Was just thinking about this. People seem to watch sports very differently based on what sport they're watching. For good reasons if you think about it. Was wondering if you agree.
-- College Football. Really each game does have the potential to be make or break for your season or how you, as a fan, think about it. Whether you're Alabama and a loss can put you out of title contention or you're Kentucky and you're in the bowl hunt, every single game is huge. On top of that, programs have a sort of historical stature. Beating Alabama is always historic even when they're down, because they are so often really good. Because there are so few games each one matters a ton. In my experience losses kind of ruin die hard fans' days. There is no other sport IMO where a loss is so devastating to a fan's psyche. It's almost comical if you aren't emotionally invested. Thousands of fans travel on away games and sometimes invest 2-3 days and $1,000 to see their team fall behind 21-0 in the first quarter. It's like, "Why did I do this?"
There is one legitimate criticism of college football that, IMO, should get more play but the sport seems to get a pass for. In every other sport the season culminates in a winner take all champion through a playoff. CFB has moved towards that, but it seems like the bowl system will stick. Why are the other bowls not viewed as more of an "NIT" golf clap consolation? It seems fans in college football are less "all or nothing," than in other sports. Fans of most programs are resigned to their team striving for the Outback Bowl, whereas in college basketball Villanova fans genuinely believe they can win the national championship.
-- College Basketball. Fans of a select few programs are ready to jump off the deep end after losses but after a short while the reality settles in that March-April are really the only times that matter. Kentucky fans are always going to angst over every single game but the reality is the most one game ever counts for is, A) A bubble team getting in/missing out, B) Difference between 1-2 seed spots.
Here is where it gets interesting.
-- Baseball. I grew up a huge baseball fan but I cannot watch regular season games anymore. I hate to admit this, but I can't even invest the 5 hours necessary to go to a game in person. The games are just too meaningless. Five game streaks are meaningless unless it's the stretch run. For me baseball is fun because of the box scores, the historical significance of the numbers, etc. Honestly something else makes baseball tough for the average "passionate" sports fan. There is too much information for anybody including Peter Gammons to really know what's going on everywhere any given time. There are so many people in an organization from the bigs through A-AA-AAA, so many transactions and roster moves, so many pitching injuries, hitting slumps, etc., that one person can really only become "very" familiar with one organization. It makes it hard to have a familiarity with what's going on when it's so hard to gain expertise. My best friend's dream job is to be a baseball manager because he's adamant the game is beautiful because of the strategy involved--- moving the outfield, pitching around people, getting into advanced numbers and sabermetrics, etc. I'd love to be a G.M. for those reasons but I simply cannot become emotionally invested enough in a game, in a 160-game season, to care. Beyond that something else bothers me. There is too much unpredictability in the sport. A team can be totally dominant, historically, during the regular season and then go cold and lose 3-0 in the first round. Three games cannot possibly be more determining of the best team than 160 games in the regular season. That makes it exciting, but I like the slow build to the title rather than the, "Whoa, how did they do that?" Makes the grind seem less significant when it's just about who gets hot. Someone could counter that it's about building pitching depth, finding guys that give you extended quality starts, saving your bullpen, etc. I get that but it doesn't make it easier for me.
-- NFL. This may be the perfect sport in terms of regular season and postseason significance/balance. Fans have allegiance to teams rather than individual players, usually. Players stick around for a while oftentimes. There is parity in the league but some franchises you'll always love or hate (Dallas, S.F., Green Bay, etc).
-- NBA. I know there are some NBA die hards here (Brett). I am a Grizzlies fan myself (grew up liking the Charlotte Hornets...the old Hornets). There's sort of the MLB factor here during the regular season. So many games, it's hard to lock in and get emotionally invested. That and it seems the NBA has a disproportionate number of fans who are more invested in debates over which player is better. Fans seem to follow players more than teams in the NBA moreso than any other sport/league. This league is very much about the cult of personality it seems like. I will say the NBA playoffs are awesome and very easy to fall in love with, because guys can turn in truly transcendent performances in the NBA playoffs maybe more than in any other sport -- like, recently, when Dirk was just in the zone and willed Dallas to the title. But one other problem for me with the NBA is so many of the games seem to come down to the last two minutes. That may or may not be true, by the numbers, but I sometimes wonder why I'm watching the first 45 minutes if it's going to come down to the last three, which take up 30 minutes in real time.
OK, had to get that out
This post was edited on 3/13 7:45 AM by JRowland
-- College Football. Really each game does have the potential to be make or break for your season or how you, as a fan, think about it. Whether you're Alabama and a loss can put you out of title contention or you're Kentucky and you're in the bowl hunt, every single game is huge. On top of that, programs have a sort of historical stature. Beating Alabama is always historic even when they're down, because they are so often really good. Because there are so few games each one matters a ton. In my experience losses kind of ruin die hard fans' days. There is no other sport IMO where a loss is so devastating to a fan's psyche. It's almost comical if you aren't emotionally invested. Thousands of fans travel on away games and sometimes invest 2-3 days and $1,000 to see their team fall behind 21-0 in the first quarter. It's like, "Why did I do this?"
There is one legitimate criticism of college football that, IMO, should get more play but the sport seems to get a pass for. In every other sport the season culminates in a winner take all champion through a playoff. CFB has moved towards that, but it seems like the bowl system will stick. Why are the other bowls not viewed as more of an "NIT" golf clap consolation? It seems fans in college football are less "all or nothing," than in other sports. Fans of most programs are resigned to their team striving for the Outback Bowl, whereas in college basketball Villanova fans genuinely believe they can win the national championship.
-- College Basketball. Fans of a select few programs are ready to jump off the deep end after losses but after a short while the reality settles in that March-April are really the only times that matter. Kentucky fans are always going to angst over every single game but the reality is the most one game ever counts for is, A) A bubble team getting in/missing out, B) Difference between 1-2 seed spots.
Here is where it gets interesting.
-- Baseball. I grew up a huge baseball fan but I cannot watch regular season games anymore. I hate to admit this, but I can't even invest the 5 hours necessary to go to a game in person. The games are just too meaningless. Five game streaks are meaningless unless it's the stretch run. For me baseball is fun because of the box scores, the historical significance of the numbers, etc. Honestly something else makes baseball tough for the average "passionate" sports fan. There is too much information for anybody including Peter Gammons to really know what's going on everywhere any given time. There are so many people in an organization from the bigs through A-AA-AAA, so many transactions and roster moves, so many pitching injuries, hitting slumps, etc., that one person can really only become "very" familiar with one organization. It makes it hard to have a familiarity with what's going on when it's so hard to gain expertise. My best friend's dream job is to be a baseball manager because he's adamant the game is beautiful because of the strategy involved--- moving the outfield, pitching around people, getting into advanced numbers and sabermetrics, etc. I'd love to be a G.M. for those reasons but I simply cannot become emotionally invested enough in a game, in a 160-game season, to care. Beyond that something else bothers me. There is too much unpredictability in the sport. A team can be totally dominant, historically, during the regular season and then go cold and lose 3-0 in the first round. Three games cannot possibly be more determining of the best team than 160 games in the regular season. That makes it exciting, but I like the slow build to the title rather than the, "Whoa, how did they do that?" Makes the grind seem less significant when it's just about who gets hot. Someone could counter that it's about building pitching depth, finding guys that give you extended quality starts, saving your bullpen, etc. I get that but it doesn't make it easier for me.
-- NFL. This may be the perfect sport in terms of regular season and postseason significance/balance. Fans have allegiance to teams rather than individual players, usually. Players stick around for a while oftentimes. There is parity in the league but some franchises you'll always love or hate (Dallas, S.F., Green Bay, etc).
-- NBA. I know there are some NBA die hards here (Brett). I am a Grizzlies fan myself (grew up liking the Charlotte Hornets...the old Hornets). There's sort of the MLB factor here during the regular season. So many games, it's hard to lock in and get emotionally invested. That and it seems the NBA has a disproportionate number of fans who are more invested in debates over which player is better. Fans seem to follow players more than teams in the NBA moreso than any other sport/league. This league is very much about the cult of personality it seems like. I will say the NBA playoffs are awesome and very easy to fall in love with, because guys can turn in truly transcendent performances in the NBA playoffs maybe more than in any other sport -- like, recently, when Dirk was just in the zone and willed Dallas to the title. But one other problem for me with the NBA is so many of the games seem to come down to the last two minutes. That may or may not be true, by the numbers, but I sometimes wonder why I'm watching the first 45 minutes if it's going to come down to the last three, which take up 30 minutes in real time.
OK, had to get that out
This post was edited on 3/13 7:45 AM by JRowland
