Remaking The Playoffs

It's that time of year when we have duelling interminable playoffs offered by the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association. Aside from being long, up-to-28-game playoffs involving more than half the league, they also have one big thing in common, and that is how much the game changes for the playoffs,

Of course, in any sport, the nature of the game will change in a shorter string of elimination games, as opposed to a marathon season of largely forgettable match-ups. Players will expend more energy the fewer games they have to save up for, and they'll be more willing to play through injury.  Plus, eliminating the lesser teams means general improvement in skill, so teams will approach each game differently than your average game.

But other than those subtleties, football playoffs don't really change the way the game is played. In baseball, there are noticeably different strategies, what with four- or even three-man pitching rotations. But other than the intangibles of increased intensity, these games aren't too different from a mid season game that happens to draw two star pitchers.

But in hockey and basketball, the nature of the game does change, and in both cases it's primarily an increase in physicality. And with that physicality comes a greater emphasis on defense. To some extent, you can explain the change in terms of the extra effort that comes with not having any need to conserve energy. But mainly, the difference comes from a change in refereeing. Both sports' officials are known to change the interpretation of the rules in different times during the game, and they also use different standards during the playoffs. Compare that to football, where the referring standard is quite consistent and the nature of play doesn't change as much for the playoffs. This in spite of the fact that, as an extremely physical sport, football would surely see a large effect from the leave it all on the field principle.

This post-season officiating shift leads to a logical question: Is the playoff game better? I ask that because it leads to another question: since the difference in the sport's character comes predominantly from a chance In officiating standards, and those standards could be applied any time, why have a different standard between regular season and playoffs? If the playoff officiating style leads to a more entertaining game, then why isn't it used all the time? And if it doesn't lead to more entertaining play, why use it for the most watched games of the season?