Ted Rall, Counterpunch, September 5, 2018:
If You Don't Hate The Government You're Not Paying AttentionOr Major League Baseball.
Imagine a store that makes its customers miserable. This interior is ugly and uncomfortable. At best the staff is indifferent and slow; at worst rude and incompetent. You pay sky-high prices for inferior goods. Often you pay full price yet leave the place empty-handed.
You don't have to be a marketing expert to guess what would happen to such an establishment. It would go out of business. It wouldn't be all that surprising if a mob of ripped-off consumers burned the place down.
I've just described the U.S. government.
David S. Cohen, The Good Phight, August 31, 2018:
A Simple Solution To The Phillies' And Baseball's Attendance Problems
"I have this incredible product. It's fun, exciting, and you can spend hours everyday enjoying it. Better yet, it's changing with the times and you really have to see how cool it is now!"
Or:
"Well, this product used to be great, but now it's boring. The people producing it have disregarded all that is tried and true about the world. Basically, everything is wrong with it now!"
If those were the two pitches for the product, which one — especially if you heard it day in, day out from almost everyone who talks about the product — would be more likely to convince you to spend your money? ...
The senior members of the group that is baseball writers, tweeters, commentators, broadcasters, and executives jump at any opportunity they can to criticize the game. It's too slow. The stars are too distant. Too many strikeouts. Pitchers are too good. Hitters hit too many home runs and not enough singles. Batters are just looking for walks. The shift ruins the game. Young players don't respect the game. Blah blah blah.
It's all as tiresome to read and listen to as it is lazy to write and say. ...
[I]t seems that most people who talk and think about baseball for a living hate the game ... When that's the impression being given to listeners, viewers, and readers, is it any wonder that no one is showing up at the ballpark? Complaints about attendance in this environment are the equivalent of saying "here's my awful product that is going to frustrate the hell out of you, why aren't you buying it?" ...
[T]here is always a legitimate role for criticism and suggestions for improvement ... [but] baseball's professional chattering class ... are working very hard to drive fans away.
3 comments:
I often think it is not the game that has changed ...... people & society have !
Just look at our attention span nowadays ....... Oh , you have already looked away !
Listen to any Red Sox game broadcast on NESN.
As penned by Allan the other day, Lyons criticizing the concept of launch angle essentially tells the listener: "Even though J.D. Martinez owes his success over the past two seasons to giving credit to prescribing to a new theory being embraced by a significant percentage of baseball players, it's meaningless when compared to traditional thought."
Done right, he'd take the next opportunity JDM knocks one into the bleachers to say: "Once again, Martinez has shown the baseball world the value of launch angle, and it wouldn't surprise me to see more and more players adopting his methods to better their performance."
It's no wonder I spend at least half my time watching the broadcast on mute.
Attention span shouldn't affect baseball anymore than any other human endeavour. Fans' diminished attention span should not cause MLB to do absofuckinglutely everything wrong.
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