Chris Rock rants about the lack of African-Americans in baseball (HBO's Real Sports)

[TMC]

(WARNING: NSFW Language).



Among his points:

– it’s too slow

– the old fashioned code is a problem

– it’s too expensive

[MrCleveland]

Good vid...

Chris Rock says some good things...Jackie Robinson is probably spinning in his grave now!

I'm under 50 (but I'm white) and I love to go to a baseball game...even if the Cleveland Indians are the Cleveland Idiots!

[isiahthomas]

What does Chris Rock mean baseball is too expensive? I agree with his other points as to why there aren't a lot of black men playing baseball. Most black men are interested in only football and basketball and that's never gonna change hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Baseball is boring. LOL@MrCleveland calling the Indians idiots hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by isiahthomas

What does Chris Rock mean baseball is too expensive? I agree with his other points as to why there aren't a lot of black men playing baseball. Most black men are interested in only football and basketball and that's never gonna change hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Baseball is boring. LOL@MrCleveland calling the Indians idiots hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

He basically tried to dispel the argument that young people (especially African Americans) don't play baseball anymore because it's too expensive when young people in the Dominican Republic (a poor, third world island) play it and excel at it all of the time.

The thing that I don't think that Chris Rock fully understood or touched upon is that in America, whatever way you cut it, it's really expensive (especially once you get into the later teen years). To give you an idea, they want everyone to have their own bat (which can cost around $100), gloves etc. That stuff isn't cheap and quickly adds up. Even in high school, the parents still bear the brunt of the cost for their kids to play unlike in football where the school covers the cost and basketball a pair of shoes and you're done.

Simply put, baseball in the DR (where it's basically all that they do and is the premiere sport) just isn't the same as baseball in America if that makes sense. You have to an insane amount of patience to play that game. Then again, you still have to have fields for them to play in. Most black kids are likely in the inner city and there are no fields for them to really practice the sport.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

Good vid...

Chris Rock says some good things...Jackie Robinson is probably spinning in his grave now!

I'm under 50 (but I'm white) and I love to go to a baseball game...even if the Cleveland Indians are the Cleveland Idiots!

Major League Baseball also seems to have NO idea how to market itself correctly. I think the TV boom has played a huge role in all of this, its no longer must see when you have baseball on ESPN Monday and Wednesday, the MLB Network has a game on Thursday nights, and TBS has a game on Sunday afternoons to go along with Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. That's on top of your local baseball team being on TV as well.

Back in the day, there was the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week on NBC and Monday Night Baseball (and in 1989 Thursday Night Baseball) on ABC. ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, when compared to for instance Monday Night Football doesn't follow an entire day's worth of scheduled games when people may be feeling burned out and disinterested in a late night matchup.

To me it's that baseball is more of a regional sport now. Where as about 20 years ago you got to watch the local teams games all the time (and the Braves on Superstation TBS) you would only get to see the other teams play that once or twice a week tops. If you were an AL fan you would never get to see the NL teams unless it was a national broadcast (or you saw whom the Braves were playing). Now there's so many different outlets (as I previously mentioned) to see the other teams and stars of the game. The national games of the week are no longer events, and that's due to the total over saturation of games available to the consumer.

It doesn't help that national broadcast lags completely behind the regionals in presentation and overall quality. Fox is the most glaringly obvious. Let's put things in proper perspective, we want kids to watch the games, yet first pitch for an 8pm national game rarely happens before 8:45pm. We want to draw in hardcore fans, but the coverage and analysis is bottom of the barrel, lowest common denominator. We want to draw in casuals, but flood them with ads, game delays, extended commercial breaks, and fluff dugout interviews that don't just add nothing, but actually subtract from the experience of watching baseball.

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by TMC

The thing that I don't think that Chris Rock fully understood or touched upon is that in America, whatever way you cut it, it's really expensive (especially once you get into the later teen years). To give you an idea, they want everyone to have their own bat (which can cost around $100), gloves etc. That stuff isn't cheap and quickly adds up. Even in high school, the parents still bear the brunt of the cost for their kids to play unlike in football where the school covers the cost and basketball a pair of shoes and you're done.

I have to question where you're coming from when you consider how much people are paying for athletic shoes and video games -- I mean if the desire to play baseball were really there, those same people would consider not buying the most expensive shoes & games and using the money instead to buy a baseball bat and glove.

[James28]

Somebody wants to rant about the supposed lack fo African-Americans in baseball, then what about the lack of African-Americans in ice hockey? Detroit has an African-American majority population (over 80%) and they have an NHL team (the Red Wings).

[isiahthomas]

LOL@Biffbronson hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I agree.