What has most contributed to the decline in MLB for you since you were a kid?

 

I think for me it was being spoiled as a kid by the Reds always being great, and then I had to come back down to earth and realize that their chances of being great again are slim when competing against bigger markets with more $$$ to spend on elite players.

 

I think too that if I had kids I would have stayed closer to the game by sharing the experience.

 

I was just thinking the other day how when I was a kid it was a big deal to know all of the players' numbers that I still know..... Rose 14, Bench 5, Condepcion 13, Morgan 8, Perez 24, Foster 15, Geronimo 20, Griffey 30...and how now I haven't a clue, and can't find much reason to care.

 

I can see for kids how it means something and is fun, and to parents of those kids to have fun with all of that with them, but aside from a few major players, there are very few now that I much know about, much less their number.

 

With that said, if nothing is on TV I could easily turn on a baseball game and settle into watching and enjoying it.

 

About the only time I'll truly watch one in its entirety anymore though would be the playoffs, or the World Series, which is only limitedly interesting considering I don't know the players very well from not having paid much attention throughout the regular season, but still I can get wrapped up if I let myself.

Soccer.

 

Sincerely, TAC

It wasn't in the question but Soccer in 25/50 years will be king in the USA especially if it goes to open soccer like the rest of the World.

 

Football will be banned or the game will be changed so much you won't recognize it from how it is played today.

 

I love baseball but so many kids and young adult think it takes just too much of their time to watch.

 

Soccer is great to watch on TV, players are always moving with no time out and you know what time the game will start and what time it will end, as the clock never stops running.

 

Yep as us old guy's die off and the youth of today get my age, soccer will be king!

 

Let's hope we are dead by the time soccer becomes number 1.

Sad part is, I agree with all of your comments.

Let's hope we are dead by the time soccer becomes number 1.

Sad part is, I agree with all of your comments.

Youth Sports Participation Statistics and Trends:

 

http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/media_kit/keystatistics/

 

Interesting, these 2 articles point out there is not much growth in soccer participation over the past few years. I guess its time to sell stock in the trophy company I had invested in. Also shocked to see basketball had the most participation.

The thread is asking what America's "past time" is, not what your favorite sport is. Now where it goes in the future is debatable. The problem I see with soccer is that the professional level is weak, by a wide margin, up against our contemporaries. Until the nation's top athletes start playing it, then it will never become popular to the point of football.

With the state of professional sports in Cincinnati, it looks like Soccer is slowly becoming the pastime for this city's sports fans.

I'm not even sure what "National Pastime" means.

It's not my favorite, but football is the answer IMO.

 

Of course, foosball is the devil.

With the state of professional sports in Cincinnati, it looks like Soccer is slowly becoming the pastime for this city's sports fans.

 

Glad to see you back @Hellbird

 

I will say this, I went to two FC Cincinnati Games this year and they were both awesome.

Glad to see you back @Hellbird

 

I will say this, I went to two FC Cincinnati Games this year and they were both awesome.

I was there Sat night and already have my tickets to the US Womens match vs New Zealand. If FC C gets the MLS bid and they put the stadium in Newport I'm getting season tickets.

I was there Sat night and already have my tickets to the US Womens match vs New Zealand. If FC C gets the MLS bid and they put the stadium in Newport I'm getting season tickets.

 

You have to pick me up and take me then neighbor.

While I agree soccer will continue to grow in the US it will be quite awhile until it passes Football, Baseball and Basketball mainly because of the weak professional league and the lack of interest in college and high school soccer when compared to football and basketball. Especially March Madness and the Football Playoffs.

 

Basketball is probably the largest growth sport worldwide now since the NBA has become so much more global. I really see that as the sport that becomes the successor to Football in the US and rivaling Soccer world-wide in the next 20 years.

By the definition posted in the original post, it has to be football. Football dominates in this country. Two out of the three most popular sports are football.

1. NFL

2. NBA

3. College Football

While we can debate all day long about the growth of one sport of the decline of another, football is king right now and I'm pretty sure that was the point of the question.