This story would be sad if it were not so pathetically embarrassing. Baseball is going down like the Titanic and they think it is the damn iceberg that caused the wreck!
WAKE UP!
Interest in baseball is eroding because:
a) we're tired of watching 38 pitching changes every inning
b) games last too long
c) the World Series ends at 1AM
d) steroids have made a mockery of the competition
e) you have to pay ridiculous prices to see overpaid athletes not run out ground balls
f) complete inequity between franchises
G) BUD SELIG IS TALKING TO FOX INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO THE FAN
We here at the Ultimatenyg NY Giants Football Blog will rip Roger Goodgrief just as soon as soon as we will rip Bud Sellout. Football, Baseball. The #1 important thing is to protect the quality of the game or else there is NO GAME. This is why we spent numerous posts bringing attention to fact that there is no free lunch in lengthening the NFL regular season. DILUTION is the cancer.
Reread the linked WSJ article at the top. FRIGHTENING! "Fox Sports spokeman Lou D'Ermilio confirmed network executives will head to Milwaukee next week to strategize with Commissioner Bud Selig about reversing the downward trends." Strategize?! Are these guys kidding?! THIS IS OUTRIGHT DENIAL. Go tell Fox that the commissioner needs to rebuild the integrity of the game. That he needs to cut out all of the timeouts and speed the game up so that it lasts 2:20 minutes instead of 3:00. Fox? They would have a canary. They are part of the (Bud) Sellout a long time ago. In order for baseball to reverse this sinking ship they will need to do something radical... true bonafide acceptance of a problem. The headline says it all- "mysterious ratings slump." Mysterious. Well, that is logical. How can two entities find a solution if THEY ARE THE PROBLEM?!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Still clueless after all of these years
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6 comments:
You would figure in this poor economic times TV viewer ship would be up because it don't cost nothing to watch the game at home. They must really be hurting. I agree 100% with all your 7 points.
I don't see a Wellington Mara type in baseball that will force the other franchises to work together like football did way back when. Baseball is like what football would be if the Jerry Jones ran the show.
spot on. baseball needs to get rid of steroids to upgrade their integrity and switch from the jerry me-first jones attitude where the big markets rule to 'socialized' wellington mara revenue sharing. those are the most important. next i would say speeding up the game.
i would add the dh. it takes so much strategy out of the game, creates 2 half players, and puts more emphasis on long-ball offense and less on defense and running the bases. plus you get roger clemons jackass types who can throw at batters and never have to face up getting one back in their ear hole.
I am somewhat confident that steroids are now controlled. For now. I don't believe that the league has its heart behind it. For example, I believe that HGH are still does not tested for in baseball. I understand that tests are not fully reliable and so forth, but other sports do try. I can't imagine that baseball would ever try to find cheaters unless forced.
Good addtional points xtian. Really like the Clemons jackass line. LOL
sturat- u r correct that progress has been made on the steroids front. I guess the point is that it only happened because of the national scandal of so many high profile players demeaning the game. Francesa of WFAN said that Selig could never get meaningful testing (back in the 1990's) because Fehr would not allow it. My attitude? Go public and take the high road. If Fehr demanded 110% of revenue, would Selig have caved on that too?! Selig sold out on principles.
The players would have been embarrassed in a media war if the owners took them to task on steroids. Instead the players AND the owners ended up being complicit in the ugly affair.
Fehr and Selig dismantled a century of trust in a fairly short period of time. Good work! I just watched Field of Dreams the other day, and all I can think is that if Joe Jackson is banned from baseball, why aren't these two also? They did just as much damage.
Bud Selig and Donald Fehr should resign. They are failed stewards of the game.
Name me one union official, one baseball official, one trainer, one clubhouse boy, one club executive with the New York Yankees, the San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles or any other team that has been disciplined, let alone removed, as a result of events leading to or sustaining The Steroid Era.
Baseball likes to point out that its penalties for violating the drug agreement are more punitive than in any team sport, but look at Manny's "penalty." His 50-game suspension will cost him nearly $8 million, but he got the $45 million contract he has been guaranteed by the Dodgers (nice work there, too) in no small part because he apparently is willing to cheat to get it.
Baseball wants us to think it has really tried hard on this. If that is correct, it has really tried and it has really failed. The penalties are not punitive enough. A first offense should bring a year's suspension, and a second a lifetime ban.
In the meantime, your ability to enjoy the game remains identical to the extent you can convince yourself you're not watching professional wrestling.
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