Bucs Prove The Nation Has Yankees Fatigue
October 5th, 2011
More people watched Josh Freeman and the Bucs Monday night than the vaunted Yankees in a postseason game.
As Joe has written dozens of times on this very corner of the interwebs, he quit watching SchlockCenter on BSPN in July 2004 because of the way the Komsomol outfit trumpets but two baseball teams.
Of course, to grease the wheels in this effort, BSPN had to have a willing participant, a notorious used car salesman by the name of Allen Selig, better known in some circles as “Bud Bad Hair.”
Ever willing to whore out baseball’s soul for a nickel, Selig nodded in approval as baseball dismissed its former rule of restricting teams to just a handful of national TV appearances each season in order that other teams get national exposure.
Now, thanks to BSPN, FOX and Turner Broadcasting, the Yankees, and to a slight lesser degree, the Red Sox, may as well be vampires because of the limited number of games played during the day. All for the sake of TV.
It now seems that others in baseball are as fed up as fans. If there is one voice that will be heard not wearing pinstripes or a jersey with “BOSTON” emblazoned across the front, it is the great Albert Pujols, a once-in-a-generation hitter (who went 4-for-5 against the best pitching staff in baseball yesterday), who lashed out at Bud Bad Hair yesterday for allowing one team to always play in postseason’s primetime at the expense of other teams.
Sports fans in general are equally disgusted as baseball postseason TV numbers the past decade or so have plummeted nearly as much as Joe’s chances of bedding Rachel Watson.
Reluctantly, BSPN broadcast the Dolts-Bucs game Monday night opposite a Yankees playoff game. Joe can assure you Bolsheviks in Bristol, given their druthers, would rather have had the Yankees broadcast.
Why? Well, Joe’s going to guess during the game broadcast and BSPN’s exhaustive pregame ca-ca that Peyton Manning not playing for the Dolts was mentioned once or maybe twice. BSPN is all about pimping its select handful of teams or players who are so dominant not even BSPN can ignore them. Manning and Pujols are two perfect examples of this.
The fact that sports fans are sick of being indoctrinated with the Yankees was proven when the TV ratings of the Bucs and the Yankees games were released. Nearly twice as many TVs were tuned to an early season Bucs game against a hapless Dolts team compared to a Yankees postseason game, so reports Variety by way of the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, the great Mike Florio.
On the sports side, ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” (4.5/11 in 18-49, 10.84m for Colts-Buccaneers) topped TBS’ baseball playoff game between the Tigers and Yankees (2.1/5, 6.05m).
Look, Joe doesn’t hate the Yankees. On a professional level, Joe has dealt with many higher-ups in the Yankees organization, many of which are based in Tampa. The entire front office is first class; Joe can’t say enough good things about them.
This just proves that, aside from Yankees fans, the nation is weary of being beaten over the head with the Yankees (and to a lesser degree, the Red Sox).
This information also proves that while baseball may be America’s pastime, football is America’s passion.
Oh, and Pujols is absolutely correct, too!
October 5th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Maybe more people watched a boring Colts-Bucs game than a playoff game because baseball is boring and has a sucktitude (or is sucktitudunal?) rating of about 9.8.
I used to be a big baseball fan but a little over 10 years ago I gave it up, cold turkey, and haven’t had the least desire to go back. Besides that, watching and reading up on baseball would only take away from my true love, the NFL.
October 5th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
GOT to type it.
With the amount of money the Yankees use to stealing players from other teams, to stack the deck in a totally uneven playing field, they are FAILURES!
They should win EVERY year with the players they buy and/or steal. Screw THEM!
The Buccaneers play a better game, more exciting, more team orientated and more fun to watch. They do it on a level playing field and more people WOULD rather watch them than the damn Yankees. Whoop de DOO!
October 5th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
@Garv
I hate baseball in general, and if I were a fan I would be a Rays fan. That said, I don’t know how you can call the Yankies failures when the tactic has resulted in more championships than any other team in baseball.
@Joe
As to the TV Ratings, I think its pretty obvious the Colts have far more fans than the Bucs, and the fact that their young QB was making his first full game start…as much as I would like to think the bucs drove most of those ratings, I think the more likely suggestion is the Colts did.
Nice leap of logic though…can’t wait for the day when the Bucs actually can drive ratings like that.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
“baseball may be America’s pastime, football is America’s passion.”
– Howie Long right?
October 5th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Agree with both Pete D. and Garv: Yankees suck bc they outbid for talent, rather then doing in the homegrown way. They should win every year with that kind of spending, but in reality they do have more championships than any other MLB club.
Go Rays, the ENTIRE RAYS TEAM made LESS than the left side of the yankees infield this year. So, if you had to select the dollar for dollar best team in baseball it was by far the Rays. A lot of the same can be said about the Bucs. I am starting to see the light. Dom is going to be paying LGB and Bennett this year, while potentially re-upping Freeman.
I love what the Bucs are doing, and I am thrilled we didn’t try to sign a “dream team”.
Additionally, the Bucs front office did sign one key piece to the Bucs last time we were champions, Simeon Rice. IMO, the next “put you over the hump/Simeon Rice” type signing will be on offense. DeSean Jackson anyone? He would hep show case Freeman’s rocket arm, and he would clear the box for LGB to run cleaner.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
The Buccaneers are building our team the right way.
The Yankee way is to buy championships other teams cannot afford.
There’s no honor in that at all IMO and I don’t care for their ruining the game the way they have.
Football, the NFL is about getting the right FO, the right HC and finding players through the draft, un-drafted free agents and an occasional player that keeps the CAP in mind so teams can afford to wisely keep their own. It’s about having the right people on top and any team can do it. Whether it’s Green Bay, Dallas, New York or Tampa Bay. It’s fair and honorable. What the Yankees do is disgraceful, boring, egotistical and a HUGE part of the downfall of baseball as America’s past time. Even steroids can be traced to the contracts the Yankees give. Hell, players would drink battery acid for 100 million dollars to bat .265 with 50 HRs!
Just venting.
How about those BUCCANEERS?
October 5th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
@Joe: Nice title, but it has nothing to do with the Yankees and everything to do with the better sport.
October 6th, 2011 at 8:16 am
Four days ago, Joe writes “There is nothing, not one thing, that is more overblown in sports than TV ratings.” Now this article?