…ohhh the drama. It was inevitable that one would wake up to some sort of surprise. Little did we know...

With that said, these playoffs seemed to appeal to just about anyone. Whether you were the diehard fan, the casual bandwagon hopper (and you won’t admit it, but you were), or just someone along for the ride, there is no denying that the NBA and NHL put on marvelous shows whether they intended to or not. Let’s take a look at 5 things we can all hang our cap on at the end of these very festive seasons.

5. Oprah > The Chicago Bulls. Rush > The Montreal Canadiens

The highly anticipated match-up between the Bulls and the Heat was pushed back. Sorry, let me accurately rephrase that. Oprah forced Commissioner David Stern to change the damn schedule. While the series was supposed to start on Monday, May 16^th, Oprah laid the smack down and demanded use of the United Center for her last shows over some silly basketball game. Needless to say she won. Game 1 was played on Sunday (the 15^th) and Game 2 was played on Wednesday (18^th). A similar situation arose in Montreal as the popular Canadian rock band Rush forced Game 4 between the Canadiens and Bruins to be pushed back a day. With all of that said, a pretty relevant political debate in Quebec was rescheduled because it was on the day of Game 1 between the Habs and B’s. Ouch.

4. There are some Weiner’s in the NBA and Hockey is Violent…

It’s hard to ignore the 2 biggest mistakes within American politics in the last 2 months. But even with all of the sext-messages and maid-massaging, the power of sport took on it upon itself to delve deeper into similar issues. Well, the rumour of Rashad Lewis hittin’ it off with Lebron’s girl? Not as good as Delonte West and Mama Lebron, but it’s up there. What about the Pau Gasol drama where he blamed Kobe for his breakup, which later got turned into Shannon Brown sleeping with his ex-fiance? Throw in the massive amounts of violent hits and weird finger-biting for continuous debates both in Canada and the US and you have plenty of soap opera stories flying across the board. They certainly added a spice to every single game played and definitely encouraged anybody and everybody to chime in.

3. Media Will Turn Anything into a Storyline…and We Love It

During the Stanley Cup finals Roberto Luongo said a minor comment about Tim Thomas after Game 5 regarding Max Lapierre’s game winning goal saying that it would’ve been “an easy save” for him. And he said this based on Timmy T’s style. It made sense. He also went on to praise Thomas before and after these comments. But of course, give them an inch and they take a 2 page spread or 20 minute country-wide sport coverage out of it. It became goalie versus goalie for the stupidest comment (and way of taking it) ever. It was pretty awesome. It added on to what was already an intense series. Bring it over to the NBA? A cough causing up a storm you say? It happened. D Wade and Lebron poked fun at Dirk’s illness by imitating coughs in front of media and caught some serious flack for it. Then again, the Big 3 couldn’t do much without being criticized for it. Almost began to feel sorry for them.

2. No One Feels Sorry For the Big 3

The Heat’s 3 brought things upon themselves. The shenanigans at the beginning of the season kind of made it hard for anyone outside of Miami to like them. Arrogant, over-confident, and flashy seemed to define these dudes. Even the image of Bosh on his knees, like Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes, got more laughs than it did get pats on the back. Lebron jokes, particularly ones about his absence from the 4^th quarter throughout the entire series, are still not stale. And lastly, Wade… the once so valiant and heroic Dwayne Wade. He sadly fell victim to the antics of his comrades and looked slightly villainous off the court. The Big 3 in Vancouver: the Sedin Twins and Bobby Lu. While Luongo was really the only reason why the Canucks won 3 games in the series, he’s also a large reason why they ultimately lost 4. The back-to-back scoring champions also went the Lebron route and seemed to disappear when it mattered. Throughout 7 games they were a combined -12 with 5 points. Yikes. The overwhelming favourites on both sides fell flat on their faces at the expense of their superstars.

1. Sport is the Passion That Unites Many

I didn’t want to talk about the riots, but obviously it fits in here for better or for worse. While those particular riots were not all angry Canuck fans, there was undoubtedly some frustration to be released. With that said, throughout both sports, there was plenty of watching and commentating across the board. People in Memphis were on their feet for their underdog Grizzlies, as were the fans in Nashville for their Predators (big shouts go out to Scarborough native Joel Ward!). Rivalries were renewed and begun not only amongst teams, but unfortunately amongst people. Allegiances were chosen. People bled their team’s colours. Yes, the riot was too much and there is no denying that, though this passion that sport brings out of everyone has probably never been as evident as it was in these past 2011 playoffs. Sport is that powerful.