Except when they're winning.
Until last year, The Tampa Bay Rays perennially owned the worst attendance in the American League. Then, during their miracle 97-win campaign, their attendance skyrocketed to third worst! Woohoo! But at least the Rays can hang their hat on being Florida's baseball hotbed, topping the Marlins, who can only start a wave in the audience if they install hydraulic seats.…
Article comments
26 - Jerry
'It may soon supplant hockey as one of the top four sports here, and I reckon baseball needs to be looking over its shoulder as well.'
You're insane. Do you have anything to back up this crazy prediction?
27 - Jerry
'Football is THE global game. The problem for the USA is that you lot tend to get all pouty and sulky when you aren't good at something.'
First, Team USA has been in the top 20 for most of the last decade, so we actually are rather good at it when you consider that FIFA ranks over 200 teams. Second, the real reason Americans don't like watching soccer is because it's low-scoring and involves a bunch of skinny guys diving and crying crocodile tears. If I wanted to see that sort of thing I'd just watch LOGO.
28 - Dr Dreadful
You're insane.
Quite possibly. The jury's still out on that one.
Do you have anything to back up this crazy prediction?
Population demographics, plus Matt's observation, in the article, about the Rays and the Marlins having poor attendance figures despite the teams' recent success. Oh, and the fact that you need an MBA to be able to figure out (a) which channels the NHL is on and (b) how to subscribe to them.
29 - Dr Dreadful
First, Team USA has been in the top 20 for most of the last decade, so we actually are rather good at it when you consider that FIFA ranks over 200 teams.
FIFA's ranking system defies logical explanation. The USA's ranking is suspect for several reasons, the two most obvious of which are (1) that the team gains most of its ranking points from its World Cup qualifying and continental championship results against other teams from its region, where with the exception of Mexico the US is the strongest force by some distance; and (2) the nation's generally poor results when it does come up against the top teams in serious matches. The recent Confederations Cup was encouraging, but it remains to be seen if that performance will translate into a good showing at next year's World Cup. Remember that they played diabolically in the first two games and only qualified for the semi-finals courtesy of a statistical fluke. Team USA has to find some level of consistency or they will be screwed in 2010.
30 - Jerry
'Basketball is like fast food'
Racist.
'ice hockey is enjoyed as much for the zamboni and the violence as the actual game'
I guess you don't watch hockey, because no one cares about the fucking Zamboni except people who know nothing else about the sport. And most of the violence has been taken out of hockey.
'baseball is too slow and too long'
Add in "low-scoring" and that's what a lot of people say about soccer aka European-Dive-And-Cry.
'and American rugby is utterly devoid of a real sense of competition'
Oh, you're just a troll. Sorry to have taken you semi-seriously there for a minute.
'because no matter how shit a team is, it's going to be back again next season because teams don't get relegated when they finish bottom of the league'
That doesn't happen in any professional sport in North America, that I'm aware of.
'which is pretty strange for the land of free enterprise.'
Didn't you hear the news? Obama got elected, so that doesn't apply anymore.
31 - Dr Dreadful
'Basketball is like fast food'
Racist.
What?!?
And I'm the one being called insane?
32 - Jerry
#25 I was responding to the first comment. The implication is that once the entire population of Mexico illegally immigrates to California, and then they are given citizenship via amnesty by Obama, that soccer will become very popular in the United States. And that may be true. So now pro-amnesty people can hurl another insult at opponents. Not only are they evil hate-filled racist xenophobes, but they also dislike soccer.
33 - Dr Dreadful
Jerry, you're projecting.
34 - El Bicho
[Edited]
interesting dissection of my comment, Jerry
35 - miss riley
NO SOCCER THATS RIDICULUS SOCCER'S THE BEST EVER HOW CAN SOMEONE NOT LIKE SOCCER EVEN IF THEY ARE AMERICAN YOU CANT NOT LIKE SOCCER
ITS THE WORLDS MOST POPULAR SPORT AND THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THE SIGHN UP ARE MOST LIKELY JELUS CAUSE THEY CANT PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
36 - Annie
[Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
Soccer sucks.
37 - zingzing
wow. this thing deteriorated fast. jerry!
38 - Silas Kain
And now for the classic Silas Kain fly in the ointment. Soccer is FOOTBALL. NFL "Football" is AMERICAN FOOTBALL. We Americans are so proprietary in sports and politics. Believe it or not there are millions of Football enthusiasts around the globe who get pissed off because we refuse to give "soccer" its due.
39 - Christopher Rose
You're mostly right, Silas, though to be ultrafinicky, your oval ball game ought to be called American Rugby.
Only dorks use the word soccer, so every time a Seppo uses it, the sub-text is "hello, i'm a dork"!
40 - Clavos
Only dorks use the word soccer, so every time a Seppo uses it, the sub-text is "hello, i'm a dork"!
Which means, as I've long suspected, that ALL (or nearly all) Seppos are dorks (in this instance, I am Mexican), 'cause damn few will call it "football," which as everyone knows, is an entirely different game here.
41 - zingzing
of course, if a brit uses the term "football" over here, the usual response will be, "fuck pittsburg," and you'll be all like "huh?" and they'll go "ohhhh.... you were talking about soccer... you dork."
i'm equally enthralled with both sports, and i can usually tell the difference between "football" and "football" in conversation. it's all about context.
besides, it's not like british people don't have equally ridiculous names for otherwise simple things.
42 - Christopher Rose
I'm too polite to tag an entire nation, Clavos, especially when I have you to do it for me! ;-)
Zinger, I once tried to fuck Pittsburg but was knackered after the first couple of thousand. Oh, wait, that wasn't what you meant... lol
43 - zingzing
come on, chris! go for a run or something. get the blood pumping. if you can't fuck pittsburg, little thing that it is, how do you ever hope to get around to fucking new york? huh? i'm on to mexico city! i've been smoking a shitload in between runs, just so i can get used to the atmosphere. after i conquer all there, it's on to tokyo!
44 - Dr Dreadful
Fortunately, fucking the entire population of Pittsburg, California, while ambitious, is a far less daunting prospect than fucking the entire population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Yes, zing, we probably do have some ridiculous names for things, but at least we don't call a game in which only one player (who spends mere seconds of each game on the field) ever actually uses his feet to move the ball, 'football'. It's a bit like recording a rock song with a three-second violin solo in it and calling it classical music...
And we don't have the nerve to call the championship of a competition which is competed for only by teams in North America 'The World Series'.
45 - Matthew T. Sussman
"Fortunately, fucking the entire population of Pittsburg, California, while ambitious, is a far less daunting prospect than fucking the entire population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."
I think I can see your point.
46 - zingzing
dread: "at least we don't call a game in which only one player (who spends mere seconds of each game on the field) ever actually uses his feet to move the ball, 'football'."
running doesn't count?
"And we don't have the nerve to call the championship of a competition which is competed for only by teams in North America 'The World Series'."
at the time it was named, it was the only professional league in the world, so it made sense. and baseball is a game of tradition. so it stuck. such is life.
47 - Dr Dreadful
running doesn't count?
If running in conjunction with a ball was all that mattered then tennis, lacrosse, basketball, cricket and hurling would also qualify as 'football'.
at the time it was named, it was the only professional league in the world, so it made sense.
So why is the English Football League, which at the time it was formed was also the world's only professional soccer league, not called 'The World League'? No such delusions of grandma, perhaps...?
48 - zingzing
"If running in conjunction with a ball was all that mattered then tennis, lacrosse, basketball, cricket and hurling would also qualify as 'football'."
so running doesn't count as using your feet. fair enough. we should have called it "throwball" or "carryball." doesn't have a nice ring to it, though, eh?
"So why is the English Football League, which at the time it was formed was also the world's only professional soccer league, not called 'The World League'? No such delusions of grandma, perhaps...?"
it's called the premiere league, ain't it? delusions of grandeur (even if they are, most of the time, earned). (and yes, i understand why it is called such, but that makes "championship league" sound pretty foolish, although i understand why it is called such, although that makes "league 1" sound pretty foolish...)
anyway, you europeans make a big deal out of the name "world series" all the time. it's just starting to make you look petty. it's a name.
49 - Dr Dreadful
zing, it's called the Premier League now. Up until 1992, though, it was simply called the First Division. England is by no means the only country to have a 'Premier League', nor was it the first. Scotland's had one since 1976. (Mind you, they reorganize their league about every three years or so, so who knows what's going on up there any more.)
It's not just the World Series, it's the fact that the winners of the World Series, the Superbowl, the NBA Finals etc blithely get referred to as 'world champions'. That's probably accurate, as the winners of those competitions unquestionably are the best baseball, American football and basketball teams in the world at that point. But that's only because no-one else in the world plays those games to such a high standard, or at all. Just seems a bit like a craving for approval is all. I mean when I was a kid I invented a game called 'bounceball', which basically involved bouncing a tennis ball from one end of the hallway to the other when my parents weren't looking and trying not to break too many mirrors in the process. I had a rulebook and a league system - even if I had to be all the teams myself because my brother lost interest after ten minutes. Technically, then, the winners of that league were world champions... but who cares?
No, the delusions of grandma held by we English are far more elegant and subtle. The governing body of football in England is the Football Association. The senior professional league in England (until 1992) is/was the Football League. The governing body for tennis in England is the Lawn Tennis Association. The governing body for rugby in England is the Rugby Football Association. D'you see a pattern here...?
50 - zingzing
if i see a pattern, it's liking your own country's sports.
51 - Dr Dreadful
No, zing, the pattern is the word those governing bodies' names are NOT prefaced with.
All those sports were invented in England, so it seemed superfluous, when the organizations in question were created, to call them The English Football Association, or the English Lawn Tennis Association or what have you. That's our conceit, which demonstrably is more subtle than you Seppos'. The fact that all those sports are now played around the world, often to a far higher standard than in their country of origin*, is neither here nor there.
* Especially in the case of tennis. The national newspapers print the headline 'Brits Crash Out' automatically on the first Tuesday of the Wimbledon fortnight. It's always accurate.
52 - zingzing
the english certainly do like to point out their englishness. i wonder if the pool (billiards?) term "english" was coined by an englishman?
53 - zingzing
hrm. seems like it's american. i wonder what the angle is.
54 - Dr Dreadful
Never heard that term. Probably is American.
Over in Britain we play the far more civilised, skilful and tactical game of snooker, which is one of the few global sports which we still dominate - I'd say about 90 of the top 100 snooker players are from the British Isles. Of course it's still not a truly international sport - Thailand is crazy for it for some reason, it's the second most popular sport in China after basketball, and it's starting to make headway on the Arabian peninsula and in continental Europe, but other than that its main fanbase still lies in Britain.
The cue skills and tactics are a lot different than those used in pool, but some of the top snooker players still fly out to Vegas occasionally to try their hand at the American game. Quite often kick the Seppos' butts, too.
55 - Dr Dreadful
(Have to back up a bit here and acknowledge Matt's #45. Have the Steelers drafted that linebacker yet?)
56 - zingzing
"Over in Britain we play the far more civilised, skilful and tactical game of snooker..."
oh, for fuck's sake.
"it's the second most popular sport in China after basketball"
i'm surprised to hear that.... i woulda picked ping pong.
and pool is definitely not supposed to be "civilized," it's supposed to be drunken, shit-talkin' fun. you go put your little vests and shiny loafers and cufflinks on, we'll get drunk. (and last i was in england, all your bars had pool tables, not snooker fookers.)
"Quite often kick the Seppos' butts, too."
you can probably count on your fingers and exhaust such sports.
as for "english," it comes from "body english," meaning twisting the body before you hit something. in pool/billiards/snooker/whatnot, it means to put a spin on the ball... so you missed my little (widdle) joke up there.
57 - Silas Kain
I have to say I love football. Never been one for American Football as the whole "tight end" thing just doesn't cut it for me. Most of these American Football players are anything but, um, tight. Sorry,in advance, for the perverse humor.
My nephew's maternal grandfather was coach of the Manchester team for years. When he passed, the team, the community, in fact a good part of Britain mourned his passing. I was amazed at the outpouring of love for this man. That's what I envy about professional sports in Europe as opposed to the U.S. Around the globe professional sports are more about the sport than the franchises, branding fees, and exorbitant salaries.
58 - Dr Dreadful
My nephew's maternal grandfather was coach of the Manchester team for years.
Was that Sir Matt Busby by any chance, Silas?
Great man, great coach.
59 - Dr Dreadful
i was in england, all your bars had pool tables, not snooker fookers
That's because a snooker table is twice the size of a pool table and won't fit in most pubs, at least not if you want to leave room for a bar.
60 - roger nowosielski
Actually, they have some in Texas, off Fort Hood where I was stationed.
You shoot snooker a few times, and you're billiards will improve.
61 - roger nowosielski
Pool enthusiasts:
you might enjoy this little video, just a teaser
62 - Dr Dreadful
Thanks, Roger. Interesting to compare the techniques and strategies of pool vs. snooker.
Here's snooker at its best: a video of my favourite player, Jimmy White, making a 147 break - the biggest possible score - at the 1992 World Championship. It was only the second time a maximum had ever been achieved at the Worlds. Enjoy.
63 - roger nowosielski
That was great, Dreadful. Watched some games by Hendry and Ronnie O. They're all greats.
By impression, though, was that snooker featured smaller billiard balls and pockets.
64 - Dr Dreadful
Snooker balls are slightly smaller and lighter than pool balls. The pockets are a tad smaller as well. Not THAT much smaller, though. The difference seems greater because the table used in snooker is twice the size of a pool table.
65 - roger nowosielski
I get you. The table is enormous when you first see it. But if you go by the UTube videos - all great, BTW - you wouldn't know the difference.
66 - Bliffle
SnOOOOOker is a great game, and easily eclipses pool as a skill.
Those pocket openings are significantly narrower so it's easy to miss a shot that would fall on a pool table.
Pool tables used to have a minimum size of 4.5 X 9 ft. (nowadays they are sometimes only 4 x 8) whereas snooker tables are at least 5 x 10 and 6 x 12 for international tournaments.
67 - popopo
Americans want to believe that only reason football is the most popular sport in the world is because It's cheap sport, American sports are not that expensive to play, but nobody watch american sports, because American sports are boring. only reason american sports are popular in america is because It's american sports. american sports will NEVER be popular in the world. Football is the most popular sport because It requires various physical abilities and most exciting to watch. Popularity of american sports speak how boring those are. I know because I watched american sports and never watch again.
68 - zingzing
"I know because I watched american sports and never watch again."
impeccable credentials.