As Sports Media Cheers On Athlete
Boycotts, Fans Will Walk Away
The Federalist,
by
Ben Domenech
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
8/28/2020 4:49:14 AM
It is sometimes underappreciated how new professional sports is as a dominant cultural phenomenon. For the vast majority of human history, sports has been overwhelmingly played by amateurs. And even in America, it is only in the past fifty years that this professionalized version of sport became a route to wealth. Baseball, which has the longest professional sports history in the United States, illustrates this: the average MLB salary is up an inflation-adjusted 3,000 percent since the late 1960s. Professional sports only became big money in the era of television, as a form of mass entertainment
Reply 1 - Posted by:
jalo1951 8/28/2020 5:04:46 AM (No. 523381)
We all ready have and there is nothing you can do to get us to come back. You have killed the goose who laid the golden eggs. We are walking away, we are not looking back and frankly you will not be missed.
65 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
John C 8/28/2020 5:30:14 AM (No. 523394)
Wonder if the car/truck advertisers will want a refund.
Don't think the beer companies are real happy with the shut down either.
40 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DustDevil31 8/28/2020 6:50:17 AM (No. 523420)
Get woke go broke. AMF.
43 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 8/28/2020 6:56:46 AM (No. 523429)
Hopefully, it will result in a brand new bunch of sanitation engineers.
25 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 8/28/2020 7:06:24 AM (No. 523437)
Professional athletes in "team" sports have become mercenaries since the advent of free agency and it is just getting worse. Why would a player in a small market city where the atmosphere in the club house is great and the fans are fantastic and loyal leave that team for $13mm per year v.s. the $12mm per year offered on their renewal. When is enough enough for playing a game? There is no loyalty to those who cheered for you and wore your jersey. It's all about money and to hell with the fans that pay for it all.
I am done. As much of a baseball fan as I am, I have not watched more than a couple innings this year and do not have any plans to come back. I no longer have a desire to spend my time watching over paid spoiled brats play a game. And Lebron can stick it where the sun don't shine!
48 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
NancyD 8/28/2020 7:11:50 AM (No. 523446)
We've always have played fantasy football with family and friends, now... Not interested at all. I'm looking forward to Autumn, being outside enjoying Michigan in the Fall.
18 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
philsner 8/28/2020 7:12:10 AM (No. 523447)
Please, take your ball and go home, now.
25 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Rather Read 8/28/2020 7:18:19 AM (No. 523453)
I'm 69. When I was about 5, my baseball loving grandfather introduced me to the sport. I fell in love with it and followed it devotedly. I still love baseball. There's nothing better than to sit in the stands with some nachos and big glass of lemonade and cheer for the team. But now, I will transfer my love to the local minor league team. The major leagues have finally lost me. They lost my baseball loving brother in 1994 with the strike, but not me. This is the final straw. I will not be told I am a racist. I will not be lectured to by a bunch of millionaires. I. Have. Had. It.
69 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
edgar 8/28/2020 7:22:38 AM (No. 523454)
With the loss of revenue from COVID 19 lockdowns, NHL SJW's picked a time to turn their backs on fans when the league will be struggling to recover. Having to win back fans for the next season will only make this more difficult. Living in NC, there have been a few heinous black on white murders in the last week or so, but the hockey team and NHL have said nothing about these. Is BLM the hill you want to make your final stand on? I watched the NHL playoffs up until now. I can no longer support them because they have become a political movement, not a professional sports league. Buh-bye!
35 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Blue Hen1 8/28/2020 7:34:53 AM (No. 523461)
Walked away 3 years ago and have enjoyed my Sunday’s immensely, plan to spend that extra day off with my new granddaughter
21 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Periwinkel 8/28/2020 8:03:51 AM (No. 523503)
They are truly a bunch of spoiled brats who don't have a backup plan and all they can do is throw a ball at a hoop. Now they are ruining what tiny mystique they had—— too bad you guys didn't bother to learn to read. They are thugs with a bunch of babies and baby mamas. I don't think my opinion could be much lower, but you all go ahead and see if you can make your fans think less of you.
19 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Muguy 8/28/2020 8:04:30 AM (No. 523504)
At issue is the over use of force.
Gun violence and deaths in Chicago each weekend evidently don't matter.
So now it is about anyone who disagrees with what LeBron James or Kapernick says or YOU don't matter.
There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
19 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
petrichor 8/28/2020 8:26:50 AM (No. 523522)
I would like all professional sports to take the year off. Don't tell me about how you feel "used" by the fans. Don't tell me about how you feel for the little people so troubled by the real world. Above all, don't tell me that you don't like what this country stands for, since you, of all people, can live anywhere else in the world you please.
18 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
AltaD 8/28/2020 8:33:35 AM (No. 523530)
FTA: And what this pandemic has taught us is that in a world of vast amounts of entertainment, if the entertainment isn’t there, humanity will go elsewhere.
It's been said that the OJ trial lead the to the demise of daytime Soaps. Soaps were pre-empted for months and fans fell out of the habit of watching. Same could be said for professional sports, after months without NBA, NHL, MLB, many fans realized there was more to life than sitting in front of the TV for hours. Once the games began again, the leagues needed to entice their fans back, instead they chose in-your-face BLM antics.
11 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Yuban 8/28/2020 8:50:16 AM (No. 523545)
All pro athletes have been pampered and babied since they were 5 years old. They have always been spoiled brats with grown ups hanging on to them hoping to ride on their shirt tails to fame and fortune. The love of money has ruined all pro sports. Money gave them even more power and thus they began to only think of only themselves and not the fans. No more pretending they liked us peons. For me, it was first the NBA. They went from Jerry West and Oscar Robertson to the freaks that play now. Yes, these people are FREAKS. Then the NFL fell on it's knees and now can't get back up. Just a bunch of bullies. Now my beloved baseball has jumped the shark. They are a bunch of disgusting whiny little brats. All of them have tons of money in their twenties, and yet never seem to have enough brains to get thru one day without wanting more. Money is great but the love of money will ruin a person, a sport, and a Nation. This will all continue as long as fans keep watching. Sad but true.
9 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Laotzu 8/28/2020 8:56:06 AM (No. 523553)
Watched a lovely game of Japanese baseball on FTF network webcast to my Samsung TV. What a delightful event. The Buffaloes versus the Marines. Utterly humble and respectful players. Good natured fans. And the game moved right along. Highly recommended.
5 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
mc squared 8/28/2020 8:57:39 AM (No. 523555)
Yesterday, a TV was set to ESPN in a restaurant. There was no sound, but 2 young women were being interviewed, one bLACK and one white. Bold print on their black shirts said 'Arrest The Police'. There were smaller letters under that but covered by the ESPN banner.
When schools are forbidding slogans on students' shirts, pro-sports mashes our faces in it.
8 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
justjoe1237 8/28/2020 9:01:01 AM (No. 523561)
The number of blacks killed by other blacks far exceeds the number killed by police. More whites are killed by police every year than blacks, and when you adjust for the population, there is no significant statistical difference. Whites, however, are disproportionately killed by blacks-- a very lopsided disproportion.
In other words, despite all the clenched fists and kneeling through the national anthem-- there is no real issue of police murdering blacks. And the actual facts are not surprising when you consider that almost every big city mayor is black, has a black chief of police, and a majority minority police force.
It has all gotten so bizarrely irrational that now when a black man shoots himself-- puts a gun to his head and shoots himself publicly-- blacks go on a looting riot.
17 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
cny 8/28/2020 9:22:06 AM (No. 523579)
If this were really about the over-use of force by police on primarily black people, then there could be a conversation and plan, but it's NOT. It's about all of us electing one exceptional man to be our president, and the subsequent (temporary?) derailment of the communist progression in grooming, tearing down, and destroying Americans and America. That is it. Don't be fooled by the disguise of race issue. If they cared about race they wouldn't have murdered David Dorn. They wouldn't be burning black-owned businesses and so on. It's not about race.
12 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
jhpeters2 8/28/2020 9:35:08 AM (No. 523596)
FTA: "ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman are already calling the NFL to boycott. To what end? " I am eager to hear the expert commentary by Stephen and Max as they report on the intricacies of chess, checkers and Pokemon. Should give them something to do, or they can take woke classes online originating from their community college.
4 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
LadyHen 8/28/2020 9:46:55 AM (No. 523612)
Pro-sports of all kinds is now non-essential to me and mine. Bye.
9 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
BarryNo 8/28/2020 9:50:27 AM (No. 523617)
Hockey was the last sport I bothered to follow. They recently bought into this BLM Hogwash, so...
Buh-Bye, professional sports.
I've found lots of things to do with the extra cash, anyway. I won't be back, even if they do suddenly, get a clue.
10 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 8/28/2020 9:55:39 AM (No. 523623)
I have to agree with Seinfeld you're cheering for laundry. Gotta love it. I stopped viewing the NFL going on five seasons I couldn't tell you who the champion of the Super Bowl is. The NBA I quit over three decades ago too much blackness and showboating for me and they have their mouthy white hating African warlord Lebron James. Now my beloved MLB just stepped over the line with their BLM cop hating, cop killing mantra while hating the American flag and anthem after being as American as apple pie. I'm over 70 and I never thought I would see my favorite sport die in my lifetime. I'm just walking away.
14 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
earlybird 8/28/2020 10:09:15 AM (No. 523643)
Already have.
4 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
VAPMAN 8/28/2020 10:19:52 AM (No. 523661)
Now would be the time for new non political sports leagues to form. The NBA can go to China[Hell]
3 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
DVC 8/28/2020 10:30:37 AM (No. 523674)
Lots of fans have just dropped these overpaid, obnoxious, self-important, racist, anti-American game-boys.
6 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
hurricanegirl 8/28/2020 10:35:45 AM (No. 523682)
The irony of this is riveting. Their only job as sports players is to play sports so people can watch. But what do they do? They REFUSE to do the very thing that attracts fans and generates money, and this refusal is based on asinine opinions that will make most fans NEVER want to watch them again. So not only are they not "winning" today (by boycotting their games), but they're also killing their profession and, of course, any hope of a future in that profession, too.
Perhaps this is the kind of logic you get when you believe your own hype and think that people can't live without you.
7 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
BillW. 8/28/2020 10:39:02 AM (No. 523693)
MLB? BLM? NFW.
3 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
LadyHen 8/28/2020 10:48:06 AM (No. 523714)
Is there nothing in their contracts about actually having to work to get paid? Also, is their no conduct clause in their contracts? If what they are doing is materially harming the team and the sport, can they not be penalized? Who holds the purse strings? I am guessing a bunch of terrified rich white men who don't wanna be called racists.
If just one owner had a spine and would stop these entitled puppets' paychecks, fine them heavily, how fast these high rollers get back to dribbling balls and swinging bats?
But in the end, for many of us, the damage is done. You could not pay me enough to watch pro or really even college sports of any kind now. They are almost all overhyped, overcompensated dunderheads.
6 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
zzzghy 8/28/2020 10:59:40 AM (No. 523731)
I'm done.
64 years old, sports fan all my life, Padres season ticket holder but not any more.
These overpaid whiny-ass cretins can go to hell for all I care. I'm out for good.
Goin' fishing.
7 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
clayusmcret 8/28/2020 11:03:06 AM (No. 523739)
Pro sports is dead to the fans. The only sport remaining that hasn't bowed down the social justice pressure is golf, and time will tell.
6 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
red1066 8/28/2020 11:11:42 AM (No. 523757)
Imagine any large business or corporation openly doing everything to drive their customers away. That's what MLB is doing. The NBA is doing it too, but to be truthful, the audience for that sport is mostly black anyway, and I don't give a damn about that sport. I'm sure the NFL is just waiting until the season starts to throw their two cents in as well. Now imagine how the person that pays your salary at your ordinary company would react if you said, "I'm not working today because someone I didn't know was killed by a cop." Your either fired, on PTO, or unpaid time off. I love watching baseball. Go to spring training, and several games a year, but I'll be damned if a bunch of grossly overpaid kids are going to change my mind about an obvious lawful police shooting. Take your tantrums back to your mansions, and sulk.
5 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Italiano 8/28/2020 11:36:08 AM (No. 523795)
I was hoping to be able to keep MLB, after sixty years. Nope.
Go to hell.
4 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 8/28/2020 11:42:59 AM (No. 523801)
Professional sports have betrayed us. When they see the results of the election, and the LANDSLIDE majority that Trump will get, maybe then they'll realize what a loser position they've been backing. But hey, go play in China if it makes you feel better...and STAY THERE.
3 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
Talk2 8/28/2020 11:48:12 AM (No. 523809)
They want to disrespect everything and I now disrespect them and refuse to watch professional sports that allow such disrespect from overpaid, sad and spoiled, immature and ignorant players.
4 people like this.
I'm with #30. Gave up on the nfl & nba years ago but never thought it would come to this, as I've been consumed with the Orioles since the sixties but couldn't tell you one thing about the team this year except that they're playing. Looking forward to SEC football next month. Nothing more.
2 people like this.
Reply 37 - Posted by:
Polecat49 8/28/2020 12:34:36 PM (No. 523845)
I have already Walked away. May the so-called sports media and their ANTI and HATE America athletes Burn in H-ll and go into poverty.
3 people like this.
Reply 38 - Posted by:
Smart11344 8/28/2020 1:47:17 PM (No. 523912)
These overgrown man-children can go right ahead and kill professional sports as far as I am concened. They have created a lot of thuggism!
2 people like this.
Reply 39 - Posted by:
plaids 8/28/2020 2:06:25 PM (No. 523935)
Follow something here. Bill Ayers wanted race wars, over throw whites.
Set up? The black genealogist, Gates. Police acted stupidly.
NBA huge with the WH occupant. Celebrities, Wednesday night parties at the White
house, a punk shot who could be his son. Intimidation at polling places. Racial remarks by his AG.
Today, full blown racial tensions and participation in anarchy!!
Can't forget Rev. Wright. The impetus??? BHO!
3 people like this.
Reply 40 - Posted by:
StormCnter 8/28/2020 2:23:31 PM (No. 523963)
We bought season tickets to the Texas Rangers for 40 years until they finally priced us out. I cannot imagine anyone spending that kind of money now for season tickets to any major sport, supporting these selfish children who believe their own egos are more important than the fans who put them on those handsome payrolls.
3 people like this.
Reply 41 - Posted by:
msjena 8/28/2020 2:33:49 PM (No. 523968)
So true. Baseball is already on life support with no fans, canceled games resulting in double headers no one has time to watch and a drastically shortened season. When will sports executives and players, businesses and even politicians learn that the media does not speak for the majority of Americans. People watch sports to get away from politics. It used to be something everyone could enjoy. Now it is only for the "woke."
1 person likes this.
Reply 42 - Posted by:
DVC 8/28/2020 3:39:55 PM (No. 524035)
The NBA< NFL, etc need to start some special classes. They need to teach some new skills to their millionaires.
Specifically now to operate a cash register and how to say, "Do you want fries with that?"
1 person likes this.
Reply 43 - Posted by:
XCenturion 8/28/2020 4:10:25 PM (No. 524052)
I for one am done watching or supporting any professional sports franchise that openly supports the radical Black Lives Matter movement. They like so many others has chosen to castigate and label all police officers as racists that purposely target black men to gun down. Nothing could be further from the truth. If black lives really mattered to these gullible fools don't you think they'd being doing something about the black lives being lost in Chicago every day? There is no doubt there is an infinitesimal number of those wearing the badge that shouldn't be in the profession and need to be drummed out of their agencies. However, the same can be said for professional sports teams that condone or turn a blind eye to misconduct by their athletes. How many wife beating thugs are harbored by the NFL? How many sign stealing cheaters are among MLB clubs, and how many illegal drugs users found a home in the NBA? I choose to support the THIN BLUE LINE, not a bunch of overpaid jocks.
1 person likes this.
Reply 44 - Posted by:
Foghorn 8/28/2020 6:12:27 PM (No. 524129)
All the athletes walking out on games, kneeling for the National Anthem and other protest efforts should be ashamed of themselves. They had the money and talents to help the inner city kids instead of making empty gestures about 'systemic racism' that doesn't exist. The athletes could have helped with the problem, but they chose to refuse to play in a sport, make insincere statements. Who cares if they don't play with exorbitant pay that lower income people will never see live and they sportsmen don't care.
1 person likes this.
Reply 45 - Posted by:
Max Bear 8/28/2020 7:17:50 PM (No. 524161)
Well, I am done with the NFL (a while ago now), NBA lost me and now I am done with MLB. Is it too much to ask the multimillionaire athletes to just play the damn games and leave the politics out of it? The hypocritical posturing rings false anyhow.
2 people like this.
Reply 46 - Posted by:
watashiyo 8/29/2020 1:33:34 AM (No. 524371)
Keep this up and soon the sports media will be out of a job and out of home, into the street.
0 people like this.