You see it happen more and more everyday. It started out as an idea, then a trend and is now considered to be simple logic. Future wives feel safer, husbands swear by it and if the movie "The Hangover" has taught us anything, bachelor parties months ahead of the wedding is your best bet.
Should someone get sick, injured or lost, there is plenty of time to recover, get out of jail, remove a tattoo or be found. Partying the night before an important event is best left to the actors in the movies because after all, its just that, a movie, everything will work out in the end.
You might be asking yourself what bachelor parties have to do with sports and why I'm bringing them up. The truth is they do have something in common, especially when your talking about professional sports and teams that are headed to the playoffs.
It's a never ending debate.
Should coaches sit their star players out of games if their playoff spot is already guaranteed?
In the case of the coach, he might chose to play all his stars during a final regular season game, and with good reason. He might want his team to maintain a consistent level of play going into a championship run, not wanting to have too much rest perhaps rendering the team lethargic going into big game situations.
Then there is the case of the home court advantage.
Baseball, basketball and hockey are 3 of the "Big 4" (NFL being the 4th) major league sports that use a series system to determine which teams move on in the playoffs. The first team, in the NBA format, to win a best of 7 series moves on in the tournament. Games will be played in both teams' home towns, but one team will have a home court advantage. Based on their season record, among other factors, 4 of the 7 games will be played at the home arena of the team with that advantage.
Why is this so important?
The list goes on, but briefly, it can be as simple as sleeping at home instead of a hotel room and be as important as having the home crowd making it hard for the opponents to perform in a hostile arena, should the series be decided in the 7th game.
If your a player, you love to compete, plain and simple. It's a common thing to see players asking to participate with injuries or even leave the country to play overseas, in extreme cases such as Allen Iverson, because lack of playing time damages that pride and ability to compete in the future. You want your players confident and energized going into the playoffs. After all, coaches don't play, players do. And you need them performing at a high level with a positive mindset for the next 8 weeks.
As a fan, much like the coaches and players, they benefit from that extra home game should they need it. The crowd often being called the "6th man on the court" is not simply a form of flattery. In the NFL, more so than other sports, crowd noise can prevent the opposing Quarterback from calling plays which throws the timing off the offensive line, resulting in penalties. It's a proven fact that crowd participation plays a huge role in "psyching out" the opponent in a game 7 situation. What fan wouldn't want that type of opportunity to help their team win?
And with that. I can finally come to my point.
All those things mentioned above, momentum, home court advantage and crowd support are all great reasons to play your stars with a playoff spot already guaranteed, but together cannot out weigh the risk of having a key player getting injured.
Using Manu Ginobili as a recent example, a key component of the San Antonio Spurs, who hold the 2nd best record in the league, hyper-extended his elbow during the final game of the season against the Phoenix Suns, and for what, home court advantage?
As of today, Manu Ginobili is not expected to play the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of their series.
The Spurs' core have won championships before and are more than capable of performing well away from home. Momentum and home court advantage is one thing, but a healthy roster is another.
Why put your key players at risk? There is no need.
In the case of the Miami Heat, who played their final game in Toronto against the Raptors, Wade, James and Bosh never stepped foot on the court. Whether home court advantage was a possibility or not, there is no way head coach Eric Spoelstra or General Manager Pat Riley would risk losing LeBron or Wade for the entire playoffs due to a freak injury.
The same could be said about the Lakers.
What if they were forced to play the entire playoffs without Kobe Bryant?
The best of 7 series system is built specifically to allow both teams an opportunity to redeem themselves after a loss, or adjust their offensive and defensive schemes according to their opponent's performance over a period of time. The sense of urgency builds slowly, and you need all your stars healthy and ready to adapt, recover and improve after each game.
Playing your stars after a playoff berth, especially during the final regular season game, is like hitting black on the casino roulette table and betting everything you just won. You just don't do it, regardless of the odds.
If only coaches, players and fans that think having stars participate during final regular season games, for home court advantage, could apply their own personal theory of "never party before you have important stuff to do", to people other than themselves, they would see my point.
What do you think?
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