Setting the Narrative and Peer Pressure: How Sports Centralize Fandom...

(EDIT TO ADD 10 PM:  Colorado is now in first in the division, 14-0 laydown by Philly.  Arizona wins it's first series in five, 7-2.)

Oy.

Been seeing this quite a bit in two major respects, and watching fans I know have enough.

It is CLEAR, now, that there is a multi-team conspiracy to eliminate the Dodgers this year.  They (and MLB, and Rob Manfred) don't want them in this year's playoffs.

How do I know this?  Let's go back a few games on teams other than the Dodgers...

Let's take a look at those Philadelphia Phillies.

Cobb County was tied with Los Angeles for the 2 seed when a four-game series started last weekend in Cobb County with the Phillies.  Then, Philadelphia went to Colorado.

• 8-3 Cobb County (5 in the seventh and eighth) to start the 4
• 6-5 Cobb County (5 in the seventh loses it after going up 4-1 in the top of the inning)
• 5-3 Cobb County (clinches the division for Cobb County, go down 4-0 pretty much off the rip)
• 2-1 Cobb County for the sweep (and also eliminating Philadelphia from anything)
• 10-1 Colorado (8-0 end of 4)
• 10-3 Colorado (bring Colorado to within a half-game, 8-1 after 5)
• 9-0 Colorado tonight and threatening more as I write...

You've made abjectly ZERO effort, except maybe the weekend games in Cobb County, and especially now that Colorado can take the NL West lead over the Dodgers unless the Dodgers come back tonight!

The Dodgers against those Arizona Diamondbacks, who performed a nice little reversal after they spent most of the year in first place in the NL West...

• September 5, entering a four-game series at home with Atlanta, 11 over .500.  Lose three of four.
• Lose two of three at Houston
• Lose two of three at Chicago
• Swept by the Rockies at home.

So that's 3-10, and NOW we get to hear they'll take it seriously against the Dodgers.

And, barring a Dodger comeback, the Colorado Rockies will be in first place at the end of the that series, them with four to play and the Dodgers three.

At least two teams taking a convenient dive.

And, oh, let's not forget the Giants, who are the final Dodgers opponents...  They just came off the longest losing streak they've had in San Francisco (I think even since 1951!!), taking a once-promising season to 12 under .500...

Haven't beaten a team not named the San Diego Padres THIS MONTH.

--

Why did I just go through all this?

Because we are seeing an effort on the part of Corporate American Sport to centralize the fandom.

Brian Tuohy has talked in his books about the identification of one with their sports teams -- and when the team wins, they win.

Well, when you're now getting some degree of effort, be it the refereeing/umpiring, be it open jocking (as many Dodger fans point out) in the national media against them, be it other teams taking blatant dives...

We are headed, sadly, for the Preferred Six/Super Six.  No team west of Houston.  Has to include the Yankees and Red Sox.  The racist fans of St. Louis.  The ivy-covered hypocrites in Chicago.  And the racist bleaching of the fan-base in Cobb County.

And that's going to be the extent of relevant baseball if Rob Manfred has anything to say about it!  No pesky 10:35 PM start times...  (Hell, if what I said earlier comes to pass, there will be ONE Mountain timezone start -- Game 3, for when Cobb County or Chicago sweeps out Colorado!)

And it's all about controlling the narrative.  They don't care if people leave the fandom, because their intention, eventually, is to let the fans of these six teams take over all 30 stadiums, and be the only use thereof.

Hey, it worked for....

*sigh*

Tiger Woods is back again.

In what kindly has been called by soon-to-be-former golf fans at this rate:

• "Everyone's yelling and screaming and running around and carrying on like God himself is walking the course..." 
• "If it were possible to rig a golf tournament I would believe I was watching one..."

Tiger Woods, in 2018-19, and after FOUR BACK SURGERIES, is the TGA Tour again.

The Chase for Eighteen is back on with his victory at the Tour Championship.

Worst thing that could've happened to golf, because now, the narrative, as with baseball, will be controlled to the extent that no one outside of the Tiger Woods fan-jocking brigade will be allowed to enjoy a golf tournament...

And, you know what?

That's exactly what the Corporate American Sports Machine wants.

It's like Vince and the WWE.  We'll tell you who to cheer for, and, if you don't want to??  There's the door.  I still have my $2.5 billion TV money and enough Saudi money to pay Brock Lesnar a $1,000,000 one-shot for Saudi Arabia in a month.

Thanks.  Just...  thanks.

And how well is it working, at least for Tiger??

• Round 3's ratings for the Tour Championship were double and then some of Round 3 of the last two years.  It was the highest rating of any round of the tournament in nine years -- the time Tiger won the Fed-Ex Cup and Phil won the Tour Championship.
• But Round 4 and Tiger's win blew that out the door. The 3.7 TRIPLED the last two years, and over 10 million people saw the end of it when Tiger triumphantly "won".  Of the five rounds that had better ratings over the year, none had NFL competition and four were majors...