I am a big baseball fan and I think it is far from dead. Sure there are teams that don't do so well and don't draw that many fans because they are either in a bad market or always losing. The Rays are a great example. They sucked since day 1 of their existence and this year even with only a few weeks left in the season they were in a race for the AL East pennant and they were still playing in front of a half full crowd. Only when it got real close to the end did the start drawing bigger crowds.. Mutt makes a good point. When teams get a new stadium people go to check it out and they draw well, but if they don't field a good team the stadium alone can only be a draw for so long.

Baseball has always been a regional game. They enjoy a large fanbase from their home cities and surrounding areas but there are only a few teams that have a real national fanbase. The Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs all have fans nationwide, but unless you live in the northwest you probably don't give a damn about the Mariners. The NFL has big regional followers, but most teams also enjoy a national following.

The thing I think I like most about baseball is that while there is no salary cap there is still chances for the little guy to make good. Sure the Yankees and Red Sox spend a ton and are always in the mix, but sometimes they aren't and every year there seems to be a small team from a small market that makes a splash. The Rockies last year and this year the Rays and Phillies hadn't been in the mix in a long time. The Mets continue to spend money and fail as do the Cubs. So for me it is always new and interesting and it is something you can actually afford to take your kids to (if you have them). You can get a seat the bleachers for most teams for under $20 get a beer and a hot dog and enjoy an afternoon at the park. You can walk around and see the park and watch batting practice and just have a fun, lazy afternoon or evening and you never know what you are going to see. Maybe that night someone throws a no hitter or hits for the cycle or you get to see triple play.

Baseball has been around over 100 years. It has survived world wars, strikes, and a a depression. It is going nowhere anytime soon.

you can blame that on MTV, the new gen ration can't follow anything that last longer than 2 seconds :)

There is a lot of truth to that statement. I don't have kids and I understand when I was a kid I probably had a short attention span, but my brother's and friend's kids all seem to be on Myspace, texting, watching TV and listening to their Ipods all at the same time. Their attention spans seem to be about 2 seconds long.

Baseball is fun to play, but boring to watch.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Sad but true

I think it's somewhat sad, to be honest.

A lot of different factors.

Kids these days (hahaha, am I getting old or what?!) tend to be less active outdoors. It's a simple fact, at least in this area. My 7 year old son doesn't get out nearly as much as I did as a kid, and that is his parents fault due to the retarded hysteria about the "dangers" of him being out of sight for more than 5 seconds. I include myself in that, but at least I realize I'm somewhat insane.

When you don't play the game from a young age and learn it's intricacies, a game like baseball really starts to get boring as hell. Football though, the average person simply cannot play competitively but still be wow'ed by the athletic catches/runs/hard hits/etc.

The other reason, for me at least - was the strike. It hit during the "formative" early-teen years, and it hit hard. Everyone in my 7th grade class were HUGE baseball fans (well, the boys) and we traded baseball cards all day long. After the strike, a lot of the magic was simply lost, and many no longer had much interest. I know they have had labor issues in the past, but this one just seemed to hit "kids" hard for some reason. Those kids then grew up into the young adults who largely ignore the game today.

Also the world simply moves at a faster pace. 90% of the young population doesn't have a f-in clue about the "behind the game" game taking place w/ management, pitching matchups, etc. That is where baseball is interesting - not watching homeruns and the like. Baseball as a "wow me" sport simply does not compete with the likes of the NFL or NBA. It's very difficult to try to explain to a complete noobie the game in one sitting, vs. football - where they can immediately get into the game after 5 minutes of explanation.

So yeah.. I find it somewhat sad, and somewhat of a mark of what this country is becoming. But then again, I'm a negative person by rule :)

To the other guy from MN - interesting you're in this area, I am too!

-Phil

youre all fucking idiots.

I don't understand professional sports.

It's like porn. Would you rather watch someone get paid to fuck a hot big breasted blonde chick, or would you rather get laid yourself?

I was a basket ball super star in high school; I'm forty years old now and I still play basket ball nearly every weekend. But you couldn't pay me enough to sit there and watch someone else play.

50 dead national pasttimes...