4 x Coach of Year and 3 x World Series Champ Weighs In
Comments
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it's not just the game though. it used to be the game of choice for a good 20-30 years into the 80's. A good portion of the problem is the conservative nature of baseball that jones was hinting at. it exists just like it does in golf, albeit to a lesser extent with baseball
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Most of the teams from Africa are too. WeirdPurpleJ said: -
Hi there. Poor kids in the latin countries are doing just fine.dhdawg said:It's too expensive and too organized to become popular in the inner cities right now.
Compare that with it being a slow sport that isn't gonna appeal to a wide demographic and that you need to spend 3/4 years in the minor leagues to often even get a shot to play in the majors and make some money you can see why black participation has dropped -
Expense is a factor. it's still the #1 sport there so of course they get around it.PurpleJ said:
Hi there. Poor kids in the latin countries are doing just fine.dhdawg said:It's too expensive and too organized to become popular in the inner cities right now.
Compare that with it being a slow sport that isn't gonna appeal to a wide demographic and that you need to spend 3/4 years in the minor leagues to often even get a shot to play in the majors and make some money you can see why black participation has dropped
they also aren't playing on 2000$ travel teams
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Same tired argument that soccer fans make as to why inner city blacks don't play here. Until they realize that kids in Africa and South America kick around grapefruits and rolled up newspapers on dirt fields and shit. They do just fine.
Football and basketball also have expensive travel teams here. Doesn't stop the "poor" black kids.
Baseball just isn't that popular of a sport in America. -
depends on what you consider popular? as popular as football or basketball? no. popular enough to get fans in ballparks 162 games and generate enough revenue to pay even average guys 10 million a year? yesPurpleJ said:Same tired argument that soccer fans make as to why inner city blacks don't play here. Until they realize that kids in Africa and South America kick around grapefruits and rolled up newspapers on dirt fields and shit. They do just fine.
Football and basketball also have expensive travel teams here. Doesn't stop the "poor" black kids.
Baseball just isn't that popular of a sport in America. -
baseball is done trying to be a national powerhouse like the NFL cause it isn't.
On a regional and local level it's doing fine. -
I might be in the minority on this board, but I think Leach is a good coach; definitely in the top half of the conference, or at least at #6. His air raid attack and consistent coaching philosophy will net him 6-8 wins every year, which will make coogs ecstatic. In my mind, it takes an impressive coach to do that in Pullman. He definitely does fuck up on occasion, ala their bowl game against CSU. But still, he's better than 95% of the coaches they could get to sign a contract on the Palouse.doogie said:Leach has been Cougar coach of the year 4 straight years. I thought this was about him
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Bingo.
No one can force anyone to play a sport but it's smart of MLB to expand participation since nearly all young players are future paying fans.
As someone else mentioned, it was the only big sport around for decades; I'd say from the 1910's through the 60's (so participation and interest were bound to decline over the years after other pro sports started).
The Super Bowl only started in 1967 and the NBA & ABA only merged in 1976. Of course Magic and Bird joining the league in 1979 and MJ just a few years later helped the NBA soar in popularity.
The graph below also shows that the percentage of blacks in MLB started to notably decline in the mid / late 90's, after the NFL and NBA had been gaining in popularity with them for a couple of decades. I would also suspect that the growing percentage of latinos in the 80's and 90's (now 17% of the USA population) filled the gap (along with greater international scouting since Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Mexico all have robust leagues...even Cuba too).
PurpleJ said:Same tired argument that soccer fans make as to why inner city blacks don't play here. Until they realize that kids in Africa and South America kick around grapefruits and rolled up newspapers on dirt fields and shit. They do just fine.
Football and basketball also have expensive travel teams here. Doesn't stop the "poor" black kids.
Baseball just isn't that popular of a sport in America.
