http://progolftalk.nbcsports.com/2011/04/04/the-masters-is-americas-greatest-sporting-event/
Let me make this very clear: A small percentage of people in this country care about a golf tournament when Tiger Woods is winning that tournament. Almost no percentage of people care about a golf tournament when Tiger Woods is not in contention. For example, in 2010 when the Tiger Woods Freak Circus (TWFC) was in full effect -
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-09/woods-s-masters-return-sets-cable-tv-ratings-record-correct-.html
The first round of the Masters Tournament was the most-watched golf broadcast in cable television history as Tiger Woods returned to the sport following an almost five-month absence.
ESPN’s coverage of the event at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, yesterday was seen by an average 4.94 million viewers[.]
Or roughly a quarter of the viewers who watch a rerun of
Two and a Half Men on a Monday night. Or a little more than three and a half times the audience that watches
Conan. Also, somebody google "
Conan" and get back to me with what exactly it is. Thank you.
I haven't seen this much misguided praise for a sport since America's Favorite
Sports Writer Podcasting Guy (TM) Bill Simmons spent this summer fellating soccer, or as it is known to the rest of the world: soccer.
Check out this column for some chuckles, especially the conclusion -
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100701
Like a battered wife who keeps returning to her husband, Simmons convinced himself that
this was the year that soccer would finally catch on. This year was different. Not like all those other years (that oddly seem to occur every four years like clockwork) where soccer seemed to be just on the cusp of breaking out, only to be completely forgotten by absolutely everyone in this country fifteen seconds after the final whistle of the final game of the World Cup. But not this time! No! This time it would be different! Except it wasn't. And now major league soccer in America has approximately the same profile as minor league hockey and mixed-doubles tennis.
In conclusion, some bonus content. I came across this wikipedia entry while I was doing research (yes, I do research) -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_the_United_States#Sports_media_in_the_United_States
Despite the size of the sports market in the U.S., the country does not have a national daily sports newspaper. This is because the contiguous 48 states spread across four
time zones, and games on the
West Coast may not end until early morning in the East. This makes it difficult to distribute a national newspaper with the scores of late games in time for morning delivery.
This country does not have a national daily sports newspaper? We need a national daily sports newspaper? People are fretting about the lack of a national daily sports newspaper? Was this paragraph written in 1985? What's it doing on the internet? Aren't there some sort of standards that have to be followed or some sort of gatekeeper to keep such things off the internet? Oh, there isn't? Okay.
And what's a newspaper anyway? Somebody get me a picture of a newspaper stat. Hmmm . . . okay . . . wait . . . a bum blanket? Are you talking about bum blankets? You can
read those? You can print sports scores in them? My head's spinning.
I'm just joking, kids! I know what a newspaper is. It's the stuff you use to line hamster cages.
