Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Seventeen of the game's 30 teams have poorer attendance than a year ago at this time. World Series television ratings get more disappointing year after year. Household-name players -- I mean popular and scandal-free ones like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter -- have come to the ends of their careers, with no clear heir-apparents.

Is there a star player of today you'd go out of your way to see?

"Hey, Felix Hernandez is in town!" "You wanna go to the ballpark tonight and see Adam Wainwright?"

Those are your All-Star starting pitchers. Would you recognize either one if you saw him coming toward you on the street?

Baseball is losing its luster. As ticket prices get higher, interest goes lower. As options on television expand, baseball's grip on the American public gets ever more slippery.

Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies' attendance is down 8,290 per home game from a year ago. Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, each down more than 4,000. Minnesota Twins, more than 3,000. Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, 2,000-plus.

Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays .... down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down.

http://us.cnn.com/2014/07/15/opinion/do ... ?c=&page=0

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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It could be that Baseball sucks and everyone is finally getting the point...LOL :lol:
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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They should bring the roids back. And have players from both teams in the outfield at all times, the hitting team's players trying to tackle the defending team. Full contact. It'll sell out better than roller derby!
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Misc. Blues wrote:It could be that Baseball sucks and everyone is finally getting the point...LOL :lol:
HA HA! Awesome dude! I totally agree! :lol: :okman:

The last baseball game I went to was like 8 years ago. I was dumbfounded at how horribly boring it is! I was thinking people PAY to watch this garbage??

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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It IS Americas national pastime .... or are you some kind of commie?
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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glen a richter wrote:It IS Americas national pastime .... or are you some kind of commie?
No my vision is perfect and I'm not blind! Watching people stand there doing nothing 95% of the time is boring as hell!

Some national pastime. The ratings have tanked since their peak in the 70s and even Joe Buck said it's now a REGIONAL game.

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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glen a richter wrote:It IS Americas national pastime .... or are you some kind of commie?
Exactly. "Passtime," Not sport.

I hate baseball. I'll go to games and get drunk and talk to my friends and then stand and cheer for the occasional exciting play but I know very little about the MLB and "care" less. The atmosphere is pretty neat but the games themselves are not.

#1) Why the HELL is there so many games? When did that become a thing? There's hundreds. How is anyone supposed to actually follow this crap? Get a job people.

#2) Painfully boring and I'd agree with the previous sentiments to that fact. When the ANNOUNCERS during a game run out of things to talk about during the "action," your product has a problem.

#3) Zero team sport. Covering your positions correctly in the field and the pitcher/catcher combo is as about "team oriented" as it gets. In absolutely no other traditional North American sport can you be a totally selfish, entitled, cocky "don't care about the team" prick and still be a very successful player in your league.

#4) Athletic conditioning optional. You can be an out of shape fat-ass and still be a successful baseball player.

For many of the same reasons I also don't classify auto racing or golf as sports and laugh at people who call them such. But that's me.

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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WaukeeBlues wrote:
glen a richter wrote:It IS Americas national pastime .... or are you some kind of commie?
Exactly. "Passtime," Not sport.

I hate baseball. I'll go to games and get drunk and talk to my friends and then stand and cheer for the occasional exciting play but I know very little about the MLB and "care" less. The atmosphere is pretty neat but the games themselves are not.

#1) Why the HELL is there so many games? When did that become a thing? There's hundreds. How is anyone supposed to actually follow this crap? Get a job people.

#2) Painfully boring and I'd agree with the previous sentiments to that fact. When the ANNOUNCERS during a game run out of things to talk about during the "action," your product has a problem.

#3) Zero team sport. Covering your positions correctly in the field and the pitcher/catcher combo is as about "team oriented" as it gets. In absolutely no other traditional North American sport can you be a totally selfish, entitled, cocky "don't care about the team" prick and still be a very successful player in your league.

#4) Athletic conditioning optional. You can be an out of shape fat-ass and still be a successful baseball player.

For many of the same reasons I also don't classify auto racing or golf as sports and laugh at people who call them such. But that's me.

</rant>
They have to have games almost every day. If they go a week without a game and then come back, people will be like - what the (Frank) is this shit? While the games are on constantly though, it's like a habit that's hard to shake.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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ComradeT wrote:
WaukeeBlues wrote:
glen a richter wrote:It IS Americas national pastime .... or are you some kind of commie?
Exactly. "Passtime," Not sport.

I hate baseball. I'll go to games and get drunk and talk to my friends and then stand and cheer for the occasional exciting play but I know very little about the MLB and "care" less. The atmosphere is pretty neat but the games themselves are not.

#1) Why the HELL is there so many games? When did that become a thing? There's hundreds. How is anyone supposed to actually follow this crap? Get a job people.

#2) Painfully boring and I'd agree with the previous sentiments to that fact. When the ANNOUNCERS during a game run out of things to talk about during the "action," your product has a problem.

#3) Zero team sport. Covering your positions correctly in the field and the pitcher/catcher combo is as about "team oriented" as it gets. In absolutely no other traditional North American sport can you be a totally selfish, entitled, cocky "don't care about the team" prick and still be a very successful player in your league.

#4) Athletic conditioning optional. You can be an out of shape fat-ass and still be a successful baseball player.

For many of the same reasons I also don't classify auto racing or golf as sports and laugh at people who call them such. But that's me.

</rant>
They have to have games almost every day. If they go a week without a game and then come back, people will be like - what the (Frank) is this shit? While the games are on constantly though, it's like a habit that's hard to shake.
Although then having an offseason is supposed to kill the sucker off... And yet it lives on. :facepalm:
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Waukee Blues, so true about being a lard ass yet still being an ALL STAR baseball player! You guys remember Cecil Fielder? He was a fat ass baseball player and one day someone in the press caught him eating a double cheeseburger or some junk like that.

He was asked "how can an athlete like you eat like that?". He said "who said baseball players are athletes?". Truer words have never been spoken!

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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LOL, you guys suck. Baseball is awesome.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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JesusNEVERexisted wrote:
glen a richter wrote:It IS Americas national pastime .... or are you some kind of commie?
No my vision is perfect and I'm not blind! Watching people stand there doing nothing 95% of the time is boring as hell!

Some national pastime. The ratings have tanked since their peak in the 70s and even Joe Buck said it's now a REGIONAL game.
Do you think the NFL is "boring as hell"?
Baseball has more actual "ball in play" action time than the NFL does.

NFL - 11 minutes
MLB - 17 minutes

Not only does the NFL have the least amount of ball in play action time than any other sport, their broadcast time is the longest on average.
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And for the record...I love baseball and the NFL.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Frankly I have lost interest in the NFL (except da Lambs), never liked basebarf, used to like NBA a little but no more, and only watch the World Cup or big international games in soccer. Of course ice hockey is the best eventhough I lost interest in the 2000s. Isn't hockey your favorite too?

But you forgot to mention a HUGE difference. I agree there is not much ball in play time in football but when the play starts there is a LOT more action. Many people don't find hitting a ball with a stick and running on a 90 foot line interesting! Usually in baseball even when there is "action" it is boring.

To summarize how boring baseball is a friend once told me to let him know when the bottom of the 9th was because that's the only part worth watching! You realize even Jack Buck's own son complained baseball is too slow and drawn out? He also said it is now a regional game and not a national one. The collapse in ratings since the 70s and attendance problems in many cities bear that out too. All Star game ratings have been awful as well.

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Well, if Joe Buck says that it's slow, I don't even know why to bother forming my own opinion.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Baseball is the thread that held together the fabric of America through the highs and lows, war and peace, triumph and tragedy. You, sir, are just a shit disturbing hawks fan probably harboring communist tendencies.

Also I don't know anyone who either likes Joe Buck or considers his opinion valid or worthwhile.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Frankly I have lost interest in the NFL (except da Lambs), never liked basebarf, used to like NBA a little but no more, and only watch the World Cup or big international games in soccer. Of course ice hockey is the best eventhough I lost interest in the 2000s. Isn't hockey your favorite too?

But you forgot to mention a HUGE difference. I agree there is not much ball in play time in football but when the play starts there is a LOT more action. Many people don't find hitting a ball with a stick and running on a 90 foot line interesting! Usually in baseball even when there is "action" it is boring.

To summarize how boring baseball is a friend once told me to let him know when the bottom of the 9th was because that's the only part worth watching! You realize even Jack Buck's own son complained baseball is too slow and drawn out? He also said it is now a regional game and not a national one. The collapse in ratings since the 70s and attendance problems in many cities bear that out too. All Star game ratings have been awful as well.
I appreciate the strategy in baseball. A sport doesn't have to be lightning fast 100% of the time to be fun to watch.

It's fine not to like baseball, but honestly, I don't think you get it.
And there is plenty of action in baseball when the ball is in play. You just aren't looking for it. When the ball is in play, almost every player has a responsibility, from backing up a base, to fielding a ball, to receiving a throw, baserunners have responsibilities (taking out a DP, getting in a rundown to allow for other runners to advance, etc.), etc.
Strategies on how to pitch to a player, situational matchups, hit and runs, player positioning based on how they are pitching a guy, etc, etc, etc.
Baseball is a thinking man's game.
Obviously not for you.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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cprice12 wrote:
JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Frankly I have lost interest in the NFL (except da Lambs), never liked basebarf, used to like NBA a little but no more, and only watch the World Cup or big international games in soccer. Of course ice hockey is the best eventhough I lost interest in the 2000s. Isn't hockey your favorite too?

But you forgot to mention a HUGE difference. I agree there is not much ball in play time in football but when the play starts there is a LOT more action. Many people don't find hitting a ball with a stick and running on a 90 foot line interesting! Usually in baseball even when there is "action" it is boring.

To summarize how boring baseball is a friend once told me to let him know when the bottom of the 9th was because that's the only part worth watching! You realize even Jack Buck's own son complained baseball is too slow and drawn out? He also said it is now a regional game and not a national one. The collapse in ratings since the 70s and attendance problems in many cities bear that out too. All Star game ratings have been awful as well.
I appreciate the strategy in baseball. A sport doesn't have to be lightning fast 100% of the time to be fun to watch.

It's fine not to like baseball, but honestly, I don't think you get it.
And there is plenty of action in baseball when the ball is in play. You just aren't looking for it. When the ball is in play, almost every player has a responsibility, from backing up a base, to fielding a ball, to receiving a throw, baserunners have responsibilities (taking out a DP, getting in a rundown to allow for other runners to advance, etc.), etc.
Strategies on how to pitch to a player, situational matchups, hit and runs, player positioning based on how they are pitching a guy, etc, etc, etc.
Baseball is a thinking man's game.
Obviously not for you.
Yep, that's exactly why I like it. I like to think along with the manager throughout the game. There are so many small decisions that impact the outcome of a game whether it be letting a pitcher face another hitter, double switch versus straight pitching change. I enjoy those things. I enjoy going to Blues games more than Cards games because hockey is more exciting in person than baseball. Crowd tends to be in it more. But, I really enjoy baseball.

Also, I'm a math geek. I really like numbers, so the sabermetric aspect of the game fascinates me. I love reading fangraphs and trying to learn new stats and ways of looking at the game. There are people that understand that aspect of the game way better than I do, but I love trying to follow along with it. For example, the stat I'm real hot on right now is wOBA (weighted on base average). I don't completely understand the methodology of determining the various weights, but the idea is that every possible outcome of an at bat has a different probability of scoring a run, so they weight them proportional to their probability (e.g. a double is worth more than a single, but not twice as much even though it's twice as many bases). I don't know how they calculate the weights, but conceptually that makes a lot of sense.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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Baseball is 100% strategy. The only thing I find relatively pointless, really, is batting order. The order only matters the first time through. I mean really, what difference would it make if you had a speedster lead off, bunt single, steal second, get sacrificed over to 3rd by the pitcher batting 2nd and then a flyball hitter launches a can of corn and the leadoff man scores on the sac fly?

In any event, knowing when to play the shift, where to pitch certain batters, play in, play deep, when to steal, when to squeeze, when to do anything is all strategy. Baseball is a chess match, hockey is a grudge match. Two different types of sports, entirely. Football, for as physical as it is, is more like baseball. Knowing what plays to run, when to pass, when to keep it on the ground, go deep, stay short, what defenses to line up, what audibles to call. Football is as much strategy as baseball. Stands to reason JeebusWASFake wouldn't appreciate them--sports like baseball and football require too much thinking.
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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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I used to be a huge NFL fan but lost interest. I still follow the Rams and maybe some of the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Baseball being a thinking man's game is a joke! CHESS requires deep thought not barfball! Baseball is hitting a ball with a stick and running 90 feet in a straight line!

You notice America is the ONLY western nation on earth where baseball is popular? Don't say Canada because I have been to Canada and hockey is clearly #1. You can't deny the points in that CNN article. Baseball is clearly on the decline.

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Re: Baseball dying out (CNN article)

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JesusNEVERexisted wrote: Don't say Canada because I have been to Canada and hockey is clearly #1.

DAMN SON! You've all just been pwned!!!!1!!!! This guy's been to Canada! How dare you challenge the stance of such a world traveler.
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