thomasjkelley wrote:BAD INTENTIONS wrote:You do know that SPORTS has to be "boring" sometimes?
Quick lesson idiots ...
Though I agree with your assessment that not everything is done for entertainment value and that genuine sports fans should learn to appreciate the finer points of tactics and strategy. But I disagree that boxing is that different from other sports.
~ During the NE Patriots Super Bowl run in the early 2000s, they were a boring, workman-like team with very few superstars. But their defens shut teams down. The Indianapolis Colts were a high flying offensive machine with the top star in all of sports. They couldn't get by the Patriots though. We all remember their public complaint after the 2004 season about the NE Patriots' roughhouse defensive tactics. The NFL changed the rules that year and the dynamic of the game has completely changed. The NFL has been an offensive dominated league ever since.
~ And we all know the the NBA prefers to have a superstar in the playoffs and Boston & LA in the finals whenever possible. Even former referees have admitted that they favored certain players and teams.
~ MLB has a handful of teams in NY, Boston, LA, who have payrolls equal to the rest of the league. But those teams also bring in most of the revenue.
~All leagues/businesses will tweak/change the way they do business if their is a pressing need to do so. Revenue is always the most pressing need in any business.
~That said, I do not find Ward boring, I find him to be an intelligent boxer and I appreciate that about him. I think boxing is suffering, not because the sport itself is boring or lacks entertainment but because the business side of the sport is controlled by a few greedy individuals who care about their own pockets. They have a monopoly on the high end/top 1% of talent and the entirety of the sport is suffering because of this arrangement. They could not care less about promoting the sport and getting fans interest at a young age.
I think there's a difference between a sport cheating to make offense easier and the treatment Ward and Rigo gets.
Also, even though the NFL/NBA/MLB would prefer defense to lose, they still accept and celebrate the winners.
They celebrated the first Ravens 2001 Championship for christ's sake.
And if you wanna go more recent times, the NFL promoted the shit out of Seattle.
Of course, they'd prefer the Cowboys, but they still promoted the Seahawks earnestly, and created several NEW STARS.
WOuld NFL commentators say,
"Seattle might be one of the best teams ever, but who would want to watch them?"
Didn't Lampley say something like that while Rigo was dismantling Donaire? (who was top 5 p4p and had KO'ed p4p fighters with ease)
Also, by emphasizing guys like Sherman and Chancellor, you help casual fans understand defense more because it's getting talked about.
I'm was a Knicks fan in the 90's. I know all about cheating for "the guy".
But, when the cheating doesn't work, you have to promote the new guy.
In boxing, the fans and commentators shit on the great fighters.
In the end, what really matters is the last paragraph. If guys like Rios/Angulo fought 4-5 times a year like they are supposed to,
fans/critics wouldn't mind them losing on the scorecards as much. They would be able to accept the BOXING DECISION and boxers.
But with this mess, it seems like half the fans are just stupid, and the other half are just desperate for meaningful fights.
