ESPN gives major love to the Penguins, ranking them 2nd in their Power Rankings. We're coming for that #1 spot, Buffalo.
The Kevan Barlow Era comes to an unceremonious end in New York. And this time he can't blame Coach Hitler.
The relationship between Mike Lange and FSN Pittsburgh sounds worse than Marty Schottenheimer and A.J. Smith in San Diego, if that's at all possible.
SI.com says the Pens are digging Bryan Smolinski.
Reggie Bush is your newest Gold Toe dress socks pitchman. Yeah, that taunting call against the Bears really tainted his image.
Manny Ramirez, antique auto auctioneer. Oh, that's just Manny being Manny. By the way, can we start a "Just Jose Being Jose" line to excuse Castillo's brain lapses this season? Maybe when he starts averaging 42 HR/135 RBI per year.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that ESPN's NASCAR coverage has been a bit much.
Check out Bishop State CC, where they had a 67-year-old disabled grandmother receiving athletic scholarships to play three sports there just months before she died. A three-sport granny? Sounds like a five-star recruit! Where were you on this one, Wanny?
A pack of ciggies is now running at $125 in California prisons. And just think, they're only a few bucks at Sheetz. That's the cost of living in certain areas.
A great video mash-up: "Batman vs. Superman: You Know How I Know You're Gay?", mixing a Justice League cartoon with the famous 40 Year Old Virgin scene.
2 comments:
I've said this, I believe on Pensblog, before about the "popularity" of NASCAR. I also posted it on "The Big Lead" blog that did the NASCAR article you linked to, so I'll post it here too (beware, it's long, but I'll politely ask you to read it all):
You can't gage popularity by ratings. It's true, and I'll tell you exactly why:
There is ONE major NASCAR race per week. Just one event. It features every major driver. So, everyone's favorite driver is in that one race. Therefore, every NASCAR fan in America is either attending, or watching that race on TV. Adding to this is the fact that it only happens once per week. Hence, huge ratings.
In other sports, on a given day there can be up to 15 (16 in the NFL) events total. That is fragmenting the live and television audience into 15 or 16 parts at most, especially if you just watch your favorite team and no one else.
Plus, in the case of MLB, NHL, and NBA, teams play several times per week. So if you miss them on Tuesday, no biggie because you can watch them on Friday. That also dilutes individual game ratings.
I'm going to bring the aforementioned NHL into this, because it is the league that ESPN "mysteriously" began bashing constantly the minute it left their network. If all 30 NHL teams played in one day, the combined TV ratings and attendance for all 15 games would beat those of the one weekly NASCAR race. And this is not the NFL or MLB I'm talking about, it's the redheaded stepchild of the major sports world, the NHL.
Another way to put it is, if NASCAR paired races off into multiple 1-on-1 "match-races" held on random, multiple nights per week, (ie fragmenting the audience instead of having one huge audience once per week) the ratings and attendance would probably be sub-NHL-like. Many people would probably only watch the "match-race" with their favorite driver in it. And even the more diehard fans would find it hard to watch every race. Hence, smaller ratings.
So yes, NASCAR's ratings, and in turn it's popularity, are inflated by the fact that there's only one big Nextel Cup race with all of the major drivers per week.
Also, about hockey, ESPN did a "What's your favorite sport?" online poll a few months back. Hockey and basketball were tied for third, and NASCAR was a distant last. (The NFL and MLB finished 1st and second respectively). So, just because it's in ESPN's best interests to tell you that hockey doesn't matter anymore and NASCAR does, that doesn't make it true.
And about the "Is NASCAR a sport?" issue... put it this way, if I'm a better driver than you, but you have a better car, you're beating me in the race. It's basically a "fast car building" contest! But then again, this is ESPN, the same network that also tries to make us care about Poker (which, for the record, is a fucking game of chance!!)
Thanks for getting petrovicky's name right this time
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