Where’s the national attention
I realize that the Brewers have been bad for a really long time. And I was cautiously realistic back on 4/20 when I was excited about the Brewers being in first place with a 9-6 record. And I realize we’re in a mediocre division. But here were are, on May 10th, and the Brewers haven’t lost a step.
Brewers: 23-10
Cubs: 15-15
Astros: 15-17
Pirates: 14-17
Reds: 14-19
Cardinals: 13-18
The Brewers have a lot of things going for them that set them apart too:
This is the first time in a long time I don’t cringe when a player is in the lineup or comes up to pinch hit. EVERYONE on the team has come through in the clutch at some point or another.
So my question to you is this: why are the Brewers STILL not getting much national media attention? I look at the MLB headlines on espn.com today and they talk about Bonds, and A-Rod, and the last place Cards topping the Rockies, and the Rangers activating Gagne. Then I go over to the MLB headlines on cnnsi.com, and they talk about the Cubs losing and the Tigers and the Yankees.
Aren’t people getting sick of hearing the same things over and over again? Honestly, who cares about the Cubs losing? Or how the Yankees are going to start winning and what Steinbrenner is going to do about it? Maybe I’ve got too much invested in my hometown team, but I would think hearing about a team that you haven’t heard squat about in the past 25 years might be a refreshing story.
Well, how about three reasons:
1. The Brewers are a “small market” team, which isn’t necessarily specific to them being in Milwaukee, they just don’t have the large fan base that the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, Cardinals, etc. have. The national sports media, like any other kind of media, isn’t really in the business of providing fair coverage and reporting - they’re in the business of selling media. Which means they’re going to report on whatever brings the most eyeballs to their tv program/website/newspaper. And there are a hell of a lot more Yankee/Cub/Cardinal/Red Sox fans then there are Brewer fans - so they get the exposure. The worst being the Eastern Sports Programming Network with their tireless beating of the drum for the friggin’ Red Sox and Yankees. That I can agree on with the “enough already!” But that’s why the Cubs losing gets more time than a Brewers winning streak.
2. The Brewers don’t have a marquee “name” player that is well known on the national stage. Basically the Brewers are a bunch of unknown guys, maybe except for Ben Sheets (even that’s probably a stretch), that your average fan outside of the NL Central doesn’t really know about. There’s no Pujols or A-Rod or Bonds or Clemens or Schilling that almost all baseball fans know about and would be a “good” story (see 1 above). Now it doesn’t mean that J.J. Hardy shouldn’t be known outside of Milwaukee - if he keeps hitting like he is he should be and he will. But the Brewers have a bunch of young players that haven’t had that breakout season yet where people start paying more attention. And even then, that’s no guarantee that they’ll get more air time (see Michael Young from the Rangers, who probably can’t get arrested outside of Texas, even though he’s won a batting title and has almost a .300 career average.)
3. Its way early in the season and much like some Brewer fans (come on, admit it!) there’s a resistance to fully jump on the bandwagon given the recent history of this team and the fact that a lot of their core player (weeks, hardy, fielder, sheets, hall) are kind of question marks over the course of a full season. The first three since they haven’t proven they can do it at a high level over 162 games, Sheets since he’s due for at least a few trips to the DL, and Hall since, yeah, he had one good season last year, but let’s see him do it again. If the Brewers still have the best record in baseball in a couple months, then they’ll look to be more real and they’ll probably get more attention. Even this morning’s SportsCenter had them after the Red Sox game highlights, so maybe things are getting better as we speak.
All that being said, I look forward to the Cubs beating the Brewers in the NLCS this year
Comment by Jon — 5/10/2007 @ 12:59 pm
So, what happened with the Marlins a few years ago: a small market team who that National media latched onto, because they were playing so well?
Maybe it’s just too early in the season to get worked up over things. I do know this though–as of this morning, the Brewers are now 7, yes SEVEN games ahead of the Cubs in the division. Giddyup!
Comment by Tara — 5/11/2007 @ 9:01 am