Hockey should be up into the top 5, as it has had consistent rating growth since moving to NBC. ESPN always gave it the shaft, never giving it any respect. NBC is advertising it and trying to help it grow. Granted, it still is low ratings, but growth is growth
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I can tell you what you won't be watching on TV...
- Thread starter milow369
- Start date
[email protected]
Par Member
Why is everyone so gung-ho on DG "growing". More crowds = more bone heads = longer waits = pay to play?? I am not against it's growth, I just don't quite understand the push to grow. With the "growth" of DG comes some major problems, (cluster f's) that are in stark contrast to the reason most DG'ers got into THIS sport. W/ growth comes more players, arent our courses crowded enough? W/ growth will be the need to build more courses, sounds like a bonus, but B4 you can say DG we will all be paying to play, U watch. W/ growth comes many, many more problems, is there an upside to "growth"? Just my thoughts, again I am not against growth, just cautious. P22OUT
If pay to play brings in more courses like Blue Ribbon Pines, I could care less. Bring in the new players, show them the sport we enjoy so much.If things become more pay to play, then the boneheads won't be paying to goof off. Or if they do goof off, then the management can just kick em out.
More crowds? Already happening.
More boneheads? Define bonehead. To me, they've always been there.
Longer waits? Happening at some courses.
Pay to play? Yeah, probably going to happen soon. I don't understand why so many would be against the idea, particularly if the fee is cheap, and/or only applied on weekends, and would help get rid of some of the undesirable elements our free courses are facing.
Mine aren't. Although to me, a great deal of the course crowding problem stems from two things.
1. Cities aren't allocating enough park land to meet the demand.
2. Even in locations where disc courses are going in, there seems to be what I call a 'bottleneck' issue, where the people who are involved with local clubs are more interested in setting up courses with competitive play in mind, instead of building courses to fit the needs of their masses. Therefore, even though a particular area may have say, five courses, one or two of them (namely the older shorter courses) are getting the bulk of the traffic, because the others are too difficult, or time consuming for most players to play. I used to think this was just an oversight, but I am starting to lean towards the theory that its intentional. This way, "those players" don't come invading the advanced level course.
The growth at the recreational level needs no push. Its expanding at a level that some other sports can only dream of and doing it mostly off of grass roots promotion. What I don't get is how people think that the sport being on television is going to help out matters.
Nick C
Birdie Member
Auto racing is the most watched sport in this country. Can't say I agree with it because it's boring as hell but it's the unfortunate truth
There's nothing more boring than watching ball golf (except maybe baseball) and it's on like twelve channels every Saturday and Sunday.
I watch football, Texas Holdem, and would watch the heck out of some DG if it were available.
I watch football, Texas Holdem, and would watch the heck out of some DG if it were available.
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
Speed certainly alienated a lot of people when they stopped their WRC coverage. That's what I miss the most. Talk about talent (here comes RallySoob - with good reason!). Those drivers are as close to the drivers of the 60s and 70s. Did they drop the Touring cars too? I stopped paying the extra $10/month for the sports pack once they dropped WRC.
I've watched the NHRA several times and it's even entertaining on TV. I would love to see it in person though. Something about a massively supercharged V8 putting out 3000+HP and accelerating to over 300mph in 1520ft just has to shake your whole body, even in the stands. Even my mom, who's not into racing at all talks about going to see the old Rails when she was younger. My jaw dropped when she said that.
jmacphee9
Newbie
lol first thing i noticed...hockey is in americas big four according to espn. baseball, basketball, football, hockey. nascar is huge, but the announcers refer to those as the big four all the time.
Yeah we went to Atlanta Dragway this year for the first time to see them live. Shaking your body is an understatement. It jars you so hard and shakes you so violently that you cannot see and by the time your brain recovers you have enough time to swivel your head to see the final time and speed.
It is a freaking feeling nothing can recreate, not even jet engines.
It was hilarious, there were little boys cowering and crying on the bleachers and my daughter was standing on top of them yelling and screaming about how awesome it was.
drevim
Bogey Member
Have you ever caught any of the older tourneys on TV? Pre-camera in the table? Unless you are trying to read a players tells, of which the top 20+ don't have that scream out, this was some BORING TV. Announcers making guesses and in the end, it went away for a long time, until someone figured out you could see the cards and feel like part of the action.
rikardob
Eagle Member
I feel you. Just take solace in the fact that the PDGA is a joke as far as sport promotion goes, and the last thing you are going to see is DG on TV for a long while. The Nintendo Wii does a better job promoting the sport and they aren't even trying.
Lewis
* Ace Member *
I think televised poker is actually even more boring than NASCAR. I don't know how it came to be considered a sport. Pretty soon they'll be calling chess a sport. 
I generally agree on the opinions shared about hockey and soccer. Hockey's fan base will always be limited to places where the lake water actually freezes in the winter. In the Sunbelt, hockey will always have to be played indoors.
As for soccer, while its fan base is growing as the younger generations come of age, you'll be disappointed if you want it to generate the kind of fanaticism here in the USA that it does around the world. We just have too many other popular sports for it to compete with. And honestly, while it may be a great sport to play, I don't think it's one of the better spectator sports. To the uninitiated it can seem like two teams kicking the ball around a field for an hour and a half, and when one team's defense finally gets tired, or they make a mistake, a happy accident happens for the other team and the game ends 1-0. That's the way many Americans still view world-class soccer. I personally feel it's a much better sport to watch at the amateur levels, kind of like basketball.
I generally agree on the opinions shared about hockey and soccer. Hockey's fan base will always be limited to places where the lake water actually freezes in the winter. In the Sunbelt, hockey will always have to be played indoors.
As for soccer, while its fan base is growing as the younger generations come of age, you'll be disappointed if you want it to generate the kind of fanaticism here in the USA that it does around the world. We just have too many other popular sports for it to compete with. And honestly, while it may be a great sport to play, I don't think it's one of the better spectator sports. To the uninitiated it can seem like two teams kicking the ball around a field for an hour and a half, and when one team's defense finally gets tired, or they make a mistake, a happy accident happens for the other team and the game ends 1-0. That's the way many Americans still view world-class soccer. I personally feel it's a much better sport to watch at the amateur levels, kind of like basketball.
Living here you should know that isn't entirely true. The Atlanta area supports two pro teams, has several mens leagues, several kids leagues and there are enough high schools in Gwinnett with ice hockey teams to have tournaments.
Not to mention several successful ECHL and NHL teams in SC,FL,GA.
Yeah it will never meet Canada levels, but there is a pretty healthy hockey following in the south.
Southern hockey lover here. And I agree with whoever said Speed messed up when they dropped WRC. I miss being able to watch that, love the WOO too.
As for course back-ups, about the only course that gets backed up around here is Reedy Creek. But it is located near the college, and was designed or put in the ground in like 91 I think. Still a damn fine course if you have to wait.
As for course back-ups, about the only course that gets backed up around here is Reedy Creek. But it is located near the college, and was designed or put in the ground in like 91 I think. Still a damn fine course if you have to wait.
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
I think televised poker is actually even more boring than NASCAR. - I don't think it's boring. I've never fallen asleep watching it like I have baseball & even football. I don't really consider it a sport but do think it takes talent (and a lot of luck) to be really good I don't know how it came to be considered a sport. Pretty soon they'll be calling chess a sport.
I generally agree on the opinions shared about hockey and soccer. Hockey's fan base will always be limited to places where the lake water actually freezes in the winter. In the Sunbelt, hockey will always have to be played indoors.
As for soccer, while its fan base is growing as the younger generations come of age, you'll be disappointed if you want it to generate the kind of fanaticism here in the USA that it does around the world. We just have too many other popular sports for it to compete with. And honestly, while it may be a great sport to play, I don't think it's one of the better spectator sports. To the uninitiated it can seem like two teams kicking the ball around a field for an hour and a half, and when one team's defense finally gets tired, or they make a mistake, a happy accident happens for the other team and the game ends 1-0. That's the way many Americans still view world-class soccer. I personally feel it's a much better sport to watch at the amateur levels, kind of like basketball - love college ball, hate pro ball (I miss the Magic/Bird era where every game was like the Finals).
I don't understand how soccer never caught on in the states (I also played for fifteen years - 5-20 and I'm back in a casual league now in my mid-30s - though). Baseball (America's Game) is a slower moving game with scores that often rival soccer's. And actually, worldwide, soccer's scores have started growing over the last four or five years. It's not uncommon to see a game finish at 5-4, especially in MLS where I've seen some in double digits.
I think it's more a matter of attention span. Popular sports in the US (except NASCAR) have a play, then a break, then a play, then a break. Soccer's clock doesn't stop, leaving people unable to rest their mind and get ready for the next play. Hockey's pretty similar to this also, especially in the playoffs (they even sub on the fly).
I really don't want soccer to grow in popularity to the level it is in the rest of the world, though. Fans getting crushed in riots is something that is a little over the top for a sport in my eyes. I just would like to see it get more respect on television. Perhaps Tuesday Night Soccer (there's nothing on anyway)? Wednesday Night Hockey?
Rbuzz9
Eagle Member
Hockey's def in the top 5 no doubt about it - ESPN needs to bring it back with Gary Thorne as the main play by play guy (he's currently doing Orioles games)
US viewers get into the WORLD CUP when it comes around especially if the US team is playing or doing well - i think viewers like watching the best. MLS is not the best and it gets poor ratings.
Also if the PDGA can get the soothing voice of Verne Lundquist aka "the Golden Throat" to do play by play that might help
Try Thursday night, like ESPN had anyways
Plus Don Cherry, just for the suits he has
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
But The Office is on Thursday nights. I would willingly miss it and torrent it for weekly hockey.
Rbuzz9
Eagle Member
I can't believe no one has mentioned the fact that Snooker is on the list and not DG. Just saying.
As far as the whole soccer debate goes, it will gain popularity because of the huge youth movement and in theory should the US get the bid to host a World Cup in the next 12 years it could grow faster than ever.
While MLS is not the best league in the world, it is getting better and I feel that the best way to make it a better leauge is to improve the quality of play, which they are attempting to do with the DP slot and other roster rules. At the same time, MLS remains the best thing we have in the state to develop our young players locally.
Now, back to DG. I feel like it will not be that long until there is some TV coverage somewhere. The issue is timing an even that falls on a weekend that has few to no other sports with anything significant happening. Moved the Worlds to that weekend and bam wow there you go. The other even that they could put on that weekend that would be fun to watch is the team competition they do between the US and the rest of the world ala Ryder Cup in ball golf.
As far as the whole soccer debate goes, it will gain popularity because of the huge youth movement and in theory should the US get the bid to host a World Cup in the next 12 years it could grow faster than ever.
While MLS is not the best league in the world, it is getting better and I feel that the best way to make it a better leauge is to improve the quality of play, which they are attempting to do with the DP slot and other roster rules. At the same time, MLS remains the best thing we have in the state to develop our young players locally.
Now, back to DG. I feel like it will not be that long until there is some TV coverage somewhere. The issue is timing an even that falls on a weekend that has few to no other sports with anything significant happening. Moved the Worlds to that weekend and bam wow there you go. The other even that they could put on that weekend that would be fun to watch is the team competition they do between the US and the rest of the world ala Ryder Cup in ball golf.
