MLB wont let Dirk throw 1st pitch at World Series since he lacks national appeal

You made an extremely bold claim about people outside Dallas and Germany not knowing Dirk, and then you got exposed on all your faulty reasoning and can't admit you're wrong. To reiterate why everything you're saying in this thread is wrong, I will break it down for you:

1. You’re acknowledging general public familiarity and NBA fan familiarity are two different things. According to you, Dirk is known amongst all NBA fans because he’s a top 10 player, but the general public, on the other hand, doesn’t know who he is. But then you use All-Star voting and jersey sales, which is something only NBA fans do, as a measure that the general public doesn’t know Dirk. How many All-Star votes and jersey sales Dirk gets from people who engage in these things, has nothing to do with how much the general public recognizes him. The fact that he just recently destroyed the Heat in the finals for a lot of the general public to see, DOES. The fact that he was on Letterman, all over the news, and all over the internet after he won, also does.

2. You’re extremely stubborn about this “broad-base appeal” thing like it should be taken as gospel, even saying there must be research that no one knows Dirk. But people are telling you in this very thread about other people they’ve selected to pitch, including a random fan who won an online voting contest. They don’t use the opening pitch thing to hook new fans with a highly known person the way you’re asserting. If that were the case, they’d probably just ask Justin Bieber to throw.

3. Even if they did really care about people watching the game be able to recognize the opening pitcher, a sports superstar is probably a good way to go. Someone who tunes into the World Series more than likely has at least a slight interest in sports. Most people who like sports, even if basketball falls further down on their list, probably know of Dirk from seeing him on ESPN highlights or reading a headline about him on Yahoo Sports. Even with the most casual sports fans, who only watch the World Series because it’s a major Championship event, chances are they also watched the NBA Finals just four months ago, where Dirk put on the main show.

 

Okay, so for TODAY's sports audience, does Roger Staubach have more national appeal than Dirk Nowitzki?

Maybe 20 years ago or even 10 years ago, but not too sure about today.

 

Not sure where you are getting these numbers or what they are suppose to represent, but they are in fact incorrect. According to Wikipedia, zap2it, espn and every site that reported the numbers, the 2010 NBA Finals drew a rating of 10.6 avg 18million viewers. The 2011 a 10.2 rating 17.3 million viewers. Meanwhile the 3rd round or the conference finals had no where near an avg of 8-9 since the highest rated series Heat vs Bulls was avg 6.2 U.S. rating and 10.413 million viewers, while the Thunders/Mavs avg less than 5/9million. Again these numbers are the avg over the series as reported by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association_Nielsen_ratings#cite_note-12 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/nba-finals-2011-ratings-g_n_876964.html http://www.multichannel.com/article...lecast_Game_7_Scores_28_2_Million_Viewers.php http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2011/05/nba-conference-finals-numbers-game-2/

The reason you dont seem to understand the FACT of the MLB all-star game outdrawing the NBA all-star game is simply due to you to misreading, misunderstanding or confusing the numbers reported. From the very links, you yourself posted, it clearly states, "The 2011 NBA All-Star Game on TNT delivered 9.1 million total viewers, 6 million households and a 5.2 U.S. HH rating, along with strong growth across all key demos, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals." You seem to have confused the 17million number since its for the entire weekend as the article clearly states: "In addition, the 2011 NBA All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm, which was the most watched in the event’s 26-year history, combined to average more than 17 million total viewers."

Thus from your very own links, MLB All star = 6.9 rating 11 million viewers > NBA All Star = 5.2 rating 9.1 million viewers.

As I've stated in my original post, the NBA Finals will outdraw the MLB World Series in 2010 and 11, but that still only the third time its happened in 12 years and 5 time in over 2 decades. Its not evidence the NBA is the clear number 2 sport in America, even if one were to disregard the enormous difference of revenue and value which seperates the two leagues.

I don't know why you are saying "again" when you now revise your argument that the NBA is only beginning to surpass the MLB as the #2 sport, as my original post was in response to these two posts you made: No where in either post or the thread do you posit the idea that the NBA is only starting to be (or may be) the #2 sport, but rather quite clearly stated otherwise - on 10/19

and on 10/23

I dont know if the NBA's recent ratings high and MLB's recent lull is a trend that will definitely continue without a lockout but I do know its definitively not a clear sign (let alone substantial evidence) that the NBA has overtaken MLB as the #2 sports in America, when A: its such a small sample size and B; numerous other factors involve, ie teams popularity, competitiveness of series, markets etc etc and last but not least but most importantly, the overwhelming evidence of the discrepancy between revenue and value between the two leagues.

 

Just read through ya'lls argument and realized, that neither argument matters concerning the point of the thread since the MLB's premise it totally bunk. I mean seriously national appeal for someone throwing out the opening pitch?

Does anyone make sure to see the opening pitch because of well anyone?

You watch the opening pitch because you are already watching the game, or because it is now on youtube since the girl doing it is super hot, the person throwing the pitch does something amazing, boneheaded, or unique, or because the media "hypes it up" and puts up on every news show essentially forcing you to watch it.

Same thing when they make a big deal about so-and-so singing the national anthem. No one cares and goes out of their way to watch that particular part of the game. They were either watching it anyways (even if it is the World Series, Super Bowl, or whatever) or they watch it after the fact because everyone that did happen to see it is talking about it for good or bad..

 

When I made my bold claim that "nobody" outside of those areas knows Dirk, it's to boldly claim that the general public doesn't know who he is. I guess people took it literally, as in zero percent. It's like when people claim the Cowboys are America's team, do the same people take it as 100% of Americans like the Cowboys? I hope not. I truly believe that if people don't follow sports, they will not know who Dirk is.

1) What? The reason I use the NBA all-star votes and jersey sales is to prove how "not very" popular he is even in NBA circles. So if you aren't that popular even in your own sport (not top 15 in all-star votes or jersey sales), how the hell can you be well-known to the general public who doesn't follow basketball/sports that closely? Only players who are EXTREMELY popular in their own sport can transcend that into the general public. And we can revisit those things next year to see if he had any kind of boost from his championship run.

2) An MLB spokesman made that claim, not me or anybody else. For him to say that, he must have had a reason behind that statement. And no, Justin Bieber fans are pre-adolescent girls who probably only watch the Disney channel.

3) Again, most sports (NFL/MLB/NBA) already have a solid fanbase who will watch the games regardless. The purpose is to gain "new" fans--the people who general do not follow sports. That's why the leagues like "story-lines" or "controversies" or "dramas" to pull in those casual TV viewers. Hence why the NBA had its highest ratings this past year b/c of the Lebron situation. The NBA was able to hype up their story and ram it down our throats.

So if people think I'm in the minority when I claim Dirk is not known outside of the sports world, so be it.

 

1. Wrong. Just because quite a few players get more All-Star votes and jersey sales doesn’t mean people don’t know the guy who beat the Heat on the biggest stage in basketball. The NBA finals is something the general public is more likely to engage in than All-Star votes and buying jerseys. How is this so hard to understand?

2. Just wow if you keep insisting this makes sense after seeing who they let pitch at these things, not to mention the fact that he ended up pitching in the damn game anyway. And Justin Bieber is known. He’d probably bring lots of new fans like you say the MLB’s mission is with who throws the opening pitch lol.

3. They’re not going to gain new fans from who throws the opening pitch at a baseball game! That’s why they absolutely do not care about it! Do you really think Fergie Jenkins and PepsiMax Contest Winner brings the MLB new fans??

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, which I don’t care to do anymore. It’s pretty clear you’re dead-set in your ways and refuse to listen to facts and logic that get in the way of that. So, so be it indeed.

 

End of discussion.