Speaking strictly for myself and no one else which I may have an affiliation with? Read these two statements: "There was too much Canadian literature, at the expense of American literature." "Too much too much hockey, at the expense of baseball." You never hear the first, you do hear the second. Why is that? Couple of reasons, one, you do hear a version of that, but sports, which many of us who play the game are passionate about, are also a matter of personal preference. We all have our sport to which we are most loyal, and we naturally want questions that groove into our areas of expertise. Nothing wrong with that. Those of you who know me know I love for the world's fastest game may also know that I love virtually every sport and that my knowledge varies within each field. So obviously, I would want more questions in the areas in which my knowledge is deepest and thus avoid a tragedy like the evil college basketball bonus that killed my team at TrashMasters last year that the entire peanut gallery nailed. You can't complain because the question is fair, it's within the expected guidelines and most other teams would get it. Now, if I get nailed in a similar situation with heroes of Bahamian cricket, I may be a lot more frustrated. What it comes down to in large part is expectations. That said, let us examine hockey and soccer and the unheard silent partners of what should be this discussion, golf and NASCAR. According to recent numbers, NASCAR is now the fourth most popular sport in North America, (much to Gary Bettmann's chagrin), and golf, which has a growing market, should see an equal representation across the board. Now, that said, why won't it happen, simple, history. Soccer has never fully been embraced by America's sporting culture, golf is still the game people would rather play than watch, and NASCAR is NASCAR (all I am saying, I prefer CART). As for college versus pro, let me state my firm belief that a 4:4:1 ratio of NBA/NFL:NCAA:Other (ABA/NFLE/AFL/XFL, etc) should be in effect over all tournaments. In many ways, college sports have just as an indelible mark over America's sporting culture as professional sports. Remember, until 1958, the NFL was "other" to college football, so... As for sports history, I am all for it, so long as it isn't minutiae. Thus endeth the spiel. CDB PS: By the way, do we have a read as to how we should categorize XFL in the future?
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