When I completed my preview of the Eastern Conference the other day, I began to think about the Western Conference, specifically how it felt like whereas the East seemed to be dominated by fewer teams, the West is more of an annual crapshoot. So I went and looked at the Conference Finalists from both conferences since the 2004-05 lockout and while the East has seen eleven teams make the final four since the 2006 playoffs, the West has seen thirteen. Not a big difference, but I think the bigger picture is that only seven teams, three in the West and four in the East, have failed to make the Conference Finals in that time. If the League was looking to achieve parity in the wake of the lockout, mission seemingly accomplished.

Our weird year has led to weird circumstances in the sporting world. Many major events that don’t happen on a seasonal basis (like the Summer Olympics) have been cancelled or postponed, while those seasonal sports were delayed and/or truncated. In North America, the three major sports leagues that would have been playing from March on, the NHL, NBA, and MLB, have had to adapt their schedules, but right now it looks like those three leagues are on track to get back to work in the next few weeks.