With friends in from out of town, I did not watch Saturday night's UFC championship fight only because we couldn't find a viewing location not charging at least a $20 cover. But we still looked for it. We still wanted it. And that alone says a lot.
Most Americans probably don't understand all the cage fighting rules and I don't think the UFC cares one bit. They have made their product interesting, personality driven, and based on what I read Sunday, controversial too. The UFC has smartly recruited top "wrestlers" from the WWE and put them in positions where these combatants actually have to fight. And let us not forget that WWE Raw (with all its "fakeness") is the top rated program nationwide on cable year in and year out.
Baseball, on the other hand, remains a PR and marketing disaster. Obsessed with obscure statistics and pooh-poohing controversial but interesting figures, the sport is just plain boring. And the TV ratings confirm it. Baseball's head honchos (plus the non-athlete writers which it gives too much power) subvert the game's strongest personalities, start games too late, look indecisive at critical junctures, and communicate to fans poorly.
From not telling a national TV audience (and the Tampa players facing elimination) whether Game 5 of last year's World Series would be called for rain, to banishing huge stars like Manny Ramirez (the most exciting pure hitter in baseball) into lifelong purgatory for something everyone did, baseball and its writers worry about all the wrong things. And some of it could be traced to that awful decision to declare a tie in the All-Star Game several years back.
"Well, everyone's out of pitchers", explained Commissioner Bud Selig. He completely forgot that millions of viewers had invested four hours into a game that now ended in blah. Not controversy - just blah. And because at that time, the All-Star game was purely an exibition, wouldn't it have been fun to allow position players to return and watch Derek Jeter try to pitch? Or A-Rod? Or Manny throw a fastball in dreadlocks? Now THAT would have been interesting! You can bet the ranch the WWE or UFC would have been all over that. But baseball misses PR opportunities all the time and then botches crisis management.
Hence, the overreaction that the All-Star game should be played for home-field advantage in the World Series. The exhibition beauty and fan appeal a sport like the NBA has in its All-Star game (top players trying crazy shots) is now non-existent in baseball's version. It's just another game with other teams' players most fans don't know.
Zzzzz.
No wonder speculation is rampant that tonight's All-Star game will be the least watched ever.
Meanwhile, the UFC is steamrolling its way to huge numbers and bigger audiences.
Interesting matters more than boring in 2009 - but then again, it always has.
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