Liberal Sports Media’s Odd Morality

Leo McNeil ^ | January 28, 2015 | Leo McNeil

[glorgau]

> Were you any less entertained knowing Sosa was on roids? Watching juiced up guys jack balls out of the park is about as entertaining as golfing. Watching a baseball game and seeing how the players adjust for different pitches and situations is much more entertaining.

For instance, Wrigley field's upgrade is going to move the bullpens off the sidelines to some hidden cove like the rest of the major league parks. It was always nice to see the pitchers start throwing hard warm ups to indicate that they were going into the game - one of the more subtle atmospherics of watching a game there. Much easier to get a feel for the overall momentum of a game.

[Ransomed]

The problem with increasing offense to attract casual fans right now is that the games will get even longer. It’s already longer on average than it has ever been. What we are dealing with now is a combination of hitting approaches that induce record levels of strike outs and walks and drastic, informed defensive shifting, and the best bullpens in history.

The players playing now generally wanted to be Sosa and Bonds. The players that actually cut down on their swing with two strikes and spray the ball all over really stand out. Especially if they don’t strike out all the time and walk. They will be the valued players because they beat the modern shifts.

Freegards

[Ransomed]

The reason the NFL has changed officiating and rules to promote offense is because they are after the lowest common denominator of fan that doesn’t really care about the sport as long as it is exciting. To them, exciting = scoring. The NFL is the most popular US pro sport by miles and miles. Along with college football it is the darling of the media and supports whole industries apart from the actual game. It only got more popular after defense went out the window and fruity celebration dancing and chest pounding became routine. Looking around at the culture, it would be shocking if NFL wasn’t the most popular by miles.

Freegards

[LeoMcNeil]

The NFL is no doubt king with college football coming in second. I wouldn’t say defense has been completely eliminated from football. If you go to places like Pittsburgh, defense still rules. Defense wins championships.

[Ransomed]

That’s true. But more scoring attracts huge numbers of casual fans, that’s a huge part of the reason why the NFL made those changes.

Freegards