The Green Bay Packers victory 38-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers Sunday wasn’t nearly as close as the score would seem to indicate. The game could easily be described as a rout.

The Packers took control early and never let up as they killed Carolina. The easy win was especially striking when compared with the last-second 27-24 victory over the Dolphins in Miami just one week earlier. That was a nail-biter and the excitement of Packer fans was at a high level.

Which brings to mind whether it’s better, or more fun to watch, a rout or to watch a nail-biter and in what sports is it more fun to watch either/or. And we are going to consider professional sports here -- lacrosse, fencing, synchronized swimming and field hockey are not eligible for this survey.

I contend that it’s much more fun to watch a close game than it is to watch a rout. In a rout you can laugh and give your particular version of "gimme me some skin" but the whole thing loses something of the essence of sports -- competition.

It’s like if you restaged the Civil War and only the South showed up. I mean that’s no fun, right?

In football a rout is not so much about the final score as it is about the way the scoring takes place. The Packers game is a perfect example. The Packers led, 21-0, at the end of the first quarter and it was 38-3 after the end of three. The issue was never in doubt.

The temptation was to begin to lose attention after about two and a half quarters. The chances of Carolina coming back were nil and the game lost all suspense. It was a joke and was enjoyed as a joke.

In basketball a route is something like up 20 or so at the half. Then you increase that lead by five or ten points at the end of three quarters. The temptation of course is to pour yourself another beer and have some more nachos.

The problem in basketball is that the momentum can change in the blink of an eye, There is no major sport that is quicker than basketball and while momentum is a major factor, I’ve seen it switch on a dime too often to take the rout to heart too early.

Baseball is a horsehide of a different different color. The game is so slow that momentum is almost never an issue. And it is really pitching that controls whether the game is close or falls apart.

If a pitcher is giving up runs by the bushelful he gets pulled out of the game. Another pitcher comes in and he may be good or bad, but there are no guarantees either way. It’s all up to chance.

If your team scores four runs in the first and another three in the third while the opponent is scoreless, it looks like the rout is on.

And what are the chances of a comeback of that magnitude? There is almost no chance. I don’t know what the sabermetrics are on that, but I’d be willing to bet that comebacks like that are very rare.

So, after tossing all this lettuce into the salad bowl, I come up with the following conclusions:

It’s more fun to watch a nail-biter than it is to watch a rout, and the National Basketball Association is the most likely place to see a rout disappear and turn into a nail-biter.