I’ll post a video from George Will that argues otherwise later.
But for now, read this.
Baseball’s drop in popularity over the years, and especially during my 50 year lifetime, is remarkable.
Consider the following:
Quote: Just 11% of adults listed baseball as their favorite sport to watch in a 2021 Washington Post poll. That put it well behind football (34%) and tied with basketball for the second favorite sport. Soccer and “something else” (e.g. esports/competitive video gaming) were closely behind at 7%.
When examining the poll more in-depth, the problem baseball has becomes both more apparent – and even scarier. A mere 7% of those under the age of 30 say baseball is their favorite sport. This ranked fifth behind football (24%), basketball (17%), “something else” (12%) and soccer (10%).
Quote: Baseball hadn’t ranked as America’s favorite sport to watch since 1960, when 34% said it was. Soccer that year came in at less than 0.5%, while football picked up 21% support. By the next poll Gallup did on the subject in 1972, baseball was second to football.
In the end, the absence of a clock, shot clock, etc. and increasing number of strikeouts more or less ensures that baseball will have less action and more “slow” periods of non-action than any other sport.
To be honest, I like baseball a lot more than soccer…I can’t see how a sport with so little scoring as soccer has gained on baseball in popularity, and even passed baseball in popularity among the young generation.
Talk about lack of action!
But yeah. I too enjoy watching football and basketball more.
Comments?
