Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No young person really cares about baseball.
It's boring.
I'm shocked that you live in Chicago and feel this way. Granted we are a bit of an outlier as far sports cities go but there is a good amount of young support for baseball here. I agree with the general sentiment that baseballs core fan base is aging, but the statement no young person cares, is silly.
It's not so much that baseball is still popular because of older generations. It's because the ideal family of a father and mother in the same household is becoming a rarity. It used to be that one of the first things a father and son would do together sport wise was play catch. Well, since so many fathers are not in the picture (as much as they used to be) those things don't happen. Taking your son to the ball game doesn't happen as much either. It's easier for kids to just go play a game of football or basketball than play a game of baseball.
Americans are becoming more of a society that likes more action and are less patient. Computers have made us lazy in wanting to actually do any type of work to find out information.
This is just an opinion but I also think that basketball has climbed in popularity over the years because of the rise of interest from hispanics/asians. Where I live the only people really interested in the NBA are hispanics, asians and blacks. White people seem to be more interested in college basketball than the NBA. Probably because of the lack of white professional basketball players which also could be said for why less black folks care for baseball since the % of blacks in the major leagues is down a lot from the 70's and 80's.
I'm not trying to upset anybody by throwing race out there but I do think it's a factor in the decline of baseball and the gaining popularity of basketball.
I'm shocked that you live in Chicago and feel this way. Granted we are a bit of an outlier as far sports cities go but there is a good amount of young support for baseball here. I agree with the general sentiment that baseballs core fan base is aging, but the statement no young person cares, is silly.
I can only watch the final innings.
I can play it myself.
But just watching the whole thing is boring.
You gotta admit.
And I do know young people that like it. But the majority nah.
I can still sit and watch a triple header, so baseball will always be #1 in my heart.
but to me the regular season of the NBA is unwatchable. Guys are walking up and down the court, not getting back on defense, not diving for loose balls.
College basketball is a much better product, IMO, especially in March.
and someone brought up the economic disparity as the reason they got away from baseball.
I would have better luck guessing the top 4 teams in the NBA in 2012-13 season then this up and coming baseball season.
unless someone had the Giants and the Cardinals both beating the Rangers the last two years.
^ The 2010 Giants and 2011 Cardinals are two prime examples of teams that got hot at the right time. We saw that last year with the incredible (and totally unexpected) run the Mavericks went on. Nobody, not even the most die-hard of Mavs fans, saw that coming.
Yes, but their economic advantage due to location, television contracts, etc is what gives them the advantage to keep their homegrown players and sign free agents (admittedly, StL is a special case given their rabid fanbase), so that they can contend year-in, year-out. The billion-dollar TV contracts alone of the Yankees, Angels and Rangers pretty much guarantee they will have income to contend every single year, while the window for a homegrown core in KC or TB is very small before their players are all lost to the big-market teams.
but to me the regular season of the NBA is unwatchable. Guys are walking up and down the court, not getting back on defense, not diving for loose balls.
College basketball is a much better product, IMO, especially in March.
I will preface this by stating Aardvarks is a really nice guy and a good poster.
However, as usual when someone says the above I will call them on this. I am guessing you don't watch any NBA, but just have preconceived prejudices against it. If you did, you would realize that there is literally 0 times where and NBA player walks up the court. If they don't get back on defense it is because one of the world class players on the other team makes a play on a fast break that doesn't give them time. But thats not the same thing. As far as diving for balls, why in the world would a player like Derrick Rose who means so much to his franchise dive for a loose ball in the 1st quarter of a 12-12 game? Any thinking bulls fan would say, do NOT do that. If its an elimination game 7, fine, but no way in my example.
College basketball is NOT a better product. If you prefer it, fine, but it is not even close to a "better product" in the true sense of the word. It's sloppier, slower (seriously lol@ the 35 second shot clock) and has more mistakes. The format of march madness is romantic, and fun to watch, but as the moderator of this forum, I can tell you the regular season of college basketball generates NO traffic. This would suggest that while people often say that college bball is "better" it seems they just don't like basketball.
The other arguement, which Arrdy did not make, that I might as well address is the "NBA is full of thugs" crap. Currently off the top of my head here are some of the top NBA players: LBJ, Wade, Rose, Durant, Kobe, Howard, Duncan, Dirk, CP3, Kobe...Do any of those people seem like "thugs?" The days of Latrell Spreewell are gone, the league has done a great job of cracking down on any type of fighting or thuggery. Thug, is nothing more than a racist thing in this conversation said by white people (again, aardvarks did not say that).
"I like college basketball more than the NBA" = fine
"College basketball is a better product" = I don't know what better product means and/or have prejudices against the NBA.
Just because I happen to like aldi produce more than whole foods, does not make aldi brand stuff more nutritious, or up to the same standards.
Baseball tradition is still deeply rooted in generations of Americans, but agree it is slowly eroding.
I grew up obsessed with baseball, as it was taught to me by my father & grandfather (who both grew up attending Tiger Stadium). Baseball is still my most passionate sport, but basketball is slowly replacing it due to the disparity in the game.
Though the amnesty clause was a bit silly in principle (NBA owners being allowed to cover their own stupid mistakes), it will help offset what was becoming an increasingly polarized league between teams in the large and small markets. Hopefully OKC will be able to keep their current core together a long time, and will set the precedent not all NBA winners come from the largest 6-8 metro areas in the US.
I don't think there is a glaring disparity between the *large* and *small* markets.
Cleveland did well for a while, Orlando ditto....OKC has a fantastic team, the Knicks have been in the toilet for coming up on 2 decades now.
I think people get a little tunnel vision on there being an imbalance because getting a lucky draft break can anchor a franchise for a decade or more given the longevity of players in the sport coupled with a single player having a bigger impact in a 5-player team sport where you play both ways.
With the INCREDIBLY BRUTAL salary luxury tax kicking in 2 years from now it will help even more. You run a 100mil payroll your PENALTY will be 60-100+mil additionally.
I can still sit and watch a triple header, so baseball will always be #1 in my heart.
but to me the regular season of the NBA is unwatchable. Guys are walking up and down the court, not getting back on defense, not diving for loose balls.
College basketball is a much better product, IMO, especially in March.
and someone brought up the economic disparity as the reason they got away from baseball.
I would have better luck guessing the top 4 teams in the NBA in 2012-13 season then this up and coming baseball season.
unless someone had the Giants and the Cardinals both beating the Rangers the last two years.
this season and next in the NBA
the Heat, the Bulls, Oklahoma City and the Lakers
I think you are confusing the dynamics of baseball as a sport vs. basketball with there being some sort of economic disparity.
If you build a good team it will be strong for a long time since 7 guys play the vast majority of minutes and will generally be effective for 10 years with a team.
Baseball has a lot more active players and the sport itself can be a bit volatile in terms of a single swing can win or lose a game.
The big difference however is you cannot just BUY a good NBA team like you generally can in MLB.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
, so baseball will always be #1 in my heart. 
