Notice the dip across all sports in 2009. The economy. Evidence it affects kids in surprising ways, and kind of sad.
Yeah it is. They've agreed to TV deals and other things that have made games painstakingly slow and impossible to watch. It also didn't help when the World Series was starting post 9pm in eastern time zone. Baseball is not a made for TV sport. It's just not, and they've tried to make it.
The silly over reactions to trivial matters have driven me further and further away. Trader Bud and the All Star Game Trader Bud scratching Barry Zito off the all star team for an "illness" in favor of Roger Clemons.
Impossible to watch for sure. MLB.tv subscriptions to follow a specific team, etc, have made it hell to actually follow baseball with any kind of "fandom" attached.
Interesting. Where in the hell are they watching these MLS games? They sure have a shitty TV deal. I wonder if they will start showing more games in the afterglow of the World Cup. 90% of the time I want to watch Bradley or Dempsey play, the games are nowhere to be found. It was actually better when Beckham was playing for the Galaxy. I have to wonder if those numbers are more of a reflection of the EPL, or soccer in general, than MLS. Even so, I sincerely hope this means that we have some seriously good talent developing in these younger groups. I would love to win a World Cup in my lifetime. Could you imagine how much that would piss off the rest of the world if we show up and win one of these things?
I'm not really surprised. I've never been able to watch a mid-June game on TV no matter how old I was, but it's especially difficult and boring as a kid. And when I went to a game as a kid I didn't give a fuhck about what going on in the field. I just wanted to run around and raise hell with my buddies. Only time I sat was to eat. It wasn't until I was old to learn about the hit and run, manufacturing runs, setting lineups and shit that I really got into the game. And honestly, that wasn't until I turned 21, because let's be honest, few things are better than drinking beer at the ballpark Baseball may no longer be 'Americas Pastime' but baseball will be fine.
2009 marked the first year fantasy sports was widely marketed to society. If Bud Seileg had seen the obvious benefits of promotion the game via fantasy, it wouldn't have fallen off as badly.
I've heard several times today that the women winning the World Cup in 1999 is a huge part of what helped make soccer popular in America. I wonder if people really believe that, or they feel obligated to say so.
The absurd length of baseball games has always been an issue. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd like to see some numbers on the average length of games now vs. years ago to see how appreciable the different may or may not be.
It affected the sport about a tenth as much as the US Olympic did with hockey in beating the Soviets.
#feminism #itsfairlyretarded #ignorethepropaganda Of course the that wasn't a huge part. You actually think some 9 year old boy was drawn to soccer because of the women's world cup? What, did he get his first chubby on account of Brandi Chastain's sports bra?
I guarantee the games were noticeably quicker. Each team may have subbed a pitcher and batter a single time in the 60s. The Braves Rockies game last night saw 9 or 10 diff pitchers take the mound.