America Would Rather Watch Awful Football than Awesome Baseball
Last night, two of baseball’s top pitchers dueled admirably in a thrilling playoff battle beneath the game’s most hallowed lights. Sadly, nobody in America noticed because they were too busy watching a meaningless football game between two of the NFL’s least interesting teams.
According to overnight Nielson ratings, the 30-3 drubbing the Tennessee Titans laid on the Jacksonville Jaguars (which featured both team’s backup quarterbacks) received substantially more viewers than the New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers showdown.
“Horrific Monday Night Football game OUTRATES Game 3 of ALCS. MNF gets 7.2 overnight on ESPN. Yanks-Rangers gets 6.5 on TBS,” noted CNBC’s Darren Rovell.
For years, writers with too much time on their hands have been debating when football would finally knock baseball off its historic perch and assume the title of America’s pastime.
While it certainly hasn’t been made official, this seems like it could be the turning point in the argument and the final nail in baseball’s popularity coffin. Or, we’ve severely underrated the intrigue of a Kerry Collins six-yard screen pass.
Photo: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images
