High Profile-Low Profile
By Tom Grout
March 10, 2008
I told myself and my readers early on that I wouldn’t talk specifically about anyone or team locally. Because if I do it for one then why not the other. But I do want to congratulate the Fergus Falls Otters Girls Basketball team for making it to the State Tournament this week. I also want to say the same to the Otter Boys Swim Team for placing second place at the State Tournament and Mike Hurley for getting a first place finish in the 200 individual medley. These are great accomplishments and all involved should be excited and proud.
This situation has brought up an interesting topic though and since I am always looking for interesting topics let’s go there now.
It is thought that some sports get better treatment than others whether it is by the media or how they may rank at the school level as far as getting proper funding, gym time or anything else that may come up.
Things like this have been going on for a long time and I’m not about to disagree with anybody, but I do know in most cases there is a pecking order. I coached baseball at the high school level and baseball is considered a low profile sport. Low profile means that the interest in the sport by people, other than family or friends of the participants, is not as good. These are usually sports that really don’t pique the public’s interest enough for them to attend the games or events. It may be a sport that isn’t one where it’s easy for people to sit and watch, like golf or track events.
Now this doesn’t mean the sport isn’t important to some people and it doesn’t mean that people aren’t happy when they here of someone or some team having done something good. It just means they just aren’t as interested as they may if it were another sport. It’s unfortunate but true.
You will find this to be true with this blog. Although I like to cover a variety of different sports there are some that just don’t interest me as much. When they don’t interest me much it means I don’t know a whole lot about them. So instead of making myself look dumber than I normally do, I usually won’t comment on the ones I have little interest in.
The Olympic coverage by TV is a good example. They televise the events that have proven to give them the best ratings. When they do televise some of the low profile sports they are on ESPN23 or MSNBC12, channels few people have and at times when few people are awake. This is why you see figure skating in prime time and curly at three in the morning if you can find it.
At the high school level I would say that over 90% of the schools football and basketball programs are the high profile sports. A few schools, but very few, will have another sport that may have a higher profile like wrestling in some schools, but for the most part it’s football and basketball. So because of that these are the sports that you here the most about. It may not be fair but it’s just the way it is.
Thomas:
You have done a fine job with this blog.
The articles are usually interesting, if not controversial.
Controversy, as it seems, creates the most interest in all of sports.
Perhaps this is why all the MLB steroid rage is upon us now. It is also why there are such things as ESPN or MSNBC sports programs.
Speaking of controversy, do you remember Jim Rome when he interviewed Jim Miller? (the former Rams QB)
In that interview, he (Rome) referred to Mr. Miller as "Chris." This was offensive to Jim Miller, as he understood Rome's intention to discredit his abilities by referring to him as the female tennis star's name.
As I recall, Mr. Miller became irate at Rome and lunged across the table at him during the interview. A scuffle ensued and Rome's star was on the rise! (go figure)
I know I'm a little off subject here, but it goes to the interest level of sports in general and my angst at how the "millionaire crybabies" continue to make tons of $ off of us poor saps that are simple enough to perpetuate this kind of behavior.
We all have our areas of interest; mine is basketball, football, boxing and golf. (Until the strikes of the 80's, baseball was my favorite)
So, I agree that we differ in our interests, but isn't that what makes life great for us all?
Keep up the good work!
Sorry guys, a senior moment was upon me.
Everett!!
His name is Jim Everett.. not Miller.
Sorry for the age related misinterpretation!!!
Bigsly
I find it a little ironic that the day after your blog, the website has an article about the Hillcrest Math Team and them winning. That was probably as big of win as any sports team has done around here lately. Hats off to those kids! If math were a sport we'd be going ape over it. My daughter won a gold medal at the National FCCLA Contest last year as did 3 other students from her school and because it's not a sport noone in the world really knows about it. It is one of the smallest k-12 schools anywhere and they had four national gold medal winners, not bad. There's alot of great things going on in a lot of schools that have nothing to do with sports. Music at West Central is very impressive. If you've ever been to a speech meet lately you'd just marvel at the kids and their abilities. It's only natural that some sports don't get a lot of coverage either but they probably don't hold as wide of appeal as the big name sports just like non-sports don't appeal to many people other than the parents and relatives of the kids involved. I think that that's okay. A kid should should be striving for excellence as a personal reward, not for the admiration of the public. That satisfaction should be enough. As the marines teach, when you are given an assignment, you should strive to be the best at that assignment even if it's cleaning toilets.
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