What I Heard in The Herd

When some people talk you can't help but listen. When our President speaks people listen, because he's a well-spoken person with incredibly important things to say. When our last President spoke people listened because there was likely to be a verbal train wreck. When Robin Williams talks people listen because they want to laugh and when Charlie Steiner spoke and wasn't laughing it was a miracle. For me, especially lately, when Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio speaks I've been listening. He admits to being a polarizing figure and is opinionated to say the least, but for the most part I tend to agree with him and there is no doubt in my mind Cowherd gets it. There are those people out there that get it and those that don't, it's a fact of life. Similarly some businesses, including sports leagues also get it and others don't. Citi, trying to give hefty bonuses to upper level executives while their clients money is going down the toilet doesn't get it. The NFL, as Cowherd pointed out on his show Friday, gets it.

"The NFL is only league in this country that runs itself like a business in a TV show, and that's why the NFL leaders get it. They're not even a league. They're not even a sport. They run themselves like a business in a TV show. They are brilliant. Nobody in sports does it better."

And this to got me to thinking. And the more I think about it, the leader of The Herd is right again. The NFL really is King...and here's why.

Think about this: March Madness is supposedly the biggest non-single day event we have in this country. Everybody cares about it in some form or fashion because everybody has a bracket. To me, it's the most wonderful time of the year (see the blog from 2 weeks ago) and yet with it's culmination and showcase event, the Final Four, coming up on Saturday all anyone was talking about all week was Jay Cutler. OK, so after the first few rounds when most people's brackets were screwed a lot less people care and you're back to a typical college basketball fan base. Fine, I'll give you that.

What about, say baseball? It was once king and still is considered America's past time. However, excuse the horribly easy pun, it's past time for the past time. According to two studies, one by Harris and one by ESPN, baseball has lost half its audience in the past 20 years. It has horrible ratings amount young viewers and has nearly no African-American audience, two groups that have flocked to the NFL. Why? Baseball is the ultimate good-old boy sport. The biggest technological change on the field in baseball in the past 100 years is that more players are now using maple bats as opposed to ash bats. Gloves have gotten a little nicer but functionally they haven't changed. It wasn't until last year that baseball finally gave into replay, a technology the NFL gave into nearly a decade ago for the second time. People in baseball and more importantly people in charge of baseball would rather see the game stay the same than a call be made properly. I understand the human element but c'mon...really? And you wonder why baseball's audience is falling by the way-side.

The NBA might be the only pro sports league that has a chance at catching the NFL any time soon. It's entering a golden age (see last weeks blog) and its image is on the rise. However for some unknown reason many people who love basketball HATE the NBA. They say its too much of a one-on-one game. I have two responses to that. 1) Have you ever seen LeBron James play? The man is one of the best passers the league has ever seen. Add in Chris Paul and Deron Williams and you'll get your passing fix. and 2) OK so some games are very 1-on-1 oriented. These are the best players in the world, watching them go 1-on-1 is great entertainment. However some people will be stubborn and still hate the NBA, and even if I did convince these NBHaters there are still far more football fans than basketball fans.

Simply put the NFL is king. The only thing close is College Football. In the South people actually care more about College Football but you'd be kidding yourself if you thought that meant that, like the NBA and College Basketball, they still didn't care about their pro team. Add these people to the millions in places like Boston and New York where the NFL is numero uno and there isn't a legit college team in sight (Boston College doesn't count because quite frankly most people in Boston don't really care about what's going on in Chestnut Hill) and it's clear that across this great nation, our sport is football, and not just football, NFL football. The NBA season is winding down with an epic playoff battle, the MLB season is starting this week, and the Final Four (the culmination of March Madness!) is Saturday night...and tonight's lead story: how an off-season move in a league that hasn't seen a game in 2 months and won't for another 4 will effect the teams involved and the rest of the league. Still have any doubt that the NFL is king? I think not.