Baseball not being as popular on social media does not mean it's "dying." People stuck on this shows just how much they're trapped in their own social media bubbles.
Haven't listened to the pod yet, but I don't know if youth participation is the best metric to judge how popular a sport is. The growing popularity in youth soccer has yet to match up with America's interest in watching it. I think this was mentioned in a recent pod.
And even if more kids are playing it, from an outsider's perspective, it seems most of talented kids eventually end up choosing something other than baseball.
Take a listen. They suggested that less kids are playing baseball these days.
Pretending we know how to judge the popularity of a sport based off social media and the hot take daily sports shows is wild. Baseball is allegedly struggling yet the parks are packed, participation is up, and most of the regional TV ratings crush the NBA. The NBA gets loads of time and space on SM and the daily shows, yet their playoff TV ratings are down. And that’s where they typically beat MLB, but not as of late.
My ultimate point: both leagues are fine. I just find the constant “is this league in trouble” talks to be annoying and, more often than not, not based in reality.
Well said. Drawing any conclusions from (or making any big decisions b/c of) social media is dumb. SM is not reality, and probably not particularly close to it.
Same here. I live in the Midwest and baseball is booming. Probably a coast thing. That may explain why the west coast's dominance in college baseball has cratered over the last decade plus.
Ok so I finally had time to listen to the baseball discourse and while I isagree with some of the conversation, namely the youth participation rates and the pace of play aspect, I have to admit that the gist of the conversation is nominally correct. I love the Cubs. I watch probably ~140 of their games every year. I consume daily Cubs podcasts. I watch Cubs YouTubers. The LAST thing I want as a consumer is for someone who normally covers other sports to even remotely discuss baseball. I hate it. I don't think I'm the only one. It's too difficult a sport to trust to casuals to discuss. It really is. The other thing I don't want is to hear about a random team in the AL West for instance. I'm over here watching 140 Cubs games. I do not have the brain capacity to care about any other team. I don't even want to try. That is modus operandi of most die-hard baseball fans fwiw, and I think it probably explains the lack of the need for a national discourse of the sport. It isn't a national sport. It's a regional sport, except it isn't even that really. It's more of a municipal sport.
I am directionally sympathetic to Butker (I am a pretty conservative Catholic, but not a "trad" and would not sign off to all the positions he said in the speech), but I still think it was a mistake for him to make the speech he did, and if I were in the audiences for that graduation, I would be upset.
The commencement should be about the students, their families and their teachers. By veering into explicitly political territory, Butker made the story about himself and his issues.
Yes, the location was a conservative Catholic college where most people were sympathetic to the positions he put out. But not all of them. It would include relatives and friends of the graduates who are peripheral to that community. And they were going to be turned off by those parts of the address.
I'm not saying he should lose his job a football player because of it (though I wouldn't object if other teams might prefer to bring in kickers with less distractions, similar to brining Kaepernick to Tebow in as a backup QB). But I think it wasn't a wise decision.
One thing about Chris Broussard is that he's able to establish great chemistry with just about anyone you pair him with. He's like a really versatile musician that not only holds their own in any setting but also elevates the whole group. That's why he's my favorite sports analyst -- although I agree that the chemistry with Wyldes and King Troll is especially appealing.
I wish Evan had asked him for his take on Skip Bayless, since he came up a few times.
And years ago, Max Kellerman argued on First Take that "rumors of baseball's death were greatly exaggerated" or something to that effect. He pointed out that MLB's gross revenue doubled the NBA's. I'm not sure what those numbers would be now, but I always suspected that baseball's culture-wide decline was in part hastened by the networks. ESPN, for one, is partners with the NFL and NBA. Broussard's comments to Ethan suggest that ESPN was following market trends rather than creating them, but it would certainly make a great subject for a book.
Listening at work and randomly thinking how Broussard and Wos have a similar intonation and accent and then the Butker stuff came up and now I need somebody to edit Chris' commentary next to Wos yelling:
"HE'S SAYING YOUR GOAL IN LIFE SHOULD BE TO WASH MY DRAWS!"
FWIW, baseball participation among the youth is exploding: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/03/12/baseball-participation-united-states#:~:text=Combined%2C%20baseball%20and%20softball%20saw,the%20highest%20level%20since%202018.
Baseball not being as popular on social media does not mean it's "dying." People stuck on this shows just how much they're trapped in their own social media bubbles.
Haven't listened to the pod yet, but I don't know if youth participation is the best metric to judge how popular a sport is. The growing popularity in youth soccer has yet to match up with America's interest in watching it. I think this was mentioned in a recent pod.
And even if more kids are playing it, from an outsider's perspective, it seems most of talented kids eventually end up choosing something other than baseball.
Take a listen. They suggested that less kids are playing baseball these days.
Pretending we know how to judge the popularity of a sport based off social media and the hot take daily sports shows is wild. Baseball is allegedly struggling yet the parks are packed, participation is up, and most of the regional TV ratings crush the NBA. The NBA gets loads of time and space on SM and the daily shows, yet their playoff TV ratings are down. And that’s where they typically beat MLB, but not as of late.
My ultimate point: both leagues are fine. I just find the constant “is this league in trouble” talks to be annoying and, more often than not, not based in reality.
Well said. Drawing any conclusions from (or making any big decisions b/c of) social media is dumb. SM is not reality, and probably not particularly close to it.
The baseball thing has to be regionally biased. Where I live almost every kid plays baseball, and if they don't it's because they suck at baseball
Same here. I live in the Midwest and baseball is booming. Probably a coast thing. That may explain why the west coast's dominance in college baseball has cratered over the last decade plus.
Ok so I finally had time to listen to the baseball discourse and while I isagree with some of the conversation, namely the youth participation rates and the pace of play aspect, I have to admit that the gist of the conversation is nominally correct. I love the Cubs. I watch probably ~140 of their games every year. I consume daily Cubs podcasts. I watch Cubs YouTubers. The LAST thing I want as a consumer is for someone who normally covers other sports to even remotely discuss baseball. I hate it. I don't think I'm the only one. It's too difficult a sport to trust to casuals to discuss. It really is. The other thing I don't want is to hear about a random team in the AL West for instance. I'm over here watching 140 Cubs games. I do not have the brain capacity to care about any other team. I don't even want to try. That is modus operandi of most die-hard baseball fans fwiw, and I think it probably explains the lack of the need for a national discourse of the sport. It isn't a national sport. It's a regional sport, except it isn't even that really. It's more of a municipal sport.
I am directionally sympathetic to Butker (I am a pretty conservative Catholic, but not a "trad" and would not sign off to all the positions he said in the speech), but I still think it was a mistake for him to make the speech he did, and if I were in the audiences for that graduation, I would be upset.
The commencement should be about the students, their families and their teachers. By veering into explicitly political territory, Butker made the story about himself and his issues.
Yes, the location was a conservative Catholic college where most people were sympathetic to the positions he put out. But not all of them. It would include relatives and friends of the graduates who are peripheral to that community. And they were going to be turned off by those parts of the address.
I'm not saying he should lose his job a football player because of it (though I wouldn't object if other teams might prefer to bring in kickers with less distractions, similar to brining Kaepernick to Tebow in as a backup QB). But I think it wasn't a wise decision.
One thing about Chris Broussard is that he's able to establish great chemistry with just about anyone you pair him with. He's like a really versatile musician that not only holds their own in any setting but also elevates the whole group. That's why he's my favorite sports analyst -- although I agree that the chemistry with Wyldes and King Troll is especially appealing.
I wish Evan had asked him for his take on Skip Bayless, since he came up a few times.
And years ago, Max Kellerman argued on First Take that "rumors of baseball's death were greatly exaggerated" or something to that effect. He pointed out that MLB's gross revenue doubled the NBA's. I'm not sure what those numbers would be now, but I always suspected that baseball's culture-wide decline was in part hastened by the networks. ESPN, for one, is partners with the NFL and NBA. Broussard's comments to Ethan suggest that ESPN was following market trends rather than creating them, but it would certainly make a great subject for a book.
Sauces!
Beat me to it.
I, for one, want more NFL takes and especially 49ers takes.
MEMPIS
Listening at work and randomly thinking how Broussard and Wos have a similar intonation and accent and then the Butker stuff came up and now I need somebody to edit Chris' commentary next to Wos yelling:
"HE'S SAYING YOUR GOAL IN LIFE SHOULD BE TO WASH MY DRAWS!"