Something is wrong with the ATP tour of late. It’s actually becoming…competitive?

At one time, finals matches were a place reserved for Rafa and Roger. It did not particularly matter who won, for Rafa got his kicks on clay (and then grass), and Roger was pretty content with a mere two Slams a year in Australia and the U.S.

But all of a sudden, the tennis peons have developed the audacity to rise up and defeat King Nadal and Duke Federer.

How am I supposed to watch Roger do titillating tennis tricks in Schick razor commercials when I know that he’s close to being number three or (God forbid) number four in the world?

Tearfully.

Tennis is fast-becoming a sport of not the few, but the many. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has already picked up 19 wins in this young season (including two titles), and is quickly becoming the man to watch in men’s tennis. The burly Frenchman not only breaks the scrawny tennis player stereotype, his appearance and Ali-likeness seems to transcend the sport. He’s not your mother’s tennis player.

Players like Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Murray, and Gael Monfils are a new generation in men’s tennis, and all of a sudden, the tournament has become more than a Federer-Nadal bout.

And Novak is no hack either. Djokovic, the sensational Serb, has developed an overall game that can beat both Federer and Nadal regularly. And that’s not very nice.

Neither are the economic implications. Roger and Rafa brought in millions of dollars, and viewers with nothing more than a passing interest in tennis and biceps. But with a field that is quickly leveling, we have to wonder if the ATP will feel the financial crunch without two consistent money-makers.

The press they received for the latest Wimbledon was astronomical, and the match itself was exponentially more exciting than advertised.

But remember Tsonga’s particularly disinteresting loss to Djokovic in the Aussie Open last year? I don’t. How is the ATP supposed to survive with finals that leave much to be desired?

I certainly appreciate their talents. I’m not so certain the ATP execs will quite as much. Because how Roger and Rafa go will indicate the popularity of tennis. Bottom line.

Best of luck, men of professional tennis. Also, be sure to get some extra sponsors.

The link to listen to the show is at the top of this post.

It’s safe to say that John Gonzalez, writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is not a hockey fan. And because he is not a lover of all things puck, he apparently believes that nobody else is, either.

In a column in Tuesday’s paper, Mr. Gonzalez takes a few cheap shots at the NHL by saying that, among other things, the league should stop national broadcasts because nobody in America cares, and that if every team in America besides the Flyers moved to Canada, Philadelphians wouldn’t notice.

[Hockey has] become a niche sport, a regionalized pastime with devoted fans who love the home team but not necessarily the international product. It’s partly why hockey’s American television ratings consistently rank last among the four major pro sports.

I wonder how long they’ll even bother to keep those figures. I read a story in the Toronto Sun recently that said talks about renewing a deal between the NHL and NBC have yet to “heat up.” NBC is in the final year of its two-year deal with the NHL. The piece made it sound like the two parties might reach a new agreement - or they might not.

When I contacted the NHL to ask if it was possible that national hockey broadcasts might vanish from our televisions, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told me that the league’s relationship with NBC “has never been stronger.”

“We continue to share the common goal of growing the NHL’s exposure and importance as a national television property in the United States, and our current relationship with NBC has been instrumental in demonstrating our ability jointly to achieve that objective,” Daly said.

Well, hey, good luck with that, Bill. Because my first reaction to the news that NBC might bail on the NHL was “hooray.” It made me dream of a world where no one suffers through national hockey games because they will have disappeared from our television.

In the Sun article that Mr. Gonzalez cites, the writer paraphrases NHL Senior VP for Broadcasting John Shannon, saying “talks won’t heat up on renewing the deal until after the Super Bowl hangover subsides. That also will give both NHL and NBC executives a chance to see how the next few weeks draw, beginning with Saturday’s Stanley Cup final rematch between Pittsburgh and Detroit.” Somehow, Gonzalez draws from that statement that “NBC might bail on the NHL,” an assumption that is misguided and flat out incorrect.

NBC’s ratings have been on par with last season, but the Winter Classic on New Years’ Day was the largest TV crowd in NHL history. In December, both NBC and the NHL were happy with the agreement, and The Globe and Mail in Toronto reported that they were expected to renew their agreement for 2010.

But the current deal with NBC is not a money-maker for the NHL. Coming out of the lockout, they didn’t have much of a bargaining position. But now, mainly due to the success of the Winter Classic, the league feels it does have leverage, and as The Hockey News points out, there is word Fox is interested in the contract, giving the league a potential bidding war which would allow them to garner bigger profits off of their television contract — a vital key in continued growth of the game (much to the chagrin of Mr. Gonzalez, I’m sure).

To be clear, I have no beef with the Flyers. Catching the local guys on Comcast SportsNet is fine by me. But I’d rather watch an Arena League Football game - if the AFL were still operating, that is - than settle down for three periods of out-of-town hockey. And I don’t think I’m alone.

Would you be that broken up about not getting the next Calgary-Columbus clash? Would you head out to the bar or buy the NHL package to catch Colorado vs. Washington?

Last year’s Arenabowl XXII, won by the Philadelphia Soul, garnered a 5.3 rating in the Philly market. Comparably, the final game of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, which featured Pittsburgh and Detroit, picked up a 5.5 rating in the Philadelphia market. Out-of-town hockey beats in-town arena football in Philly — what a shocker!

Also, keep in mind that the Flyers were knocked out of the playoffs by Pittsburgh just two weeks prior to that game. I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t want to watch my teams’ biggest rival, who just beat my team to a bloody pulp, play in the Finals.

I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Gonzalez actually is alone.

Not long ago, there was a rumor about the NHL putting another team in Toronto. While the hard-core puck heads up in Ottawa no doubt debated the plan, it seemed like hardly anyone south of the border noticed. The NHL could move every team in the league (save the Flyers) to Toronto and it’s doubtful anyone around here would blink. I’m betting the same goes for other American cities, too.

Oddly enough, Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Daily News (one of Mr. Gonzalez’s colleagues, given that they work in the same building) felt it was necessary to mention how the Phoenix Coyotes are in trouble and might have to move in an article last month. And back in 1997, when the Hartford Whalers moved to Carolina, the Daily News and Inquirer both printed headlined articles on the subject. But of course, it’s safe to say Philadelphians don’t care about the movement of other teams. We wouldn’t blink if the Rangers, Devils, or Islanders moved to Canada, either. No way.

Part of that is because hockey has never been the country’s favorite sport, and part of that is because the NHL lacks the oversize personalities that dominate other leagues. Almost everyone knows about LeBron or Kobe, but how many fans can opine about Alex Ovechkin or Marc Savard?

First off, since when is Marc Savard a superstar (he’s having a great season, but come on)? Anybody with any ounce of credibility would’ve said “Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby” in that sentence, and that’s coming from someone who can’t stand Crosby. And I guarantee you that a ton of people know who Crosby is. But, I digress.

When one thinks of “NBA” they think Kobe versus Lebron, like in this ESPN article where it takes an entire paragraph before “Cavaliers” or “Lakers” is even mentioned. You don’t think of the teams they play for right off of the bat. Hockey is a different sport, more of a team focused sport. You think of “Rangers versus Flyers”  or “Avalanche versus Red Wings” when you think of the NHL. In hockey, it’s difficult for one personality to dominate a game, while in basketball it is commonplace. That’s just a simple effect of the game.

Here in Philly, the Sixers cannot sell out a game for their lives. They have the 25th best attendance in the NBA, averaging 14,747 fans per game. The Flyers are operating at 99.8 percent capacity in the exact same building and have the fourth best attendance in the NHL. They are the only non-Original Six franchise in the top five.

The leader in NBA attendance is the Detroit Pistons. In May of 2008, the Pistons and their NHL counterpart, the Red Wings, had playoff games on the same night. The Wings game had an 18.2 rating in the Detroit market, while the Pistons had a 15.9 rating. This season, NHL attendance and television ratings have increased across the board while NBA attendance this season has remained flat.

The biggest, longest-lasting national news to come out of the NHL this season happened when former Dallas Stars winger Sean Avery said something not-so-nice about ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert. In any other sport, Avery’s comments would have barely registered. He’s an extremely poor man’s T.O., a watered down version of Stephon Marbury, a not-nearly-as-interesting facsimile of Manny Ramirez. It takes a lot more than trash talking a former flame to keep pace with that crew.

In the NFL, where shooting yourself in the leg is a mere hazing ritual, Avery would go almost totally unnoticed. But in the NHL, a league full of players as stiff as the ice itself, Avery was painted as a bad boy who had to be punished.

I cannot believe he tried to use that as justification. I’m sure hockey fans would love it if NHL stars led dogfighting rings, or if they carried illegal weapons into New York City nightclubs, or if they committed a laundry list of other criminal acts, but we’re just not privy to that luxury. Instead we’ll have to deal with “our stiff as ice” players, like this guy, these guys, and these guys. That’s too bad.

Hockey is in fact the number four sport in America, and that’s something that will perhaps never change due to a million different factors — it’s a complicated game, half of the country doesn’t get snow, it’s the most expensive of the major sports to play, etc. But it is not nearly as far off the pace and off the radar of the American sports fan as ESPN and this column would lead you to believe.

Mr. Gonzalez, I doubt you will read this because it appears you don’t do much research before you pen an article. But if you do, I ask you to remember where you work. This is Philadelphia, one of America’s greatest hockey cities. You are entitled to your opinion, but you are also entitled to back up your opinion with true factual data. Your column on Tuesday was both misleading and disrespectful to millions of hockey fans in the Delaware Valley and beyond.

You may remember the marathon show that ended last season during QU finals week (how could you forget, really?). Alex and Travis spent 12 hours straight in the studio, and towards the end of the broadcast they were joined by Joe Pelletier and Robin Schuppert. With Alex and Travis exhausted from the unrelenting pressure of continuous live radio, Joe and Robin carried the show and earned themselves a permanent spot on the airwaves for their efforts.

So now with two new hosts joining the fray, the foursome teams up to bring you sports talk from the perspective of America’s greatest sports cities.

Joe, from Boston, brings that winning attitude and his love for Beantown sports. Robin, a California native, brings a West Coast perspective to the airwaves. And, as you know, Travis and Alex represent Philadelphia and New York, two of the most rabid fanbases in the country. Travis will not be in studio for most of the semester, but through the powers of the 21st century, the show will go on unhindered.

Last season, The Field of Play aired from 11 to Noon on Monday’s. The show moves to Sunday afternoons now from 4 to 5 PM. *cue The Jeffersons theme* The enhanced cast kicked off the new season this past Sunday, discussing a wide range of topics — everything from Sean Avery to A-Roid to the NBA All-Star Game to the Boston Bruins.

The archived show is embedded at the top of this post, so if you missed out yesterday, you can catch all of action right here. Tune in next week though or we’ll hunt you down. Winning awards means you get power, ya know.

1. A new web player, making playback of archived shows as easy as Brad Lidge striking out Eric Hinske to win the World Series.
2. A new section called Under Review, where any of the hosts will rant and rave on any sports topic they like. These are videos that will be located on the front page of the site, and they can be thrown up at any time. This website is not a once a week thing, so be sure to check back at any time.
3. You can subscribe to The Field of Play as a podcast on iTunes. Click here to do so, or click the subscribe button on the navigation bar at the top of any page.
4. The same content as before, including the blog, the host biographies, and our favorite links.

If you have any feedback on the new site, feel free to contact any of the hosts.

I am a Mets fan. Anyone who knows me, knows that. Anyone who knows me well understands I am a realist when it comes to rooting for my favorite team. HOWEVER, I will not let Bob Klapisch say that the Mets did not get what they came for when getting Martinez. They got a great deal of what they asked for.

They asked for a great pitcher. They got a great one in the one season they really didn’t need to use him because the season didn’t have too much hope to be had (2005). They got a good pitcher for the following year and a half, and a hurt one for his last one and a half years.

They asked for a great clubhouse guy, and that’s what he was. No big distractions (outside of nagging injuries and that special shoe everyone was waiting for early in his Mets career). People were very nervous that his antics in Boston would follow him to New York. They didn’t.

But mostly, the Mets asked Pedro to be a sign of a new era, the turning of a page in Mets’ history with the turning of pages of his contract. And that is EXACTLY what he did. I’ll remember for the rest of my life my, my Step-Father’s, and my friends’ reactions when i first told them “the Mets, yes, THE NEW YORK METROPOLITANS, actually signed Pedro Martinez!!!” I was in disbelief, and i was in the vast majority of many baseball insiders as well. Carlos Beltran was in disbelief, too. But Omar Minaya signing Pedro convinced him to see what they saw, and thus started the road to a winning atmosphere.

Because of this new feeling in the clubhouse and thus throughout the fanbase, Pedro and the Mets completely blocked out the Art Howe-Mo Vaughn-Roberto Alomar-Jeremy Burnitz years (and that was as hard for me to write as it was to remind myself of those seasons…).

So, Mr. Klapisch, consider more so the fact that Pedro gave the Mets nearly everything they asked for. Because even though baseball is so much a game of numbers, the signing of Pedro by Omar Minaya and the New York Mets sent a message to the rest of baseball, and also the Mets fans who never thought they oughtta believe anymore, let alone gotta believe: the Mets mean business. Do the Mets mean business now? Doesn’t matter. The lone fact that they are even RELEVENT in their DIVISION is nearly all thanks to the signing of Pedro Martinez; the act that recharged the franchise in 2004.

So, thank you, Pedro, for coming to the Mets and allowing us fans  to experience winning baseball over the past 3 seasons. I only hope a future signing can have nearly the same affect on the team.

Included in the program: Quinnipiac athletics has an excellent weekend, Chad Ocho Cinco gets help from a friend, the NY Islanders time on the Island may be coming to a close, Barry Melrose finds himself unemployed again, and the Giants and Jets are both flying high.

Be sure to listen on-demand anytime you’d like by heading to the top of this page and clicking Archived Shows.

And stay tuned to thefieldofplay.com for information about next weeks show during Thanksgiving break.

Included in the program: the Knicks are…doing pretty well?, the Quinnipiac Bobcats have a new stud goalie, the Giants and Jets had a great weekend, and much more.

Be sure to listen on-demand anytime you’d like by heading to the top of this page and clicking Archived Shows.

In all seriousness, go and vote. There’s no reason not to.

Included in the program: Phillies winning the Series, the Quinnipiac Bobcats looking good against the UCONN Huskies, young NBA-ers getting big paydays, the 2010 NBA All-Star location, and much more.

Be sure to listen on-demand anytime you’d like by heading to the top of this page and clicking Archived Shows.