Fighting Words: Pats, Sox & the Boston Media

[patchick]

Seems to me that the whole "Patriots are underappreciated" routine is pure illusion.

The New England Patriots are a juggernaut with a decade+ waiting list for season tickets and a fabulous marketing/licensing business. They're hugely, hugely popular. The fact that Red Sox obsession is even bigger doesn't change that.

Why not just appreciate that this is a terrific pro sports town? A city like Minneapolis can only dream of the Vikings, Twins OR Timberwolves getting the kind of devotion any of their Boston counterparts get.

 

[jmt57]

Maybe it is because I was younger and didn't notice it, or maybe things have changed a lot in more recent years, but when I was a kid (60's-70's) I did not notice a bias in media coverage among the four teams. In addition everyone I knew followed and was a fan of all four teams; the only preference may have been slight favoritism for whichever team was doing the best right then. I guess I don't understand the idea that you have to choose one team as your favorite - and I certainly don't understand why the media feels the need to cover one team far more than another. Yes, I realize the Globe-Sox connection, but what about the other papers, or the radio?

 

[Tunescribe]

Dictionary.com:
Sport:
an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

Guess I have sharper discernment than Dictionary.com, eh?

 

[Satchboogie3]

Please tell me this is a joke. It has nothing to do with attention spans. Watching a slow-moving baseball game is not hard, it's BORING. Even the players, all they do is sit or stand around 90 percent of the time. And now you've got these ridiculous pitch counts and the managers going to the bullpen setting up righty vs lefty and then bringing in a new pitcher for lefty vs righty.

Golf is the same way. Swing a club, watch him walk 500 feet. Swing the club again.

The same argument could be made for Football, or anything, for that matter. "Football is boring, it's just a bunch of guys lining up and hitting each other. Oh, they have some playing catch too... great... how exciting." It's just a matter of taste.

I'd also argue that the fact that baseball has become more strategic (going for L/R matchups in the pen, etc) makes the game more exciting. If you know a lot about the sport and enjoy watching drama, it's a fun sport. There is ALOT to the art of pitching and hitting. I think a pitchers duel with a great clutch ending is very entertaining.

 

[Satchboogie3]

Seems to me that the whole "Patriots are underappreciated" routine is pure illusion.

The New England Patriots are a juggernaut with a decade+ waiting list for season tickets and a fabulous marketing/licensing business. They're hugely, hugely popular. The fact that Red Sox obsession is even bigger doesn't change that.

Why not just appreciate that this is a terrific pro sports town? A city like Minneapolis can only dream of the Vikings, Twins OR Timberwolves getting the kind of devotion any of their Boston counterparts get.

It is because this ISN'T about the Patriots being popular, it's because baseball IS popular in Boston. A lot of young people today HATE baseball because they find it boring. The fact that the Red Sox are just as big/bigger than the Pats pisses them off.

 

[Tunescribe]

The fact that the Red Sox are just as big/bigger than the Pats pisses them off.

Not true on either count. Baseball probably dominates within the CITY of Boston because that's where the team plays. The Patriots are a REGIONAL team. With a 50,000-plus season ticket waiting list, 15 years of consecutive sellouts and great success both on the field and over the airwaves, I doubt the Krafts are pissed about your Bankofamericasox.

 

[Satchboogie3]

Not true on either count. Baseball probably dominates within the CITY of Boston because that's where the team plays. The Patriots are a REGIONAL team. With a 50,000-plus season ticket waiting list, 15 years of consecutive sellouts and great success both on the field and over the airwaves, I doubt the Krafts are pissed about your Bankofamericasox.

The Kraft's are young? I said specifically young people.

I mean, heck, you just pointed out a good reason why the Red Sox may be bigger than the Patriots in Boston, so where is the problem?

 

[JMarr]

Why do you think it has to do with "attention span"? Baseball is dull and tradition-bound. Look around you next time you're at Fenway. About half the people don't even pay attention to what's happening on the field. You know why? Because most of the time, NOTHING IS HAPPENING. FYI, golf is not a sport, it's a recreation.

:agree:

lol--I guess if NASCAR can be portrayed as a "sport," just about anything can. I do consider golf to be a sport, but one played by extremely skilled individuals rather than athletes.

I used to be a huge baseball fan, but its allure is definitely fading and the game seems to be becoming outdated. There's no question that football games are about 100x more entertaining than any RS baseball game. It's become almost impossible to care about professional baseball, with the players literally being nothing more than mercenaries now.

The NFL has done a great job in blowing the doors off MLB and the salary cap is one of the biggest reasons. Hopefully it doesn't go away.

 

[Tunescribe]

... you just pointed out a good reason why the Red Sox may be bigger than the Patriots in Boston, so where is the problem?

I dunno. You seem to be the one attempting to make a case for Bankofamericasox vs. Patriots. Tell you what: You can have Boston, we'll take the rest of New England. Fair enough?

 

[Satchboogie3]

:agree:

lol--I guess if NASCAR can be portrayed as a "sport," just about anything can. I do consider golf to be a sport, but one played by extremely skilled individuals rather than athletes.

I used to be a huge baseball fan, but its allure is definitely fading and the game seems to be becoming outdated. There's no question that football games are about 100x more entertaining than any RS baseball game. It's become almost impossible to care about professional baseball, with the players literally being nothing more than mercenaries now.

The NFL has done a great job in blowing the doors off MLB and the salary cap is one of the biggest reasons. Hopefully it doesn't go away.

I think too many people have this belief that to be considered an athlete, you have to be the fastest, strongest, most in shape person. That's not the case.

Again, from dictionary.com:
Athlete:
a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.

While most golfers certainly don't have the strength, agility, speed, and conditioning of NFL players, they still have the physical abilities/skills to play the sport at the highest level.

 

[reflexblue]

Having live in various parts of the country i have come to view the Redsox adulation as a sickness. Like the author said the Pats had just come off a SB and were headed to a record breaking streak and they shared a headline about the Sox losing.

Yesterday i was listening to EEI, D+H were talking football from Gillette, someone (not a kid) calls and asks "do you think Teke will wear the "C" next year" At that moment i thought Who Cares, Teke might not even be with the Soxs next year.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Why do you think it has to do with "attention span"? Baseball is dull and tradition-bound. Look around you next time you're at Fenway. About half the people don't even pay attention to what's happening on the field. You know why? Because most of the time, NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

You're quite right. I was fortunate to go to Fenway a couple of years ago - and hardly anyone around me was watching the game. At least that's the way I felt. I was following every pitch (or trying to). If I went to more games, I would definately keep score.

At home, I occasionally DVR a game and skip from pitch to pitch. Or even more often, play at back at 4X or 15X and then skip back to watch the action. Yes, you lose the feel of the game that way. On the other hand, you get back a few hours of your life. Of course, I watch football the same way and typically spend just over an hour watching a full NFL game.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Five stars for jmt57's links.

One star for yet another thread devolving into too many posts about Red Sox vs. Pats, baseball vs. football. Let it go.

Average: 3 stars.

Regards,
Chris