Basketball is still pretty much the same game it was 20 years ago. NFL is just a powerhouse organization that only gets bigger and better, no matter what problems it faces.
MLB though, from 1994 to now, has been an abandoned sandcastle. The wild card. The strike. The expansion teams. The disparity between the have's and the have-not's. Tying the All-Star game into the postseason. Rearranging the leagues and still having the NL West being what it is. THE GODDAM INTERLEAGUE PLAY FUCKING EVERYTHING UP. The steroids. The late starts. The season not concluding until after Election Day. I honestly could keep going.
Fuck Bud Selig. Fuck him in that wrinkled-up old vadge he calls a mouth.
― pplains, Saturday, 14 April 2012 16:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
^^ would agree, if ML baseball mattered any more.
― Aimless, Saturday, 14 April 2012 16:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
See there? It once did!
― pplains, Saturday, 14 April 2012 16:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, this is Bud Selig by MILES.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 16:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
the vast majority of nhl teams are in america so i will vote gary bettman
― polyphonic, Saturday, 14 April 2012 16:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
There will be kids drafted over the next couple of years who weren't even born when MLB had a labor stoppage and every sport has had a more recent labor issue than baseball, sometimes two. Interleague and the wild card are unquestionable successes.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Selig's a bastard but so are all sports commissioners. Baseball is healthier than any other point my lifetime, so I'm not that bothered by him anymore.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
I dunno, the nfl is facing some pretty fundamental problems these days - people aren't talking about whether baseball or basketball should even be played - and it hasn't made inroads overseas
― iatee, Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
people aren't talking about whether baseball...should even be played
I'm talking about it, because it's boring as all fuck.
I dunno, the nfl is facing some pretty fundamental problems these days...and it hasn't made inroads overseas
Not necessarily true. NFL has a healthy following in the UK and when NFL Europe existed as sort of an expo/farm league, it drew crowds.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
not the kinda crowds that create a sustainable business
― iatee, Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
outside of the steroid thing I don't really think any of these are problems - is interleague play really that bad an idea?
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
would agree, if ML baseball mattered any more.
what exactly are your criteria for what matters? it's still a big deal
wtf else did the baseball people expect when they sold their souls to a tawdry Milwaukee used-car salesman?!?
― kurwa mać (Polish for "long life") (Eisbaer), Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
The disparity between the have's and the have-not's.
This issue in baseball bothers me, but yes I know Yankees and Red Sox fans differ, and others may too
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
competitive inbalance is not as much of an issue in baseball - regardless of payroll or talent levels, there's so much variance in the game that even the best teams only win about 65%, and the WS is almost never won by the best team
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
That problem exists in all three leagues fwiw.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 17:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
i do miss the days when the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Kansas City Royals were successful and competitive franchises.
― kurwa mać (Polish for "long life") (Eisbaer), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
not much Selig can do about incompetant management
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
The steroid scandal has wounded MLB very badly. Selig was instrumental in trying to sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened.
― Aimless, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
competitive imbalance has been a part of baseball since day oneHow did PEDs really wound MLB? Revenues, attendance and fantasy participation are higher than ever. It wounded baseball with useless sportswriters.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
Seems like people always point to NFL ratings as proof of baseball's irrelevance and demise.
Well, yeah, there are 240 regular season NFL games every year. There are 2400 regular season MLB games.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
The majority of the former on Sundays, making for perfect TV events.
There are 2400 regular season MLB games.
Part of the reason it's hard to give a fuck about the regular season. With the NFL, each week the tv audience congregates to watch a slate of games that have immediate implications toward division rankings. Nobody watches baseball on tv until the post-season because hardly any game during the regular season ever matters. Baseball (at least in the regular season) has become a sport you see played live rather than watch on tv.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
Lots of people watch baseball on TV. That's why the Dodgers recently became the most valuable franchise in all of sports.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
generally, the only times i pay attention during the baseball season are the 1st and last months, and when favored teams play hated rivals (phillies v. mutts, yankees v. red suxx).
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
bettman really deserves this
― High powered Texas lawyer (symsymsym), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'd rather listen to baseball on the radio than watch it (in part because my local team's radio crew has always been 1000x better than its TV crew), but I find football almost unwatchable on TV. It's boring as fuck, five seconds of action followed by 40 seconds of nothing followed by 2 minutes of commercials.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
Bettman wins by default, given that it's his fault hockey is only barely a 'major' sport
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Dodgers just got bought for $2 bil, and the woeful Padres are about to get purchased for something like 700mil. Just because you dudes don't enjoy watching regular season baseball doesn't mean people aren't watching. The Giants fans in SF are like a virus. They're everywhere! GO AWAY
― polyphonic, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
Nobody watches baseball on tv until the post-season
Well, nobody watches every game but tons of people watch on TV. You also have to consider radio listeners, as MLB is the only sport that really works on the radio
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
yes yes yes
― polyphonic, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Giants fans in SF are like a virus. They're everywhere! GO AWAY
lol. how dare there be fans of the hometown team?
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
selig with a bullet. mlb's flourished as a business but he's a repulsive old toad who consistently makes infuriating decisions
i like stern because of his cool gangster ass 'tude.
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
I will say MLB's technology/blackout policies drive me up a fuckin' wall, I really fail to understand how blocking Youtube videos and preventing mlb.tv customers from watching their OWN TEAMS could possibly increase revenue
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
I find football almost unwatchable on TV. It's boring as fuck, five seconds of action followed by 40 seconds of nothing followed by 2 minutes of commercials.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, April 14, 2012 2:20 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark
go back to russia motherfucker
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
The latter seems to be hostility from decrepit old owners and the people they have TV contracts with. Regional television is where all the money comes from for now.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
the existence of mlb.tv and being able to stream it via Boxee/etc. is still miles ahead of the NFL and NBA
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
I don't think Goodell is getting enough run here. The NFL would be number 1 in America with or without him. The players despise him. I guess he managed to avoid missing games this season but that lockout was ridiculous to begin with given that the league is awash in money.
― polyphonic, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
football is the best tv sport because w/ so much going on at once you pretty much need replays
― iatee, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
im cool with goodell after he came down hard on those cheating god damn saints. teach those animals a lesson rodge!!!!
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
poly otm, Goddell always struck me as a bully who wants the fans to believe that the only way to make the game safer is through a confusing, inconsistant system of fines and penalties that do little outside of increasing the league's revenue and baffling the players to that point where they have no idea what is a legal hit anymore
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
plus you got that 18-game schedule thing, christ
well his bigger problem is that there isn't really a way to make the game safer
― iatee, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Also the 18 game thing has been tabled for the foreseeable future.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:39 (1 year ago) Permalink
Did the NFL player's union express an opinion about paying bounties for causing injuries? My guess is that there's no way in hell they could endorse that idea or even stay neutral on it.
― Aimless, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
right, so what the NFL needs is more money put into pensions for retired players and research into player safety and less of this "the game is unsafe because James Harrison is a cheating monster" mentality xp
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm not a huge Goodell fan by any means, but given that about every aspect of the NFL game today is different than it's ever been with regard to popularity, player behavior, owner behavior, coach behavior, the rushing river of $$$, media spotlight, soap operas, etc he's doing an okay job despite going in blind.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
still had to listen Goddell pretend he had no idea what the difference was between a preseason game and a regular season game
― you can expect punches, kicks and even worse (frogbs), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
― iatee, Saturday, April 14, 2012 2:38 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark
knee-high grass on every field. boom. safer game.
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oh shit, I'd watch that!
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 14 April 2012 18:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
― pplains, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 18:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
the fact that Goodell got only 3 votes in this makes me want to puke
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 18:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
give him time, bill
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 18:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Goodell is Mussolini; Selig and Stern are Hitler and Stalin. all three are contemptible assholes who never should be allowed to hold any responsible office, but it's a question of degree of assholery.
― Nu Metal is the best music there is, the rest is pussy shit. (Eisbaer), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 18:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
or to be less inflammatory -- Goodell is Mitt Romney; Selig and Stern are Gingrich and Santorum.
― Nu Metal is the best music there is, the rest is pussy shit. (Eisbaer), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 18:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
goodell is doing a pretty bang up job imo. new cba was solid work.
― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 18:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
I loathe the man. I am happy they got a deal done so we didnt miss a season (that would have been a nitemare) but he really sucks. Making one guy judge, jury and executioner is a total joke.
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 19:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
I may have to change my vote.
― pplains, Thursday, 14 June 2012 15:11 (11 months ago) Permalink
And if you hate Jim Rome, fine. But ask yourself who you hate worse at the end of this clip?
RE-DO THIS FUCKING POLL
― frogbs, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 04:18 (8 months ago) Permalink
at least some instant replay
― Mordy, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 04:25 (8 months ago) Permalink
Hahaha, it would probably come out the exact same way, if we have any replacement mods running this joint.
― pplains, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 04:53 (8 months ago) Permalink
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, May 8, 2012 2:49 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, May 8, 2012 2:54 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Can I take my bow now? If this poll was taken now, it should be a shutout and Goddell should win. The guy is utterly incompetent. Also a Nazi
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 13:31 (8 months ago) Permalink
This ref thing is fucking amazing to me. As a Bears fan I want to do nothing but chuckle hardily at the Packers throwing away a game in the final seconds, but not like this.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 13:58 (8 months ago) Permalink
lol bill i just came here to copy/paste that exchange
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:00 (8 months ago) Permalink
who knew it would take Roger Goddell ruining football to get me to start watching it regularly again? I am spending every game waiting for the exasperated, crestfallen cries of discontent from the announcers about how the replacement refs are destroying America and I don't think I've ever had so much delight watching ie the Jets come from behind to win (although Tebow getting beaned in the head with the ball was a factor there as much as the terrible refs)
also this is totally against the spirit of the sport but anything that screws over the Packers is automatically awesome to me
at the end of the day I think I just like carnivals, which is what the NFL currently is
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:03 (8 months ago) Permalink
― pplains, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:14 (8 months ago) Permalink
― pplains, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
looooooool
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:16 (8 months ago) Permalink
^^^^^^ obv terrible, but also the funniest fucking thing
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:16 (8 months ago) Permalink
I mean why did that even happen
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:17 (8 months ago) Permalink
fuck wearing a hat
― barthes simpson, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:18 (8 months ago) Permalink
fear of a black hat
― pandemic, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:19 (8 months ago) Permalink
What does he slip on? A cap?
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:20 (8 months ago) Permalink
yes
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:21 (8 months ago) Permalink
apparently refs will throw their hat if a receiver steps out of bounds and is ineligible, but dude never really got close to the sideline and clearly stayed in bounds, so it really looks like the ref was just all "fuck it, gonna throw my hat under his feet *fling*"
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:22 (8 months ago) Permalink
COMEDY FOR EVERYONE
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:23 (8 months ago) Permalink
― barthes simpson, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:24 (8 months ago) Permalink
the refs havent screwed my team yet so im still enjoying it all. would happily vote for selig again
― Hungry4Ass, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:25 (8 months ago) Permalink
I know it's football and all but that gif is kind of worrisome; his slip comes out of nowhere, he puts a lot pressure on his left knee and ankle and lands awkwardly on his left leg with a lot of opportunity to screw that ankle, too.
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:40 (8 months ago) Permalink
― pplains, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:41 (8 months ago) Permalink
Occupy Wall Street has a Facebook post today about how the NFL debacle shows "all our issues are connected" through the hiring of scabs.
anyway, best football season ever
― kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:46 (8 months ago) Permalink
Haha, yeah, this happened: As NFL Referees Lockout Continues, Gov. Scott Walker Calls For Return Of Unionized Refs
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 14:51 (8 months ago) Permalink
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Tuesday, September 25, 2012 10:40 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Agree. If that guy had gotten hurt, the players probably would have seriously considering walking out until the real refs were back due to unsafe working conditions. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 20:49 (8 months ago) Permalink
I'm still kinda hoping for a players walk-out.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 21:00 (8 months ago) Permalink
Pretty sure I wound up a Goodell voter.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 21:05 (8 months ago) Permalink
Players should just start calling the game themselves like pick-up basketball.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 21:06 (8 months ago) Permalink