Quote:
Originally Posted by Westheim
Nope. Ads have been in sports for my entire life (and it's not like ballparks were not covered in them in 1925, either).
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Yes, and then leagues found revenue sources (TV, Radio, large season-ticket bases), that were far beyond the few extra pennies that corporate graffiti on the player and playing surface could bring in and made the logical decision that looking classy built better loyalty than whoring the sport out for every fly-by-night that came along. And so for 30-40 years (including the entire first half of my life), our Temples of Sport were as free from creeping commercialism as [semi-blasphemous Jesus analogy, you can do it yourself].
This represented progress, IMO. Seeing it being rolled back has been a bitter pill to swallow, just as much those free from the American commercials you're shocked by,
Westie, would hate to see them all over German television.
Also, gambling sucks big-time, as most agree. (As a former gambler, the most-galling thing is the promotion of random betting on ridiculous micro-propositions ["Will Indiana call 'heads' or 'tails'?"] which is IMO a truly blunt way to separate the suckers from their dough. At least when I bet the plane fare that the 76ers could dominate Seattle, I had reasons for that.)