As the Breeders Cup 2013 version fast approaches, Here are
some thoughts from this neck of the woods:
Things go up, things go down. Maybe you caught Keith
Olberman's show on ESPN2 this week about baseball television ratings. In 1971
37 Million people watched a Sunday afternoon Pirates World Series Game 3 win
over the Baltimore Orioles. There were 61 million people in the United States
at the time.
The 2013 World Series average game so far has about 12
million watching out of 300 million people.
But we live in a different world now, flooded with endless
choices of entertainment including cable systems that gives you hundreds of
channel choices as opposed to the 5 channel choices you had in 1971. We could
do anything at anytime, between our TV's, computer and Smartphone it is all
there at our fingertips. Today a weekday, I can choose from 24 different live
sports events from college football, Pro Hockey, Pro Soccer, Golf, College
Hockey, College Soccer, NBA Exhibition and more to watch on my cable system. Tomorrow, Saturday, that number will go over 100. Throw in
non sports entertainment choices and the choices are in the thousands.
Baseball, like Horse Racing is still very popular and those
who love it will do so devotedly. When considering the other choices out there,
it's actually amazing how both games have endured and how, in Racing, how many people weed through all the choices and choose to watch and bet on it.
