‘nuff said.

Posted by Baseball sucks on 04/11/08 at 11:44 AM ET

I sent him an email....

Posted by bullfrog37 on 04/11/08 at 11:48 AM ET

I like baseball fine, but don’t feel the need to take cheap shots at another sport to justify that fact.

Although if I wanted to laugh at baseball, I could laugh at the bench-clearing “brawls.”

“You had the temerity to glare at me after I threw a pitch inside about 2 millimetres, so now all my fellow pitchers will jog in dutifully from the bullpen to mill around aimlessly for a while.  And if you are really unlucky, someone may shove you gently in the back!”

Some guys are tough - but they are oddities.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/11/08 at 11:51 AM ET

I personally find baseball to be a very boring game. I haven’t paid attention to it since high school. Hey, I needed something to do during summer vacations.

What a classy writer, though. With comments like those, it’s no wonder I’ve never heard of the guy.

Even though the Thrashers completely sucked this season, I’ve converted about two dozen people to the game of hockey here in Atlanta. If every fan who regularly attends games spends a little more on tickets for friends, the NHL could quickly become more popular. Maybe even popular enough for this guy to consider “big time!”

Lastly, I think this “Mychael Urban” fellow misspelled “I”—I do happen to know quite a few baseball fans who aren’t anywhere near as pretentious as this guy. I also somehow doubt that everyone at MLB.com feels this way about the NHL. Speak for yourself, “Myke.”

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 04/11/08 at 11:54 AM ET

I wouldn’t be surprised if CBCs Hockey night in Canada draws a bigger rating than the baseball game of the week. I know more people are attending Caps games this week than Orioles.

Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 04/11/08 at 11:55 AM ET

And it looks like the Red Wings will be playing meaningful games later into the year than the Tigers, so I’m sure hockey ratings will be higher there too. Then again this shouldn’t be a contest between hockey and baseball, just small minds versus open minds.

Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 04/11/08 at 11:58 AM ET

My mom has an idea for reducing East Coast bias.

She figures it is an end result of all the media outlets being based on the east coast and them being too cheap and/or lazy to bother leaving their cities, so move them to a more central location on the continent so they could more easily get around.

Her suggestion: North Dakota.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/11/08 at 12:07 PM ET

Funny, but hockey TV ratings up in Canada are just fine, thanks very much.

Oh, wait, he’s talking about the US. I forgot that if it doesn’t happen there, it doesn’t really happen.

Posted by John Richardson on 04/11/08 at 12:20 PM ET

as if MLB ratings are that great:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratings_for_Major_League_Baseball_on_FOX_telecasts#2007

Plus he isn’t looking at the total picture of US + Canada ratings to derive his view. the US only picture is slanted..

Posted by canesice on 04/11/08 at 12:23 PM ET

I guess my first question is “Who?” Never heard of this guy. Just another example of the laziness of these clowns.

Posted by Bruha on 04/11/08 at 01:01 PM ET

actually the writer makes a great point about this league. i think the writer is trying to say if you had nhl on a real cable network and had a real tv contract you would a big time sport.

how can you people go after someone if he has evidence to back it up because the nhl ratings this year on nbc are down and the the viewership on vs cant get a 1.0 on rating scale.

its amazing how you people are drinking the kool aid continues to dribble out there.

Posted by FlyersFan on 04/11/08 at 01:42 PM ET

Unfortunately, as a fan of the Oakland A’s, I have to read this clown daily as he’s the A’s beat writer. Wouldn’t take anything this guy says too seriously. 

I’d guess about 5 people read that article, half of those being A’s fans.

Posted by Jim_Korn on 04/11/08 at 01:47 PM ET

with arena’s 90%+ full, a big enough hockey following to support multiple minor leagues in the US, a large hockey following in the NCAA, as well as an ever improving hockey youth movement…

.. I think basing your views on TV ratings as a measure of the success of the NHL and hockey in general is crappy journalism.

Posted by canesice on 04/11/08 at 03:20 PM ET

Plus he isn’t looking at the total picture of US + Canada ratings to derive his view. the US only picture is slanted..

Mark Cuban made the same point last year.

If you add in Canadians, the TV market is very large and healthy - and at least judging by the commercials on CBC, Canadians buy just as many cars and as much cellular service and Viagra as Americans do. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/11/08 at 04:18 PM ET

Canadians don’t use Viagra. That’s just a fascist, American lie to make us more insecure than we already are! (I.E. Not only are our TV ratings not good enough to count, but now you’re saying we need drugs in order to… ummm...?!?)

Never mind. This comment can only go downhill if I continue typing…

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 04/11/08 at 04:26 PM ET

I love baseball, but it’s a bit ironic that a MLB beat writer is trying to bring up ratings in the U.S. by slamming those of the NHL.  Has he looked at the ratings of a MLB regular season game?  What about the All-Star game or the playoffs?  All are well below other sports and even regular programming.

And the ‘East Coast Bias’ has nothing to do with where the U.S. was founded, but it is more due to population density (size of television markets).  Mychael ‘Rural’ should know better.

Posted by Chad on 04/11/08 at 04:33 PM ET

Canadians don’t use Viagra.

Of course they do!  Men are the same no matter where you go, after all. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/11/08 at 04:52 PM ET