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Post by Nyi28nhl on May 6, 2007 20:10:23 GMT -5
heh, America's true pastime is sitting on the couch watching football. Amen to that!
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Post by philliesphan on May 7, 2007 19:57:41 GMT -5
I'm butting in a little late on this one, but how can a pastime be current? Can you hear the prefix? PASTime not CURRENTime. NYI, I agree with a lot of the things you say, but honestly that doesn't even make sense.
That's why baseball is America's pastime. It is what everybody does in the summer. Nobody goes outside in the winter to play football. ...Unless they plan on dying of hypothermia.
True everybody is talking about the draft, but that's because it just happened. If the World Series just happened, everybody would be talking about that. And who are you to judge what sport is more famous for pickup games? Without question it's baseball. I have friends ask me to play baseball all the time. I only a few times have ever been asked to play football. More people appreciate a good baseball or wiffle ball game than a football game.
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Post by Nyi28nhl on May 7, 2007 20:10:35 GMT -5
I'm butting in a little late on this one, but how can a pastime be current? Can you hear the prefix? PASTime not CURRENTime. NYI, I agree with a lot of the things you say, but honestly that doesn't even make sense. That's why baseball is America's pastime. It is what everybody does in the summer. Nobody goes outside in the winter to play football. ...Unless they plan on dying of hypothermia. True everybody is talking about the draft, but that's because it just happened. If the World Series just happened, everybody would be talking about that. And who are you to judge what sport is more famous for pickup games? Without question it's baseball. I have friends ask me to play baseball all the time. I only a few times have ever been asked to play football. More people appreciate a good baseball or wiffle ball game than a football game. Based on the stretch of warm whether we've had so far, last summer, and the summer before that - I've only seen football games at parks I've been. This isn't just by my house, but at Battery Park, Central Park, and all over NY (I have a lot of relatives ). The consensus at my school is that baseball is boring. No one sits down and watches a 9-inning game anymore even if its that person's favorite team playing. Yet, everyone watches the full Monday Night Football. Who cares about Sunday Night Baseball? I always thought of pastime as a way of passing time. More Americans prefer a football game to a baseball game. www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20061219espn02Monday Night Football on a PAID-FOR-SUBSCRIPTION channel got a 10 in the Nielsen Ratings. www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2005-10-24-hiestand-series_x.htmGame One of the World Series only got a 9.5 on a FREE-PRIMETIME CHANNEL Since when does pastime mean "sport thats going on in the summer"?
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OOYL
Rookie
Posts: 51
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Post by OOYL on May 7, 2007 20:12:22 GMT -5
America's TRUE Pastime 15 years ago was baseball. Fifteen years ago was 1992! Football was on top of the world then also! Baseball started to decline in the late 70's due to the growing popularity of the NFL. Football is America's current pasttime. Nice loophole, PhilliesPhan, but according to answers.com, the definition of pasttime is:An activity that occupies one's spare time pleasantly. And the truth is, that millions of Americans do this by watching football. The fact that the word "past" is in pasttime has nothing to do with this. How can you argue when, during Super Bowl Sunday, almost half of the whole nation is in front of their tv sets tuned to this special events. Baseball may be America's Game, but not America's pasttime. More people spend time watching and playing football than baseball. There it is. In a nutshell.
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Post by Nyi28nhl on May 7, 2007 20:19:00 GMT -5
America's TRUE Pastime 15 years ago was baseball. Fifteen years ago was 1992! Football was on top of the world then also! Baseball started to decline in the late 70's due to the growing popularity of the NFL. Football is America's current pasttime. Blah, I'm old. I'm still living in the 90s. I miss the Nordiques
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Post by philliesphan on May 7, 2007 20:19:35 GMT -5
Completely disregard anything I said. I misunderstood the meaning of pastime. I feel stupid. Sorry about that...
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mortonn
Prospect
Xbox Live Gamertag: mortonn
Posts: 19
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Post by mortonn on May 8, 2007 13:47:03 GMT -5
Baseball WAS America's pastime. That's the key word there. The golden days are over. It's impossible for baseball to be #1 again, not in today's fast, nonstop day and age. I don't think that I could have said that any better. As far as popularity football has surpassed baseball, as many of us have already said. So saying that I'm going to have to side with FootballFreak03 and OutofYouLeague.
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Post by GEO on May 8, 2007 15:25:50 GMT -5
Does pastime always mean favorite?
Baseball is what got America through it's toughest years and has the most history in this country.
(Good debate so far, keep going)
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Post by BlackOps on May 8, 2007 15:53:16 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't think that new statistics prove that football is America's new Pastime.
If each team played 16 games, I'm sure that as many people would tune in to their teams' game every time. For football, you watch every game because there are only so many chances. In baseball, you can follow the boxscore and still follow the team.
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Post by Nyi28nhl on May 8, 2007 16:33:41 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't think that new statistics prove that football is America's new Pastime. If each team played 16 games, I'm sure that as many people would tune in to their teams' game every time. For football, you watch every game because there are only so many chances. In baseball, you can follow the boxscore and still follow the team. I assume you're talking about my statistic. Yes, but I picked Monday Night Football Games where its less likely people watch because a) They work b) It's on a subscription channel and I picked World Series Game One, which if you were going to try and pick the highest rated baseball game of the year, you would think that would be it. If I compared the World Series (the summation of all the WS games' ratings) to the Superbowl (1 game), the SB would still have twice the amount.
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Post by GEO on May 8, 2007 16:55:18 GMT -5
Actually NYI, that's not what I would the highest rated baseball game would be. If you're a Phillies fan, and the Phils are in the Playoffs, chances are, you'll watch every game in the NL to see what you're up against.
But once the Phillies are out, you start to get out of baseball mode and Game 1 of the world series isn't as big of a deal.
remember, over 50% of the people watching the Super Bowl are in it for the commercials. And I'm sure I can find a statistic.
How can America's pastime's biggest game (the Super Bowl) be on a channel some Americans don't even have?
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Post by blindlywewander on May 8, 2007 19:09:01 GMT -5
I'm really late to this and I probably don't have a chance at winning anymore, but I'm going to throw my two cents in. First, I agree with NYI and all the others arguing for football. Every strong statement and fact has been thrown out there already. I especially agree with NYI when he said football is the current past time whereas baseball was but no longer is. More people like football than they do baseball in America. There are numbers and facts and statistics all over the web to prove that. But proving it is America's new pastime does take more than stats. History is involved, yes, but it's just that- history. You can't say that Ford is the strongest car company simply because it was in the past. Foreign cars dominate the industry now. When we compare cars, we look at sales and statistics. This situation is a mirror comparison to football and baseball. We can look at history and say "Yes, baseball was America's pastime." But now? We can't say that. The stats simply scream the opposite. Super Bowl Sunday is like a national holiday. The World Series? Not so much. However, BlackOps raised a good point there are tons of baseball games. Every game in the NFL matters. In baseball, that's not the case. If I were to address this, however, I'd start arguing why Football is better than Baseball, which is not the debate. To sum up, NYI is very right when he argued that history matters, but does not define the word pastime. Baseball was. Football is. Who knows, it could become basketball one day. Or soccer. Or may even hockey. (Ok, it'll never be hockey. haha)
Second, I read over philliesfan's argument and laughed to myself. He said something along the lines of no one playing football in December. I don't know about you guys, but when it snows, there's very little else I'd like to be doing except playing football. Cold weather is football weather. That's how it is. How can you argue that baseball is America's pastime simply because of the time of the year in which it's played?
To conclude, I'll rebut GEO's argument. America's new pastime, which is football (!!!!), plays a championship game that is more important than any other championship game. The Super Bowl is probably the most watched event on TV (correct me if I'm wrong). People sit down on their couch hours before it starts and hardly move until every last bit is over. In the World Series, if you miss something, it doesn't matter because there are more games (unless it's the last game.. blah blah blah.. you get the point). Now, as far as the 50% of people watching the Super Bowl for the commercials may, indeed, be true. However, I don't think any such statistic can be valid and, thus, shouldn't be used in this debate. For example, if the Cowboys and Colts were in the Super Bowl (two of my most hated teams), I'd watch, but mostly for commercials. Now I am a huge NFL fan. Football is easily my favorite sport. But, still, I watch for commercials. Even if it was a team I liked, I would still watch for the commercials. That's the best part. Everyone knows it. It's still good football. There's nothing better than the Super Bowl. But the commercials have become tradition. Just like baseball has.. old people throwing out pitches. Not quite as awesome as the commercials, but still ha.. Also, when you asked how can the Super Bowl be on a channel some people don't even have? It's just that famous. It still gets higher ratings than all of the World Series games (I'll look up that stat, but you know it's true). People will do what they can to watch it. They'll go to a bar. They'll go to a friends house. If it's Super Bowl Sunday and they don't have the channel, a large majority will go out somewhere they can watch it. I know my uncle takes of work and goes to a bar every Super Bowl sunday. Not to drink or anything, but he doesn't have cable so he'll go watch it there. I can imagine thousands of Americans do this. That's just how it is. Now, obviously there are many who feel this way about baseball as well. But for football, it's just more important. It's just more important to more people.
(PS- I'm writing an article for The Talker about why football is better than baseball. Mwahaha)
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Post by Nyi28nhl on May 8, 2007 19:19:20 GMT -5
How can America's pastime's biggest game (the Super Bowl) be on a channel some Americans don't even have? If you have an antenna TV where I live (not even a cable jack) you can get CBS from the airwaves off of the Empire State Building. I'd like you to find me one TV that gets channels and not CBS. Also, as to the stop watching when the team loses argument, doesn't that take away from the argument that baseball is the pastime. How can baseball be the country's current pastime when fans don't watch once their team is out? Heck, I'm one of 3 people in the country that tunes into VS for the NHL playoffs even though the Isles lost. NFL fans watch every week. 50% watch just for the commercials? Fine. XLI was broadcasted in 93.2 Million households. Half of that is still more than the summation of everyone in the country who watches just one playoff MLB game in any given year. BWW raises some great points in his argument as well. Just thought I'd give him some recognition
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Post by GEO on May 9, 2007 15:10:56 GMT -5
I'm reading everything. I'm not a participant, just someone trying to find answers As for my opinion, I honestly don't have one. That's why I'll be able to judge this debate fairly.You still have around two or three days to get thoughts in
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Post by BlackOps on May 9, 2007 15:20:39 GMT -5
Thoughts? It can't be one person versus about 5 who write essays in every post
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