Read the debate intro and Sports Geek’s opinion.
Hello friends of The Sports Debates. Until the intro written by my colleague Bleacher Fan, did you even realize that the College World Series was going on? Any takers? Last call? Yeah that’s what I thought! Complete silence!!! So instead of calling it the CWS, let’s just call it the WCS!!!
The Who Cares Series!!!
I have a quick pop quiz for all of our educated readers. Who won the World Series in 2008? Who won the Super Bowl in 2008? Who won the BCS Championship in 2008? Who won March Madness in 2008?
Chances are good that you knew the answers to all four of those questions. But for those who didn’t know the answers… the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series, the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, the LSU Tigers won the BCS Championship, and the Kansas Jayhawks won March Madness.
Now, here’s a tough question for you. Who won the College World Series in 2008? As a bonus, tell me the team that finished second in the College World Series. I’m waiting guys (key Jeopardy final question theme music). What is your answer?
What is?????????
I’ll bet you that Sports Geek doesn’t know the answer! Honestly, Sports Geek, did you know? I actually did know the answer because I live in the middle of SEC country. I’ll be honest though. Any other year and I wouldn’t have known. In last year’s CWS, in the battle of the Bulldogs, Fresno State defeated Georgia.
It’s too early to break down ratings for this year’s CWS, but last year, the CWS averaged a whopping 1.4 million viewers on ESPN and less than 1 million viewers on ESPN2. You know what the sad thing is? It was the highest rated College World Series ever!
Excuse me while I laugh!!! And this weekend, I will bet you that the U.S. Open in golf will draw at least 4 times as many viewers, and even more if Tiger Woods is in contention.
I’ll tell you while it is rated so low. Quite simply, there is no name recognition with the players. Can you name one player off of last year’s Fresno State team? I didn’t think so! It’s the same reason no one tunes in for the MLB Draft. The vast majority of college baseball games are not televised. Thus, it is harder for the regular John Doe sports fan to follow any of the teams. Mr. Doe doesn’t develop that “relationship” with the players and the team the way he would with a major league player and team.
Is the College World Series entertaining? To a degree… yes. But if I am flipping through the channels and I come across it, chances are I will keep on flipping!
Wow, what a tough opinion, Loyal Homer! We obviously disagree on a few things.
One thing we DO agree on is that the College World Series does not get many eyeballs or TV ratings right now. It’s a good thing this debate isn’t about ratings, and about the quality of the sporting event itself. Otherwise I’d be worried about the judge’s decision!
In all seriousness, I feel the debate is much more centered on how good of an event the College World Series is. To illustrate, since I ran out of space in my opinion, let’s take the example you introduced, Loyal Homer. Of course I remembered the Battle of the Bulldogs. What’s more, the 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs are one of the great underdogs ever in any college tournament, since they were a #4 seed and fought their entire way to the title. Huge underdogs, great win over the most stories programs around.
I wonder how many of our viewers have watched any of this year’s CWS. With powerhouses like Southern Miss in the original bracket, I imagine it isn’t very many!
As I stated, I just don’t feel there is a pull to watch the CWS. I myself would rather watch the Little League World Series!
Southern Miss was actually a HIGHER rated team this year over Fresno State. Southern Miss was a three seed in the regional round while Fresno State last year was a FOUR seed out of four seeds in the regional round.
I think it’s stories like Southern Miss and Fresno State that make college baseball so compelling. For example, it’s the equivalent of George Mason winning it all!
Didn’t Fresno win their conference, though? Southern Miss didn’t even win their conference!
I have to agree here. There’s no name recognition, and regular season games are hard to find on tv, especially where i’m at in Big Ten country. Heck, the only game i even heard about this year during the regular season was when Ohio State got embarrased by Florida State and set records (the ones you don’t go bragging about).
While it’s good to hear that ratings were the highest ever last year, it’s going to take some major marketing commitment and some time to get this mainstream. WIthout, i have a feeling it’ll always stay as a second tier series to it’s bigger siblings, the BCS and March Madness.
[...] Now, here’s a tough question for you. Who won the College World Series in 2008? As a bonus, tell me the team that finished second in the College World Series. I’m waiting guys (key Jeopardy finalRead more at http://thesportsdebates.com/2009/06/18/the-college-world-series-debate-%E2%80%93-cws%E2%80%A6-or-sho… [...]
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