Game 7

The problem with the NBA, MLB and NHL is that they play too many games. They just do. And we all know it's because of money, and so there's no way to change it. But it's hard to get excited about a regular season game or even a first round playoff game, when you know that everything is not on the line. The NFL has it right, and that's why the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl of Super Bowls. 1 game, with everything on the line. But in every other sport, the only thing that comes close is a GAME 7.

Woody Allen once said... (And I'm paraphrasing), "Sport is everything theater wishes to be, but isn't." More specifically, you can't write a script that is less predictable than sport. Whether it's football, golf, soccer or horse racing, nobody knows for sure the outcome, until you play it all the way through.

In theater and film, we are sometimes too obsessed with the ending to appreciate the journey. The director M.Night Shyamalan dealt with that problem after he made "The Sixth Sense." Everyone loved the ending. People were so concerned with his ending, that his following films suffered... Audiences were unable to appreciate the journey of his films "The Village" or "Signs."

Of course, sometimes we know the ending of a film, but we don't care, due to our love of the journey. Almost all romantic comedies fit in this category, as do James Bond films. In both genres, we're almost certain we know the ending. The couple gets together and James Bond kills the bad guy... but we're happy to go the cinema and enjoy the ride, because we want to see how they do it.

In sports, we almost never know the ending, and we never know the journey. Sure, the Yankees are probably gonna make the playoffs, and the Cubs might never win the World Series, but on any given day, in any given sport, any team can beat any team. And that is what makes March Madness so great. That's what makes the NFL so great. That's what makes golf great! And that's what makes GAME 7 everything the "The Karate Kid" wishes it could be.