Posted on 10/14/2004 8:25:08 AM PDT by qam1
College football, men's pro basketball, auto racing and men's college basketball also the favorite sports of many people
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, professional football leads baseball by 2-to-1 (30% to 15%) as the nation's favorite sport. Nineteen years ago, in 1985, when The Harris Poll(R) first asked this question, professional football and baseball were in a virtual tie (24% to 23%) for first place. With a few small wobbles in the numbers, football (up six points since 1985) has steadily increased its following at the expense of baseball (down 8 points since 1985).
While baseball (15%) has slipped badly, it is still ahead of college football (11%), men's pro basketball (7%), auto racing (7%), and men's college basketball (6%).
These are the results of a nationwide Harris Interactive(R) survey of 2,555 U.S. adults surveyed online between September 20 and 26, 2004.
With the exception of pro football and baseball, the numbers of people naming sports as their favorites are not very different from what they were in 1985. However, some sports have moved up and down over the last nineteen years. In the late 1990s, when Michael Jordan was at his peak, those picking men's pro basketball as their favorite sport increased, from only six percent in 1985 to 13 percent in 1997 and 1998. It has now slipped back to seven percent.
Men's tennis was the favorite of five percent of U.S. adults who follow more than one sport in 1985; it has now slipped to one percent.
Demographic variations
The survey also finds some sizable differences between different segments of the population. Pro football has more fans among "Generation X," those aged 28-39, (42%), in two incomes groups, those with household incomes of $15,000 to under $25,000 and $50,000 to under $75,000 (both 40%), in the East (38%) and among African Americans (38%).
Baseball does best among U.S. adults who follow more than one sport with household incomes of between $35,000 and under $50,000 (22%) and with matures, aged 59 and over (20%).
College football is particularly popular in the South (19%), among college graduates (19%) and adults in more households with incomes of $75,000 or more (16%).
Auto racing (which includes NASCAR) does best in the two lowest income groups with incomes of $25,000 or less (each with 12%) and those who never went to college (11%).
I hate basketball! The neverending season of November through June! Ughh!! NFL and SEC football fan!
The problem with that is it still would not do away with all the televison time-outs they would have to take for those who don't pay for the service.
I enjoy comparing baseball and football:
Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.
Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.
Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying.
In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.
Football is concerned with downs - what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups - who's up?
In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.
In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.
Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.
Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog...
In baseball, if it rains, we don't go out to play.
Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.
Baseball has no time limit: we don't know when it's gonna end - might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we've got to go to sudden death.
In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you're capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.
And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:
In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.
In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I'll be safe at home!
Baseball is the perfect sport for summer. Try playing football in the heat.
Football is the perfect democrat sport. It’s absurdly legalistic and the rules are consistently being re-interpreted.
But that aside, a minimum $50 ticket and $25 dollar parking keep me from the seeing the Redskins. I’ll rather pay $10 and put my feet up on the dugout on a warm summer night at the Frederick Keys.
They do it so quickly though.
Xer Ping
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Gen-Reagan/Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Hockey for me, followed by Motorcycle Racing (AMA or MotoGP) and college basketball.
Football is ok in small doses, but despite playing the game in High School, I find it completely boring to watch.
Baseball is someplace above staring at the ceiling, but not by much.
College football is top dog with me.
>>Speaking of which, what is the latest on the impending NHL strike/lockout? (sorry, haven't been following this one)
Both sides are firmly entrenched. The owners have locked out the players and seem only willing to settle for a salary cap. The players are against a salary cap.
I'm watching College Hockey in the meantime till these two groups of children decide to grow up.
Baseball is a sport? I thought it was religion.
I actually told my wife before me married that she would have to convert or the wedding wasn't going to happen. She came from a family of (shudder) Red Sox fans.
Go back to the late 80's when we had the big football players strike. The league dug in it's heels, and basically said a salary cap was going to be implemented. That's why the NFL is now more popular than any of the other sports. It's a more 'Darwinian' system, and no player is going to make an exorbitant amount of money since there have to be other players on the team. It's by no means perfect, but IMO, a big factor as to why football has taken over other sports in popularity.
I actually follow both sports (Football with the Raiders and Baseball with the Giants) very closely. No point in arguing about it I guess. The NBA, on the other hand, could go far far away and don't come back as far as I'm concerned.
Easy to understand; baseball is extremely boring. 2nd only to golf.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.