Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Apparently one of my co-workers/friends is convinced that Bug Selig revived baseball - so much so that baseball has recaptured its place as the national pastime. I tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade him that football has been America's pastime for the past 20 years.

So, my question to you is, what sport is our national pastime and why?

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I don't have any lengthy explanation, but I'll tell you this: NO WAY IN HELL is baseball our national past-time. You could ask almost anyone and the majority of the population at least somewhat enjoys football. It seems like MAYBE half of people care about baseball during the regular season.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Without a doubt. If money is any indication football wins hands down. Last time I checked the NFL made nearly as much money as all the other leagues combined.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Not only that, if someone asked me to describe baseball in one sentence, I'd say this:

I hate the Red Sox and Yankees.

The overexposure to those two teams has turned a lot of people off.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I compared league revenue, league sponsorship deals, and TV viewership of the World Series and Super Bowl and all indicate that football is the national pastime. In 2006, the NFL generated more than $7B in revenue, compared with $6B for MLB. With regard to sponsorships, it's not even close. In 2006, football drew in more than [B]$700M [/B]in sponsorship deals to MLB's [B]$300M[/B]. Over the past two years, the [B]nine[/B] World Series games have drawn just over [B]128 million viewers[/B]. Meanwhile, the last [B]two[/B] Super Bowls drew [B]184 million viewers[/B].

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Its football and has been since the 1970s. Anyone who says otherwise is either A) an aging left wing intellectual who grew up in Brooklyn "right in the shadow of Ebbets Field" or B) George Will. Everyone else knows the score.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=[LEFT][COLOR=red][FONT=serif][B][U]TheMalcolmConnection[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT];408251]Not only that, if someone asked me to [B]describe baseball in one sentence[/B], I'd say this:

I hate the Red [LEFT][COLOR=red][FONT=serif][B][U]Sox[/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT] and Yankees.

The overexposure to those two teams has turned a lot of people off.[/quote]

How about one word?

Boring!

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Hands down, I said hands down it's football. Before I get into my little argument on this one, I think it's still catchy to say baseball is our national pastime. While it was once true, I don't think that's the case anymore, yet people just like to say it. Kinda like the Cowboys are America's Team. Do you really think all or most of America loves the Cowboys with all the prima donas they currently have? Sure Dallas fans love them, but you'd be hard pressed to make that arguement in this day and time.

Let's just talk endorsements for a second. Money tends to follow success and not the other way around. Professional football players are in just about every commercial from credit cards, to Campbell's soup, video games, car advertisements, to actual sports gear. In other words, the football athlete has permeated just about every aspect of our commercialized culture that you can think of. And let's not talk about hip-hop and other forms of entertainment. I don't find that true of neither baseball itself or it's players. It's also worth noting that baseball has most definitely been tainted by the steriods scandel. Like him or not, for the past few years, Barry Bonds has been THE face of Major League Baseball.

We talk more about who football players date than any other baseball players. We have an entire network devoted to football. Hell, the scouting combine is coming up in, what, three weeks? Even for those that salivate and yearn for football all year around can have their senses satisfied. College football has even gotten in on the act. Can you name a Bowl Game that doesn't have some corporate sponsor?

But here's the one reason I think football is the national pastime --- ready? We spend more damn time on Warpath than any f*ckin Red Sox fan would ever spend on a fan forum. I have the most die hard Red Sox and baseball fans in my office who constantly tease me about the amount of time and energy I devote to Warpath. That my friends, makes football THE national pastime.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=Sheriff Gonna Getcha;408252]I compared league revenue, league sponsorship deals, and TV viewership of the World Series and Super Bowl and all indicate that football is the national pastime. In 2006, the NFL generated more than $7B in revenue, compared with $6B for MLB. With regard to sponsorships, it's not even close. In 2006, football drew in more than [B]$700M [/B]in sponsorship deals to MLB's [B]$300M[/B]. Over the past two years, the [B]nine[/B] World Series games have drawn just over [B]128 million viewers[/B]. Meanwhile, the last [B]two[/B] Super Bowls drew [B]184 million viewers[/B].[/quote]
Well as far as the SB v/s the World Series the SB is one game and people can get together and have a party on that giving night and its over with. This really helps with sponsorship becasue it such a captive audience for that one night. Also baseball is so spread out over the season most fans of a team do not watch everygame they kind of pick and choose which games to watch. Football most fans make it a point to watch their team every Sunday so the market is sixteen games and advertisers knows more of what they are getting. Oh, and baseball is boring.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[QUOTE=saden1;408258]How about one word?

Boring![/QUOTE]

And a bunch of steroid and HGH enhanced cheating freaks!!!

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I like baseball. Love going to games. Hot Dogs and Beer on a sunny summer afternoon at a minor league stadium. Pretty sweet. I don't find it boring at all

But undoubtedly football, NFL especially, is our national pastime.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=SmootSmack;408276]I like baseball. Love going to games. Hot Dogs and Beer on a sunny summer afternoon at a minor league stadium. Pretty sweet. [B]I don't find it boring at all[/B]

But undoubtedly football, NFL especially, is our national pastime.[/quote]

That's because you spend 90% of the time talking to the person you're with and the other 10% drinking :)

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Football is def. america's favorite sport...
baseball is america's favorite pastime, bc its just that, a means to pass time. its a slow game to both watch and play...though some may argue the same thing about football..

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I don't even think it requires discussion. The only people who think baseball is still the National Pastime think of it in traditional terms. There are no logiacl arguments that can be made to even remotely compare the popularity of baseball and football so they must fall back on tradition and sentimentality. I guess their defintion of National Pastime is just different.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Baseball is like golf or the NBA. Some people like it, some love it, but it doesn't drive the national conversation the way football does. Everybody loves the NFL.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I love to play baseball and I love to watch it in person but I fall asleep everytime I try to watch it on T.V. To me it's like bowling and Golf it's not to bad to play it but I just can't watch it...TOO SLOW....

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

There are a number of reasons why the NFL has dominated American sports over the last 20 years. Besides, obviously, the fact that football is more lucrative, it has also seen few steroid scandels, labor dispuits, and, with the nature of the game, a team who is mediocore one year can turn around to be a champion, and vice-versa. But what I think really makes football more exciting than baseball is the 16 game schedule. EVERY game counts in football. Period. With the MLB and NBA there are just so many games in such a long season that it's impossible to really become passionate about all of them, hell, even the players seem half-asleep on the field/court sometimes. Football, however, is full of emotion.

Hey, let's not bring golf down with baseball. The only sporting event I can't wait for besides the football regular season is the Sunday of any Major tournement.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Does it really matter?? Seriously.

I like both football and baseball. I think baseball at times can be more suspensful then football. There is no clock in baseball you have to get the team out in the 9th, you can't just run out the clock.

To me if picking your nose is your favorite pastime so be it. Why argue something that has no measurable answer.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Baseball totally gave away its following. Look at the World Series. The world series is played generally on weeknights and is also played at 9 o'clock at night. They have basically alienated a generation by doing so many weeknight games and the sheer volume of games and teams have diluted the sport. Football on the other hand has it down correctly. There are 16 games and everyone matters. The playoffs are expanded to include and reward teams for a good season, unlike in baseball, where for years it was the top two teams played for that teams pennant and then went to the world series.
My guess is that your co-worker supports the bowl system in football. A totally unbalanced and stupid way to determine a champion. Rating wins and losses and arguing who had the better regular season when clearly in pro football or football as it is played in the rest of America, on the field, not by writers, coaches and computers. Baseball is good and so is college football is good too, but they are severely flawed.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Best line I have heard to answer your question Sheriff was a prgoram that dealt with the rise of the NFL. Baseball might be the nation's pastime, but football is it's passion.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Ok how about this. A simply way to figure out is too total up the number of viewers and tickets sold.

I would think the NFL beats out MLB, but I don't know the statistics.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=mredskins;408345]Does it really matter?? Seriously.

I like both football and baseball. I think baseball at times can be more suspensful then football. There is no clock in baseball you have to get the team out in the 9th, you can't just run out the clock.
[B]
To me if picking your nose is your favorite pastime so be it. Why argue something that has no measurable answer.[/B][/quote]

Obviously it is hard to quantify, but there are numbers one can use to get an idea.

Also this is a forum, so those are the type of things people argue about. Why argue who are the best QBs all-time? Obviously there are factors which are qualitative, but isn't that what makes discussion fun?

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=Sheriff Gonna Getcha;408252]I compared league revenue, league sponsorship deals, and TV viewership of the World Series and Super Bowl and all indicate that football is the national pastime. In 2006, the NFL generated more than $7B in revenue, compared with $6B for MLB. With regard to sponsorships, it's not even close. In 2006, football drew in more than [B]$700M [/B]in sponsorship deals to MLB's [B]$300M[/B]. Over the past two years, the [B]nine[/B] World Series games have drawn just over [B]128 million viewers[/B]. Meanwhile, the last [B]two[/B] Super Bowls drew [B]184 million viewers[/B].[/quote]

Didn't see this before I posted, but I would think this proves it and America has spoken.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

nothing comes close to football.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=mredskins;408345]To me if picking your nose is your favorite pastime so be it. Why argue something that has no measurable answer.[/quote]

Because it's our offseason.

Baseball shot itself in the foot by not instituting a salary cap and by striking in 1994. Everyone saw the players as greedy bastidges who care more about a buck than about playing the game.

The nature of football (physically demanding and grueling) weeds those types of people out, I think. Obviously people want to get paid. In football, though, your heart really has to be in it to be good. You look on Sunday, and you see people on the sidelines who obviously love the game.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Baseball is the national passtime. [I][B]Football is the national obsession.[/B][/I]

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

ESPN should take a poll and put that tired old cliche to rest. I would wager my life that America would vote to rewrite the title to football.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Baseball is the national past-time. Football is the national passion.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Let's look at this from another point of view- baseball was known as the national past time long before the explosion of money and exposure that occurred, IMO, sometime in the 80's. Why? Not b/c it was the biggest grossing sport (if it even was), but b/c everyone PLAYED it. When you threw a ball around, it was a baseball - every kid had a glove and baseball and most had bats.

BUT, as football became popular, kids started playing IT instead baseball - hell, you only needed on piece of equipment - the ball. With the advent of cheap footballs in the 70's and 80's (you may laugh at them - but who here didn't have a nerf football growing up?)

Again, as the balls became cheaper and smaller (K-2's anyone?), football got played more as THE pickup game. Almost any place can be a field, you can have legitimate games with as few as 3 people (okay, who's the permanent QB?) and, again, only one piece of equipment needed.

When the weather's nice outside, the kids on my street are playing football. Not baseball. Maybe basketball - but as only one kid's got a net, that's not nearly as often. They ALL have footballs so any 2 or 3 of show up and it's game time. I have NEVER seen them play, or even throw, a baseball.

Whether football became the national past-time b/c of the NFL or the NFL became an obsession b/c football became the national past time, I don't know. I do think that a reasonable argument could be made that the NFL owes its current competitive advantage over other pro sports to the advent of the nerf football.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[QUOTE=JoeRedskin;408500]Let's look at this from another point of view- baseball was known as the national past time long before the explosion of money and exposure that occurred, IMO, sometime in the 80's. Why? Not b/c it was the biggest grossing sport (if it even was), but b/c everyone PLAYED it. When you threw a ball around, it was a baseball - every kid had a glove and baseball and most had bats.

BUT, as football became popular, kids started playing IT instead baseball - hell, you only needed on piece of equipment - the ball. With the advent of cheap footballs in the 70's and 80's (you may laugh at them - but who here didn't have a nerf football growing up?)

Again, as the balls became cheaper and smaller (K-2's anyone?), football got played more as THE pickup game. Almost any place can be a field, you can have legitimate games with as few as 3 people (okay, who's the permanent QB?) and, again, only one piece of equipment needed.

When the weather's nice outside, the kids on my street are playing football. Not baseball. Maybe basketball - but as only one kid's got a net, that's not nearly as often. They ALL have footballs so any 2 or 3 of show up and it's game time. I have NEVER seen them play, or even throw, a baseball.

Whether football became the national past-time b/c of the NFL or the NFL became an obsession b/c football became the national past time, I don't know. I do think that a reasonable argument could be made that the NFL owes its current competitive advantage over other pro sports to the advent of the nerf football.[/QUOTE]

You can also include the rise of TV. A football team plays 1 game per week and everyone can look forward to that game and treat it as an event. Baseball teams play almost every day so the games are less of an event and less build-up surrounds each game and less analysis follows each game. Football also translates better to tv as the action is essentially centered around the ball (unlike baseball) and the ball is easily seen on tv.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

Baseball is our national PAST-time....yes...50-100 years ago.

Since the first Superbowl, FOOTBALL easily became America's biggest sport and will likely always be..
No other country (except Canada) even plays the sport.
It is truly AMERICAN.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[QUOTE=hooskins;408400]Ok how about this. A simply way to figure out is too total up the number of viewers and tickets sold.

I would think the NFL beats out MLB, but I don't know the statistics.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't go by ticket sold....primarily because there are 10 times the number of baseball games as there are football....another reason why winning a single game isn't so important.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[QUOTE=skinsnut;408536]I wouldn't go by ticket sold....primarily because there are 10 times the number of baseball games as there are football....another reason why winning a single game isn't so important.[/QUOTE]

Tell that to the Padres.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=SFREDSKIN;408274]And a bunch of steroid and HGH enhanced cheating freaks!!![/quote]

Not to get off the subject but NFL players do it too and no one seems to care. Rodney Harrison and Shawn Merriman to name a few. And I'm sure there are PLENTY more.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[quote=irish;408492]Baseball is the national past-time. Football is the national passion.[/quote]


Well said. :goodjob:

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

with hgh and steriods bring their ugly heads to the table now..i would have to say yes..But i still love my RED SOX

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I'm with saden on this one, it's like watching grass grow. I can enjoy going to a game, but only because of the atmosphere, the stuff happening on the field? Couldn't care less other than to say "wow he hit that pretty far."

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

I used to be a big fan of baseball and I like following the O's and Nats but otherwise, baseball is just boring to me. Baseball used to be the national pastime, along with apple pie. But it's all about football and BBQ now. :)

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[QUOTE=skinsfan69;408579]Not to get off the subject but NFL players do it too and no one seems to care. Rodney Harrison and Shawn Merriman to name a few. And I'm sure there are PLENTY more.[/QUOTE]

My understanding is that, until recently, drug testing in the MLB was a joke relative to the NFL program. Moreover, the NFL was more cooperative in the congressional investigations than the MLB. Finally, things like the Mitchell report revealed in one fell swoop that numerous high profile baseball players were doping. If a similar report revealed that LT, Michael Strahan, Reggie Wayne, and a few other stars were involved in doping, you might see a similar outcry about the NFL.

Re: Is Football the National Pastime?
 

[url=http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=75889]MediaPost Publications - Pro Football Remains America's Favorite Sport - 02/06/2008[/url]

Just thought I'd update this thread with the link above