The Sporting Equivalency: Steven Bochco

Who in sports is like the creator of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue?

by Ted Bauer

What is "The Sporting Equivalency?"

Interestingly, because of the way our dad said it, we always assumed "Steve Bochco" was spelled "Steven Boccho." You learn something new every day, eh? In that vein, here's what we're going to teach you: who is like the popular TV series creator (he turns 65 today) in some of the major sports?

Steven Bochco's MLB Equivalent: Gene Michael

Bochco has 10 Emmy Awards. That's considerable. Also note this: before Hill Street Blues, most hour-long dramas didn't use multi-episode story arcs. Now, they almost all do. That's what ya call "influential." What did Stick do for the Yankees? He brought in some of these dudes: Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Paul O'Neill (the last one was via that Roberto Kelly trade). For influence on chosen career alone, this fits. Side note: if you think Michael wasn't a good GM, just remember Cop Rock, and the analogy still works.

Steven Bochco's NBA Equivalent: RC Buford

We absolutely love RC Buford; totally realize San Antonio isn't a huge media market, but shouldn't this guy get more ink? (There's one picture of this dude on Getty Images!) He's got three NBA Championships as a general manager and now he's starting to have his disciples go into the world (Sam Presti of the Thunder is a Buford guy). Again, if you think Buford is overrated and should try to manage Manu's international committments better, well, just remember Bochco briefly worked on Commander in Chief.

Steven Bochco's NFL Equivalent: Rich McKay

McKay's a good visionary, we think. He helped build that Buccaneers team that won the Super Bowl. Apparently, he wanted Marvin Lewis as head coach instead of Jon Gruden after Tony Dungy was bounced, and that coulda been a disaster (would Bill Callahan have a SB ring as a head coach? Ha!), but otherwise he's pretty strong. In his first year running the Falcons, they went to the NFC Title Game. We think Roger Goodell has done an excellent job managing the NFL so far, but McKay was also a favorite to follow Tags; instead, he got the powerful Competition Committee. Bochco's powerful, too. You think any young television writer isn't all about him?

Steven Bochco's College Football Equivalent: Joe Castiglione

Again, how does this guy not get more love? Is there any Oklahoma team not ranked in the Top 10 right now? We can barely find one. This guy plucked Bob Stoops from being D-Coordinator at Florida and he's become one of the best coaches in the last 20 years of college football. Visionary move, much like NYPD Blue overall. He's had a string of hits, just like Bochco. Boomer Sooner!

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