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| TMC... |
 Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:36 pm |
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http://www.indenvertimes.com/tbs-takes-away-postseason-luster-for-baseball-fans/
By David Martin on October 23, 2009
A Major League Baseball season lasts a long time. Very few fans are
able to watch all 162 games that their favorite team plays. With day
games and night games, weekend games and weekday games, the thought of
watching a team religiously is nearly impossible. Very few find a way
to accomplish the task.
For this, and a variety of other reasons, baseball, a game that was
once the national pastime in America, has found itself taking a back
seat to the NFL. More people are interested in whether or not Brett
Favre will unretire for what seems like the millionth time than watch
a Rockies vs. Giants battle that pits up-and-coming flamethrower
Ubaldo Jimenez, against a Cy Young winning Tim Lincecum, who looks
like a 12 year-old, but is nearly impossible for 12-year Major League
veterans to hit. Yet, when the playoffs come around, even the most
average sports fan is willing to watch a baseball game, but slowly
Major League Baseball is disheartening even those fans.
Major League Baseball often wonders why the next generation of kids is
not watching what used to be the nation’s favorite sport. Often times
the finger is pointed at a lack of offense, or a less action-filled
game that can last up to four hours. These are all potential reasons,
but Major League Baseball needs to quit wondering what the NFL is
doing right, and look at what they are doing wrong.
The 2009 Colorado Rockies were an incredibly exciting team to watch on
a daily basis. They were the epitome of team. Only one player (Todd
Helton) hit above .300 and no one hit the 100 RBI plateau, yet they
ranked second in the National League in runs scored. They had young
talent that was learning to play the game at the Major League level to
go along with seasoned veterans like Helton, looking to have another
shot at World Series glory. Some of their players had very little
talent, but made up for it with a heart the size of the Rocky
Mountains. For examples look no further than Yorvit Torrealba or Omar
Quintanilla. The Wild Card winning Rockies had players that could hit
the ball a mile, and could field a ball hit within a mile of them.
They were a team that refused to die after a poor start and made a run
at winning their division, despite being 15-1/2 games back at one
point.
The ‘09 Rockies should have been Major League Baseball’s dream come
true. Americans love to root for the underdog. People relate to
teams that come from smaller markets and compete with the bigger
market teams, ala David vs. Goliath. Despite being in the playoffs
just two years ago, the Rockies represent fresh blood in the Major
League playoffs, something different than the standard Yankees, Red
Sox and Angels that seem to be playing every October. Major League
Baseball should have capitalized on the energetic, never-quit Rockies.
Instead, Major League Baseball allowed TBS, a cable station known for
rerun sitcoms and second-rate prime time dramas, to not only broadcast
every game, but determine the start time of each game as well.
Because of the fact that the Rockies are rarely seen on ESPN
highlights it came as no surprise that the series featuring the
defending champion Phillies and the Rockies would kick off the
playoffs at 3 pm Eastern Time. Not just the first game, but the
second game as well. For two games that would at least draw the
average Colorado sports fan and family to tune in at night, the games
were simply highlight reels, due to the fact that they took place
while potential fans were at work or school. If fans thought it would
get better for game three, they were mistaken. On a freezing cold
night in Denver, fans had to wait until 8 pm for the first pitch.
That meant fans in Philadelphia did not see their team take the field
in a pivotal game three until 10 pm on a work or school night.
Why were the first two games played during the day and the third
played so late at night? Because TBS insisted on broadcasting every
pitch of every game to the entire nation. While the thought sounds
like a good one for those who love to watch nine consecutive hours of
baseball games, the fact of the matter is, very few baseball fans, let
alone average Americans has the ability to tune into every single game
in the postseason. Especially considering that the early games are
played during the work day. Instead of being interested in the games,
American’s simply forget about the playoffs altogether.
The solution seems simple. Broadcast games just like CBS does during
the ever popular March Madness. Play two games in each time slot.
Broadcast the games that are most important to a particular region in
that region and allow a game to switch over when the result of one is
in doubt for the national audience, while keeping the local audience
on their hometown teams.
This would eliminate weekday games played with fans at work and
school, and also take away the late night game where most of the
country besides the local markets have gone to bed anyway. It would
also presumably boost the ratings because fans would not lose interest
if a game became lopsided, they would simply be switched to another
more exciting game.
TBS and Major League Baseball could also do fans a favor and eliminate
some of the travel days involved in the postseason. Professional
baseball players play six months during the regular season and another
six weeks in Spring Training with just two or three days off per
month. Suddenly it becomes too difficult for them to play more than
two days in a row without a day off. With series dragged on, not only
does the audience lose its focus, it compromises the integrity of the
most important games of the year due to summer turning into fall.
Despite a great effort from both teams, does anyone really want to see
championship baseball games played in 25 degree weather? Do players,
who travel the country, spend time away from their families and work
their whole lives to achieve a goal of winning the World Series want
the biggest games of their career determined by terrible weather?
If Major League Baseball wants to do itself some good, they would quit
looking at the dollar signs on the TBS paycheck and find a way to make
their games played during the most appropriate times, where the
average fan can watch and fall in love with a game that they have
forgotten about. |
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