Saviour?
When he led the Cleveland Cavaliers over the hopelessly boring Detroit Pistons and into the NBA Finals, LeBron James was widely hailed as the one-man saviour of the league and its lame TV ratings.
The problem, of course, is that a team must do more than participate to engender some interest, and the Cavs and their only compelling player have barely managed that. Game 1 was the lowest rated Finals opener in history. Long before the Spurs boosted their first-half lead to 28 points in Sunday's second game, viewers had gone diving for the clicker as if it were a grenade needing to be disarmed.
Ratings are pending. Let's put it this way: When media analysts question the wisdom of placing the game on free TV opposite a program on a pay channel -- HBO runs $13 a month on DirecTV -- you know televised sports have plunged.
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