Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Avoiding The Obvious

Irony day from an interesting note from the NFL. The NFL's ratings are down around 10% this year so far after the same period last year. It seems to be an across-the-board fall too. It's hard to take a three-week ratings drop as too much of a sign of anything, but people seem to be worrying. So what could be causing this? Well, so far, the leftist media has suggested the following possibilities:
(1) The evil NFL's ignoring concussions for so long has turned people off (read: the leftist media's attempt to tar the NFL over concussions has turned people off).

(2) Something something rich white owners!!

(3) Commissioner Roger Goddell's "abuses under the labor agreement" (agreed to by the players union) have finally turned people off. Outside arbitration! Outside arbitration!
Oddly, each of these things already existed for several years as the NFL's ratings kept soaring. Logic tells us that something that didn't turn people off in the past isn't the cause of turning them off today. So what has changed? Well, the black protests are new. Sure, they are only around 40 players out of 1,900, but the sports media pushes them as if there were thousands. And the networks have talked about it over and over throughout games.

But would the audience be the type to tune out because of this? Well, consider this. The NFL audience looks like this: middle class (60%) white (77%) male (55%) above the age of 35 (71%). That's the exact group for whom patriotism matters the most. Those are the people who served in the military, see war movies and vote hard right. Do you think they want to watch a tiny group of angry a-holes spew leftist, racist political statements accusing them of being evil while they're watching television? Doubt it.

Ironically, now that 10% of the audience has apparently found other pursuits, the players union which has been smearing the NFL with both barrels for a couple years now is worried. Why? Because the amount of money available for the players depends on the television revenues, which will fall if the ratings fall. Whoops. I guess they didn't think of that when they were whining about everything. The networks are worried too because their ad revenue will fall if the ratings fall -- or if their demographics switch to a less wealthy group. Probably should have thought about that before deciding to broadcast every single gesture made by a protesting player regardless of its insignificance.

Of course, irony is something the left often encounters. Take the University of Missouri. They pandered to a tiny group of nasty racist who wanted special privileges because they thought no one would do anything about it. Now their enrollment is down 8% or 2,100 students and they've lost around $30 million... money that will no longer feed the departments of the very people who pushed this crap. Hillary Clinton bragged about being the greatest debater ever and most experienced candidate ever, but couldn't even beat Trump. Shouldn't have raised expectations. As I mentioned the other day, liberals are now perplexed that after calling every Republican a racist no one listens to them when they call Trump a racist. After passing Obamacare over the extreme opposition of the American public, the Democrats are finding that the public keeps kicking them for doing it. The insurers who saw this as a great way to stick up the public now find themselves going broke and being demonized by their partners in crime, the Democrats. The leftist who gave us the safety-at-all-cost and we-are-all-victims generation are now finding themselves victimized by those they taught intolerance. The shamers are being turned on by other shamers.

And that's just the beginning. Karma's a bitch.

Thoughts?

30 comments:

AndrewPrice said...

BTW, One of the funniest attacks on Trump is from Howard Dean and Hollywood -- the idea that Trump uses cocaine because he had the sniffles.

Pot calling the China black, perhaps?

And even if he was, aren't we told constantly by Hollywood that that's all cool? What will they say next, that he can't be president because he once had a gay relationship and you can't have gays in the White House?

Reeks of desperation.

Rustbelt said...

OT: For anyone who needs a break from Traumatic Election Syndrome, there's a new article at the film site for the start of the .Haunting Season.
For a few minutes, just forget about the race, kick back, and relax...but please make sure to wash your neck first.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, don't forget that the left wants to ban all the guns, but make it illegal to stop-and-frisk anyone who might be carrying a gun. Try to figure that one out.

AndrewPrice said...

Folks, check out Rustbelt's article and share your thoughts on vampires!

BevfromNYC said...

Hey, why are you dissing "slow children"? That's mean...

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, That only applies with minorities. They'd be cool with it if the searches were made of middle class white Christian families only.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, That's another way to say "liberals."

BevfromNYC said...

Good point about "liberals"...they are slow children playing".

As to the NFL issue, I am not the least bit surprised that people are tuning out. Sports are one of truly non-political things we have. It is healthy rivalry between countries/cities/states/friends etc. (well, unless you're a Red Sox fan in Yankee territory) Now, it's all wrapped up in real issues, so people are just tuning out - Traumatic Election Syndrome.

I wonder if attendance at games is down or if attendees are coming later to avoid the whole National Anthem issue?

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I don't know about attention. My guess is not yet on that. But I do see why people would tune out. Most sports fans I know don't want politics in their sports.

An honestly, I don't think it's all the race issue. I think it's a collection of things. The Players Union has been whining about concussions, unfair labor conditions, and a possible strike. The sports media has been whipping the NFL over the same things plus domestic abuse.

None of that is stuff people want to hear when they tune in to sports.

Koshcat said...

To blame this, it would be important to look at the regular local games verses the national games (i.e. MNF). If it is all of them then you may be correct but many of the national games have been dogs. It would also be interesting to compare other election years to see if that might be having an effect. It is such a small sample, I think it is hard to draw any conclusions.

Personally, I believe it is due to Tom Brady sunbathing nude in Italy.

BevfromNYC said...

Koshcat - That may be true about local v. NFL. Frankly, I blame Brangelina.

Critch said...

I quit watching NFL football when the Cardinals left St. Louis and went to Arizona.

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, Both local and national games are down. And Monday Night was a disaster because of the debate -- down 30%. Most games have been down between 10% and 15%. The one exception was the Patriot's game last Thursday.

Personally, I think it's too small of a sample to say anything and I think it has more to do with the games being dogs and picking uninteresting teams. But this is the issue du jour in the NFL right now and I think they're all pointing at all the wrong things. Fans don't care about concussions (we all know the game is dangerous), they don't care about arbitration and independent appeals of suspensions or about stadium funds versus extraordinary expenses. No one cares that the owners are still mostly whites.

I suspect what is bothering people, if anything, is the air of hostility surrounding the league right now -- between the players and the owners, between the media and the NFL head office, and between the protestors and America.

I also suspect there is a lack of star power right now. Brady is suspended. Peyton is gone. Romo is broken. Adrian Peterson is an abuser and broken. The guys they wanted to make the next set of heroes all busted -- Griffin III, Kaepernick, Geno Smith, Manzeil -- or aren't there yet -- Marcus Marriotta, Jameis Winston, Blake Bortles, Derrek Carr.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Brangelina has clearly depressed the nation. LOL!

AndrewPrice said...

Critch, The NFL does have a way of alienating fans, but up to now it has kept growing and growing.

tryanmax said...

None of that is stuff people want to hear when they tune in to sports.

If nothing else, when the commentators are talking about everything except what's happening on the field, it makes it harder to follow the game.

BevfromNYC said...

Speaking of broken football players, Tim Tebow hit a super home run in his first game/first time at bat in the NY Mets minor league game today. Yeah, he's playing baseball now. Good for him.

AndrewPrice said...

Trust me, Bev, this is well known. The same people I mention in the article have already told us (in order):

Tim Tebow doesn't really want to play, he wants publicity. And he can't do it anyway.

No one would come watch his exhibition.

Even though all but two clubs came to watch his exhibition, they only came for the freak show aspect. None of them will sign him.

Even though the Mets signed him, it was only a publicity stunt.

And today there are already a half dozen articles saying, "He only hit one home run. That doesn't mean he can play." These articles are also full of shots like, "smallest crowd he's ever played before" and the other team are "nobodys who will never be in the big league" and shots at is rube fans.

Obsession, thy name is liberal.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, True. Also, I think it's just something people don't want in their sports. People want entertainment from their entertainment, not lecturing.

AndrewPrice said...

Interestingly, the LA Times poll says Trump leads Clinton and his lead grow just under 1% after the debate. So I think it's hard to say Clinton won.

BevfromNYC said...

"...People want entertainment from their entertainment, not lecturing."

Andrew - that is true more than ever. Shows that get too preachy don't last long. Even rah-rah America shows like "NCIS" et al. are all good guys vs. bad guys, not about policy. It's the same for actor/activists. If they get too preachy/screechy no one wants to go see their movies, watch their tv shows, or buy their music.

Live theatre and novelists have more leaway.

BevfromNYC said...

Why does everyone despise Tim Tebow so much?

Koshcat said...

I'm with you.

Tebow is mostly about publicity because if it was only about football, he would be playing in Canada or he would have tried other positions recommended to him. And, he and the Mets are selling non-MLB sanctioned jerseys outside the ballpark. He is a talented athlete, just not a good quarterback. It will be years before we know if he can play baseball. There are lots of people who can hit the ball long.

ArgentGale said...

Makes sense to me. With the way the left injects politics into everything apolitical entertainment is getting harder and harder to come by so I'm not surprised that this would hurt the NFL. Between this and the college safe spacers hurting their schools at least the left tends to destroy itself, huh?

- Daniel

EPorvaznik said...

Annnnnnd with a commercial -- "¡Vota!"? -- touting being against "Big Soda for targeting youth" and several other SJW causes du jour, it's time to shelve "Pitch" from my Hulu queue. Jesus, "Big Soda"?!?! Oh, well, saw enough scenes with one of my umping partners in crime anyway.

More news today about Modern Family's upcoming inclusion of an 8-year-old transgender, and my nights are really freeing up to listen to some vinyl.

Yup, thanks for politicizing and/or social engineering everything, lefties. In my best Shatner, get out of your parents' basements, kiss a girl ... or a guy.

ArgentGale said...

Big Soda?! Seriously?! I can't say I blame you for moving to vinyls, Eric. Just when I think that the cause of the day can't get weirder...

- Daniel

tryanmax said...

So I think it's hard to say Clinton won.

There's also a meme-ish thing going around (not a picture w/ a caption, but a point being repeated) that Trump won virtually every flash poll except CNN. So again, hard to say she won.

That said, the official story is that Clinton "won on points" which basically means she debated like a Republican and followed the rules, but didn't sway anybody. And there seems to be almost universal agreement that Trump held back, which pretty much translates into an expectation that he will unleash in the next round.

The trick for him now is to devise a maneuver that his supporters will interpret as unleashing while his detractors see it as playing nice.

There's also some online "wah-wah" about Trump "manterrupting" Hillary.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Tebow is religious and that bothers a lot of them. More importantly though, he's relentlessly positive and that bothers the cynics a lot. It's like sunlight to a vampire.

AndrewPrice said...

Daniel,

Big Soda is eeeeevil. That's why I always order a medium. ;-)

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, What I find interesting is that Hillary's supporters are claiming she won, but seem underwhelmed and confused by it.

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