Each season in the NFL as the Dallas Cowboys , Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers take to the gridiron baseball tries to intervene and take over the spot light. Television ratings prove that sports spectators are not as interested in baseball as they once were and continue to show that we live in a fast-paced nation that is moving away from the sport of baseball.
Sure, fans can get excited due to the 2011 World Series has beating the NFL ratings on back to back nights but for that to happen it took a 60 point blow out and a game that didn’t see a first down by the Baltimore Ravens until the second half.
Once the national pastime, the television ratings for baseball have been abysmal for the last few years, while the NFL numbers and popularity continue to climb.
25 years ago tonight, the World Series Game 7 averaged 38.9% of U.S. households, an astounding figure that never will be approached again. At least by a baseball game.
The baseball season has become so blah that fans turn to the playoffs to spark some excitement, but even this seasons’ playoff numbers don’t favor America’s pastime as they continue the downward trend.
While other sports have evolved and improved, baseball is one of those sports that refuses to grow and continues to use its history as a crutch. We pride ourselves on getting things done quickly and in a timely fashion, and in a world where everything is fast paced, baseball is stuck in the past.
Let’s be honest-steroids ruined baseball as we once knew it.
The excitement that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought back to baseball was ruined by the alleged steroid use of the star players of that generation and because of that baseball has been put aside for the NFL, and for good reason.
The baseball season is irrelevant as the 162 game schedule is too much and two-thirds of the way through the season, most teams are already out of the playoff race and are selling every player they have before the trade deadline. For those that are not die-hard fans of a certain team, the season is all but over at that point.
To young kids watching sports like basketball, football and hockey where players are constantly moving, baseball can’t compare. Everyone is active around 25 percent of the time, which causes the mind to think that nothing is happening.
That said, there is much more to baseball than a bunch of guys waiting for a man with a bat to hit a ball.
Baseball is one of the more strategic sports which can become interesting once you understand all the nuances. Situations like relieving a pitcher, stats against a left-handed hitter, number of pitches thrown, and when to hit-and-run can keep those who look deeper into the game interested.
There just aren’t that many people interested in looking that deep into a game of baseball when they can concentrate on football, which surrounds them with excitement.
Baseball used to be as American as apple pie, but those days are over as football has taken over.