TV ups and downs
We're going to move quickly today because, well, because we have a lot to do.
We have enjoyed a lot of the back and forth with some of you about the NBA Summer League.
Yes, maybe I need to get off the couch more if I watched a significant amount of NBA Summer League. (In my defense, the summer TV options other than random Game Shows has been abysmal. The choices most nights are "Hey is Law & Order on TNT or is Modern Family on USA" or the Braves or in some cases, the NBA Summer League.)
Yes, maybe our longing for the Fall - or as Big Boned Vader likes to ask, "Is it September yet?" - has left us reaching beyond our skies for sports viewing. (Side question: Is it us or has this been the least amount of those great SEC football replays we used to fill July with. Yes we saw the Tennessee-FSU BCS game on last night. And yes, it's hard to believe that game was almost 20 years ago. Side question to the side question: How different is the fortune of Tennessee football in general and Phil Fulmer in particular if Tennessee doesn't give the SEC championship game away to LSU in 2001. It would have set up another likely shot at a Natty, and it would have at least slowed the roll of some young up-and-comer at LSU named Nick Saban. Thoughts?)
Anywho, where were we?
Oh yeah. NBA Summer League, and we promise this will be the last reference of this for a while, but we thought this number was quite telling.
On NBA TV, the ratings were up seven percent for the summer league compared to last year. We would have expected more - and will expect higher YtY numbers from ESPN on the bigger matchups - but in an age when almost all sporting TV ratings are down or flatlined, a seven percent increase is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering we're not sure how many people even know they have NBA TV.
(For comparison, there was a wide array of sporting options on last weekend. NASCAR was down 3 percent in total viewers, which in a year of sharp declines for the sport, is actually good news. Still the 6 percent ratings drop for the New Hampshire race down to a 1.95 is the lowest mark since at least 1998 for the top level of NASCAR. Ouch-standing. But wait it gets worse, believe it or not. Excluding rain-outs, the numbers of viewers and ratings have dropped for 16 of the 18 races this year, and all 18 races have posted multi-year lows in ratings, with 15 of the 18 posting all-time lows or the lowest in more than a decade. OUCH-OUCH-standing. As for the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament, which is not exactly a stop-what-you're-doing kind of event annually but still struggled. Sunday's final round was the lowest in 30 years and down 31 percent in ratings and 40 percent in viewership form last year. Wow. As for tennis Federer's historic win was flat in ratings and up 6 percent compared to last year's Murray-Raonic final. Federer's win last weekend was down double digits in ratings and viewers from his final meeting with Novak Djokovic in 2015. Even with Federer, the 1.5 rating matched the lowest for a men's final since ESPN started airing it in 2012.)
Wow, we got sidetracked there.
Anywho, this is a long way around to saying any summertime increases for sports must be noted.
And the NBA TV reports that the Summer League was up 7 percent was noteworthy.
Potentially even more noteworthy was that coverage of the games in Las Vegas - where the Lakers and some rookie named Lonzo Ball were playing - were the source of the biggest increases.
So there's that.
Conor McGregor, right, taunts Floyd Mayweather Jr. while pausing for photos during a news conference at Staples Center on Tuesday, July 11, 2017, in Los Angeles. The two will fight in a boxing match in Las Vegas on Aug. 26. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Money talks or talking money?
It seems a fair question in the aftermath of the circus last week that was the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather promotional tour that featured more cussing than an Andrew Dice Clay stand-up, more overt and unintended racism than a KKK meeting and more offensive references to women and homosexuals than a private Trump bar-be-que.
The first one was understandable. The second one actually bordered on entertaining. The third one was a disaster and the final one was worse. If it was a movie series, and you combined the first two chapters into one, it would have been the Matrix, and the plummeting mass of awfulness that became the final installment was more confusing than anything.
Alas.
We know why they did it. They are asking people to pay $100 for the chance to watch the best defensive fight of his generation - and maybe ever - to box against, for all intents and purposes, a rugged, hard-punching amateur.
It's Dustin Johnson playing match-play golf with a long drive champion in a lot of ways, and the promoters asking people to drop a Franklin needed jolt. Well, despite the NC-17 content, there's one entity telling us that the circus brought into the customers.
While there are no early order numbers on the fight - and most analysts expect it to set records - Vegas is reporting a huge increase in wagers on various bets on the fight because of last week's promotional tour. In fact, the public apparently buys into McGregor's bravado.
Odds on McGregor winning by a knockout - something he said over and over last week in between slurs and cusses - is at an eye-poppingly low 7-to-1. It can't be history or facts that swayed that public thrust of money considering that Mayweather is 49-0 and has technically only been knocked down once, and that was late in the final round of a fight he was dominating and he purposely put his injured hand on the mat to stall out until the end.
The minute-by-minute props have been affected too. The favorite is for the fight to go the distance (8-to-5), but the next lowest odds on the minute the fight will end is the first minute, which is at 20-to-1.
The odds of Mayweather winning also have dropped significantly for a fight that already is shaping up to be the most legally bet on sporting event in history.
"We knew this fight would be big, potentially even bigger than the Super Bowl, but now we are almost certain it will be," Kevin Bradley, the sports book manager of Bovada.lv, told YahooSports.com "The recent trash talking and promotional tour is only encouraging bets and at this rate we cannot even imagine how much we will take on it. One thing is for sure though, we will need Mayweather huge. A McGregor early round KO as he promised would be a potential disaster and is partly a reason we are giving a great price on Mayweather at the moment."
How great is that Mayweather price? Well, the money line opened at Mayweather minus-2,250, which means bettors have to risk $2,250 to win $100. It quickly reset at minus-1,100 after the early rush. After the circus last week, it's minus-500 on Floyd, meaning Vegas is doing everything it can to balance the flood of bets that have come in on McGregor.
If the promotional part of this was the first round, clearly Conor McGregor scored more points.
And yes, as is the case in most instances, we think Vegas will wind up winning in the end.
Jason Day, of Australia, hits from a bunker on the eighth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament Thursday, June 15, 2017, at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) The Open Championship
We had a fun call on Tuesday on Press Row about if Americans should use the simple phrase "The Open" for The British Open or the U.S. Open.
It's an interesting discussion, with several layers that even cross into colonial politics. Because, truth be told, since we kicked their butt in the Revolutionary War, maybe the British folks should be calling our Open "The Open" too.
In fact, considering the shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach of our president - and his love for golf - we're pretty sure this issue may leap frog insurance and swamp draining to No. 2 right behind immigration on his hot-button issues.
Here's our view on it. We call the U.S. Open, "The Open" and the British Open, "The Open Championship."
Not sure if that distinguishes it enough or not. And we think the history - dude this is the 146th time this tournament has been held - and the coolness of the Claret Jug - right there with Lord Stanley's Cup and the Heisman for the best trophy in all of sports - give it a ton of street red. But if they really wanted complete dibs on being the only "Open" well, they should have taken that up with George Washington and the boys 240-plus years ago.
As for "The Open Championships for Champions of Life looking to Champion a free meal" entries have been flowing in. We may not get to the 60-plus players we had for the Masters, but we're getting enough to make this thing fun. (Yes, entries are open until midnight tonight. Pick five golfers. Top four count. Points for place finished - winner is 1 points, tied for 11th is 11 points - and low total score wins. No cost to you dear reader.)
5-at-10 - Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar.
Mrs. 5-at-10 - Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy,
Andrew B - Fleetwood, Fowler, Rose, Kuchar, and Matsuyama
Chip L. - Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler, and Jordan Spieth.
Dawg 747 - Adam Scott, Jon Rahm, Matt Kuchar, Ricky Fowler, Rory McIlroy
Spy - Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, Kuchar
Todd C - Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson
Scott S - DJ, Spieth, Fowler, Rahm, Sergio.
Mark W - Lee Westwood, Rickie Fowler, Brian Harman, Zach Johnson, Paul Casey
(We will post the next batch - they are on our work computer - this afternoon because we are running low on time.)
This and that
- Speaking of golf, we love how Phil Mickelson steals headlines with stories like "Mickelson to play Open without a driver." And then we step back and think of the times we wished he had made that decision before.
- Mean Gene Henley did work in Spartanburg, S.C., at SoCon Media Day on Tuesday. Work. He was there as UTC had 10 players picked on the All-SoCon first or second team and the Mocs were picked preseason to finish fourth. We told Coach Tom Arth this on Press Row on Tuesday when he joined us on the phone, and we'll say it again. We'll eat our visor if these Mocs finish fourth or worse. We have lofty expectations with this bunch, and here's betting that Arth and Co. are already printing out some "No one believes in your excellence" type of paraphernalia.
- The Dodgers are rolling at a historic rate. Check this: With last night's win they are 30-4 in their last 34 games. The last team to win 30 of 34 was the 1977 Kansas City Royals. The last NL team to do it was the 1936 Giants. And want to talk about aces? The Dodgers have won 14 consecutive games when Clayton Kershaw starts; they have won 11 straight when Alex Wood starts.
- Braves played Cubs. Cubs prevailed. Stupid Cubs.
Today's question
Thoughts on the above questions, such as the difference a win over LSU would have meant for Tennessee and Fulmer in 2001 longterm.
Also, what are your thoughts, UTC fans, on the Mocs being picked fourth. And as Wells asked on Press Row on Tuesday, where would they have been picked if Russ was still the coach? (
It in no ways was meant at a knock at Arth, who we believe has an unbelievable ceiling, as much as it was about the coach the league knew and the one they don't.)
On this day in 1866, Tennessee was the first state to ratify the 14th Amendment to the constitution, guaranteeing civil rights. On this day in 1913, Billboard publishes its first Top 10 of popular songs. On this day in 1966, 50-year-old Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow, who was 21 at the time.
As for birthdays, Stuart Scott would have been 52 today. Anthony Edwards - Goose from Top Gun and Gilbert from Revenge of the Nerds - is 55 today.
Benedict Cumberbatch is 41 today, and yes, that's as highfalutin a name as we can ever come up with.
In fact, let's go there.
Rushmore of celebrities with the most highfalutin celebrity names.
Go and remember the mailbag and The Open Championship for Champions of Life contest.