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The Dengler Domain: Consuming Sports

Scoring touchdowns, hitting home runs, and dunking basketballs, all fun attributes of sports. Football, baseball, and basketball are at the forefront of the American sport scene. Their existence and longevity is wonderful, especially baseball being around for over 100 years. With these sports’ long existence, the viewing and consumption habits have changed a lot, some for the good and some for the bad.

With the introduction of high definition televisions, sporting events are viewed more clearly on a couch than any point in the past. This experience allows sports fans to not spend money on expensive tickets. Seating at home, ordering pizza, drinking cheap brewskis beats the heck out of food and beverage prices at a stadium or arena. Television broadcast provide bring viewers up close and personal to the players. This is a closer look at the action than fans in attendance can get. ESPN and FS1 are sport oriented television channels so a sports fan can always get sport highlights and analysis throughout the day. Today’s society is geared for a sports fan to consume sports media 24/7.

While consuming sports 24/7 sounds fun, the past provides a better template. The game day experience is not the same as in the past. Since most sporting events are shown on television, the uniqueness of attending a game is not as great. Going to a football game in the past was going with 50,000 closes friends. For most people, these games might be the only game they would see their team play. The sporting crowds of the past in a stadium were more electric than today’s crowds. Smartphones were nonexistent so members of the crowd were not distracted by their phone at all times. Everybody paid close attention to the game and were more involved with it. This led to a better game day experience for every fan.

Radio made consuming sports media in the past better. Listening to a baseball radio broadcast would have been amazing. Radio announcers connect more personably than television announcers. This simplicity made for a better sporting experience. Watching football, basketball, or baseball games in today’s media landscape means scores, fantasy sports updates, and news are being immersing the viewer during game breaks or on the bottom of the screen. With the limits of technology in the past, these features did not exist and the listener was fully in tune with the broadcast. The sports fan’s brain did not worry about consuming these different types of information and focused on the main issue at hand, the game.

Going into the past also means football and basketball were in a more raw form. Being around when these leagues started would have been a fun time. Seeing the games would have been fun, but the broadcasts and nature of the leagues were rougher around the edges. Watching these sports succeed would have been a beautiful sight to see. The NFL is a behemoth in today’s society, but it once was the AFL and NFL. The same goes for the NBA and ABA, and two sporting leagues vying for the top spot creates interesting dynamics. These earlier times were similar to the Wild Wild West. There was more diversity in coaches, talent, owners, and lines of thinking. The recipe of success for teams in the NFL and NBA were not quite known. The competing styles trying to be the best made these leagues in the past more unique than their present day counterparts.

The sporting landscape changed a lot over the last 100 years, and this affected every part of society. Today, sports infect televisions, computers, phones, and other parts of society. Whether today’s sports landscape is viewed as good or bad, the past was a better experience. When leagues and sporting events tried to find their footing and establish their standing in society. While this part is not always as pretty, it was beautiful because everyone was experiencing new ways to succeed in these new sport leagues. This laid the groundwork to the viewing and consumption habits of today’s sports media landscape.

Email Sean with your thoughts and ideas for future columns at: sean.h.dengler@gmail.com

The Dengler Domain: Consuming Sports

Scoring touchdowns, hitting home runs, and dunking basketballs, all fun attributes of sports. Football, baseball, and basketball are at the forefront of the American sport scene. Their existence and longevity is wonderful, especially baseball being around for over 100 years. With these sports’ long existence, the viewing and consumption habits have changed a lot, some for the good and some for the bad.

With the introduction of high definition televisions, sporting events are viewed more clearly on a couch than any point in the past. This experience allows sports fans to not spend money on expensive tickets. Seating at home, ordering pizza, drinking cheap brewskis beats the heck out of food and beverage prices at a stadium or arena. Television broadcast provide bring viewers up close and personal to the players. This is a closer look at the action than fans in attendance can get. ESPN and FS1 are sport oriented television channels so a sports fan can always get sport highlights and analysis throughout the day. Today’s society is geared for a sports fan to consume sports media 24/7.

While consuming sports 24/7 sounds fun, the past provides a better template. The game day experience is not the same as in the past. Since most sporting events are shown on television, the uniqueness of attending a game is not as great. Going to a football game in the past was going with 50,000 closes friends. For most people, these games might be the only game they would see their team play. The sporting crowds of the past in a stadium were more electric than today’s crowds. Smartphones were nonexistent so members of the crowd were not distracted by their phone at all times. Everybody paid close attention to the game and were more involved with it. This led to a better game day experience for every fan.

Radio made consuming sports media in the past better. Listening to a baseball radio broadcast would have been amazing. Radio announcers connect more personably than television announcers. This simplicity made for a better sporting experience. Watching football, basketball, or baseball games in today’s media landscape means scores, fantasy sports updates, and news are being immersing the viewer during game breaks or on the bottom of the screen. With the limits of technology in the past, these features did not exist and the listener was fully in tune with the broadcast. The sports fan’s brain did not worry about consuming these different types of information and focused on the main issue at hand, the game.

Going into the past also means football and basketball were in a more raw form. Being around when these leagues started would have been a fun time. Seeing the games would have been fun, but the broadcasts and nature of the leagues were rougher around the edges. Watching these sports succeed would have been a beautiful sight to see. The NFL is a behemoth in today’s society, but it once was the AFL and NFL. The same goes for the NBA and ABA, and two sporting leagues vying for the top spot creates interesting dynamics. These earlier times were similar to the Wild Wild West. There was more diversity in coaches, talent, owners, and lines of thinking. The recipe of success for teams in the NFL and NBA were not quite known. The competing styles trying to be the best made these leagues in the past more unique than their present day counterparts.

The sporting landscape changed a lot over the last 100 years, and this affected every part of society. Today, sports infect televisions, computers, phones, and other parts of society. Whether today’s sports landscape is viewed as good or bad, the past was a better experience. When leagues and sporting events tried to find their footing and establish their standing in society. While this part is not always as pretty, it was beautiful because everyone was experiencing new ways to succeed in these new sport leagues. This laid the groundwork to the viewing and consumption habits of today’s sports media landscape.

Email Sean with your thoughts and ideas for future columns at: sean.h.dengler@gmail.com