There is much surprise and discussion among the commetariat that Game 4 of the World Series topped Sunday Night Football last night. Preliminary results have baseball drawing a 10.1 in the ratings, the Saints-Colts an 8.2.*
But before we get lost in jocularity, let me just say that if the ratings didn’t matter when baseball was routinely getting beat -- which I truly believed to be the case -- they shouldn’t matter simply because baseball beat football on one random occasion. Especially given that the football game was out of hand before the end of the first quarter. I mean, I realize that the NFL is popular and everything, but a rerun of the “What’s Goin’ Down” episode of “That’s My Mama” could have won last night.
But the bigger point is that it doesn’t matter. It’s still apples and oranges even if the fruits change roles on occasion. Baseball gets better ratings when a series builds like this one is building. People’s tolerance for football does have its limits even if we rarely reach it. There is no real meaning here. It’s just a thing that happened.
*Full disclosure: I have no idea what the ratings points mean. I used to know before everything got converted to Euros, but now it’s all a mystery to me. Let’s say that those numbers measure hectares. Yes, I like that. The baseball game rated 10.1 hectares.
