RobotGumshoe wrote:

Does anyone even care? Baseball is not even remotely relevant, because its incredibly boring, only a few other countries even bother, and a whos-who of abuses have taken every ounce of respect out of the game. On the sports totem pole its below soccer, football, basketball, golf, and if you take Canada into account then hockey. Who cares that some juiced asswipe did something significant in baseball. He could have spent that time doing something significant in a sport that matters (relatively speaking).

First of all, quite a few countries care about baseball; enough that they had a World Baseball Classic last summer involving 16 countries and the ratings were the 2nd highest for a sporting event in the WORLD last year.

Football is only really relevant in America, as NFL Europa couldn't keep afloat and there are no leagues of real merit anywhere else. The CFL is tiny.

Basketball is played all over the world as well, and many of the players in the NBA are European. In some cases, the leagues over in Europe are as competitive and talented as the NBA.

Golf? Are you fucking kidding me? Golf is a worldwide sport, sure, but without Tiger Woods golf would have been completely irrelevant 5 years ago. It would be the equivilant of rugby or curling.

And let's not take hockey into account as more popular or higher on the totem pole than water polo. Only Canada truly gives a shit about hockey, and even then their professionals have no choice but to play in the AMERICAN NHL league, which doesn't even have enough of a fan base to get a national TV contract. They're on fucking VERSUS. I couldn't tell you what channel Versus is on in my area, and I bet most people feel the same way.

I'll concede soccer, but that's not a sport that's even on America's radar except when some past-his-prime wanker comes over to the states to ride the pine for $250 million.

In conclusion, your entire rant was misinformed and full of shit.

Syd Lexia wrote:

The only thing I would correct is that hockey is huge some European countries, most notably Russia.

Right, but we're talking about professional sports, and Russia can't even sustain a league.

Tishwitch wrote:

S. McCracken wrote: ... Golf? Are you fucking kidding me? Golf is a worldwide sport, sure, but without Tiger Woods golf would have been completely irrelevant 5 years ago. It would be the equivilant of rugby or curling. That's quite a statement... and false at that. Golf has been popular for the last 30 years in the US & Canada... ever since the PGA Tour branched off in America. Hell, I can even remember watching golf every weekend with my dad, back in 1996, and if I was a fan at age 13, I'd guess middle-aged men everywhere were even more so! Tiger Woods certainly did not popularize golf, maybe a little for the black community, but not as a whole! Jack Nicklaus was winning major PGA Tour tournaments before Tiger Woods was even born!

Golf never, EVER resonated with a broad younger fanbase until Tiger. He literally came right out of college (early) and won EVERYTHING. There's a reason he has more endorsement money than anyone, EVER (even compensating for inflation).

Nicklaus didn't inspire kids to learn golf. Palmer never inspired black people to play golf. Mickelson couldn't get laid in a whorehouse before Tiger came along.

Without Tiger, golf stays an esoteric game focused simply on satisfying the Sunday-afternoon sports-watching cravings of middle-aged, middle-class white males.