Note to McGwire Fans

ok, we all realize how momentous the occasion was...........for baseball fans! ( shoot, i watched the game myself ) however, this is the KOTH group........we've been waiting for months to find out who got blown up, and we really weren't expecting the season premiere to get preempted.......it took us by surprise, ok? you shouldn't expect us to just blow it off...........we wouldn't be here if we weren't FANS, not just casual viewers.

the point i want to make is this: i'm seeing some posts here that are derisive of the opinions and priorities of those of us who don't share your love of the sport...........take it elsewhere, would ya? if our sense of priorities frightens you, perhaps it's time to rethink newsgroup affiliations and head over to the "grown men making a friggin' fortune for hitting a ball with a stick" group. i'm sure you could have a buncha fun over there telling the gang what a lot of boneheads we are here. but if you'd rather hang around these parts, don't deride the expressed opinions of the posters who prefer KOTH to baseball, ok? we're supposed to be havin' fun here.....................

On Wed, 9 Sep 1998 13:58:45 -0700 (PDT), [email] (Mark Jones) wrote:

I'm a FAN as well, but that doesn't mean I fly off the handle when a show gets preempted for one week. I'm not a fan of baseball - but I do enjoy dramatic stories - which McGwire offered.

No one asked you to blow it off, but why do some people get so upset? I love it when people say they'll never watch FOX again - why? What is the point of that attitude?

I'm having fun! Maybe you should relax a little bit? Aren't ngs for discussion which means not everyone will disagree. Again, I don't love the sport - but why should you be derisive of me because I thought it was a worthy event? My goal is to find out why you don't think it was worthy. I don't understand what the big deal is, but I'm attempting to (so maybe I can be an ass about it sometimes, but I'm far better than the majority of people that post in ngs)

Brad

Also to make KOTH fans even happier, Tues Sept 29 will be preempted by the MLB Division playoffs game 1 Oct 20 will be preempted by the World Series game 3

More baseball preemptions to look forward to ;-)

Brad

well, it's just that some of us aren't into sports..........sigh......i've tried.......to me ( and apparently i'm not alone in this ), baseball might as well be cricket for all the thrills it offers........it's just guys hitting balls with sticks.........i admit, i just don't get the appeal. frankly, most of the people who've been posting about this sound like we really rather would've watched the show than the game, and i got a little ticked off at the coupla guys ( actually, not you so much, Dancer ) who're acting like we're loco en la cabeza for not properly appreciating the magnitude of the feat...........it's just that some of us aren't remotely into baseball..........

or remotely into the return key either. But are much into elipses.

gee, i feel so ..........well, alienated at not being able to grasp the glory and the wonder of grown men being paid fortunes to play a child's game..............

( hey, waddaya know, this thing _does_ have a return key. fancy that! )

look, guys, with the world economy sliding like a toboggan and Russia about ready to boil over, let's face it: neither baseball nor KOTH are really of any great importance except as ENTERTAINMENT. yep, that's right. baseball, and by extension ALL sports, are, for all the mythic overtones applied to them, simply entertainment.....if a sport _isn't_ entertaining, it won't find many fans, right? it all just boils down to what kind of entertainment we like.......those of us who prefer cartoons to sports would've rather watched KOTH last night. those of us who prefer sports like things just as they happened..........

so climb down offa Mt. Olympus, guys.....baseball players aren't demigods, they're paid entertainers, just like the VAs on KOTH. they just get paid to hit a ball with a stick and run like hell rather than to read lines.

neither KOTH nor McGwire's record are of any great historical importance............you want an event of historical importance? here's one...the Mongol hordes, having conquered Asia and the Middle East, were _at the gates of Vienna_, ready to make easy work of the fragmented, quarreling European nations, when the Khan died back in China. the Mongol generals had to turn back for political reasons, and they never regained their western momentum again..........now, _that_ is of historical importance! the stuff we've been arguing about is just fun and games..................

On Wed, 09 Sep 1998 21:43:34 GMT, [email] (Dancer) wrote:

Cute. Then why the hell bother even showing King of the Hill in the first place? I think Fox should just delay the whole season till their silly base ball games are over. I believe this has been done before. It made more sense. I remember misdsing a almost a whole season of Simpsons because I never knew if it was coming on.

Your problem seems to be that you aren't paying attention. This group was buzzing for over a week because of this. The baseball scedules have been set longer than teh Fox broadcasting schedule. Your not knowing this is not our problem it's yours.

On 10 Sep 1998 02:18:57 GMT, John Mosey wrote:

Why should I? Its been stated before that Fox was still running promos this sunday for Tuesday's showing for King of the Hill. My TV guide mentions nothing about the game.

I've been avoiding this group for fear of spoilers. In fact I haven't read this group for several months.

Who is this "our?" I don't pay attention to baseball except when it gets in the way.

I just recommend a good solution. Push the season back a few months so this isn't as likely to happen. If KOTH doesn't really matter, it shouldn't be an issue. Right?

Why don't you write them and tell them to wait until Nov. like they are doing for the X Files then and watch a moment in history.

Gaynell

On 10 Sep 1998 00:35:33 GMT, [email] (Gaynell Bates) wrote:

Rob Merritt wrote:

I can't believe how clueless you really are. I'm not saying that as a baseball fan, but as a historian. Baseball is part of the American fabric. You know, democracy, Apple Pie Baseball. Every great American author since the Civil War has mentioned it. It is credited with easing the depression.

Europeans consider it a part of our national identity.

Your ignorance of it does not make it history any more than your ignorance of the Moor Wars doesn't make it history.

In article ,

OK, I'll bite. Which one of Emily Dickinson's poems is her baseball poem?

DS

I'll have to look it up, but I'd guess she wrote something on it (or at least mentioned it). Now I have to talk to all those English Lit majors I don't like.

David Sewell wrote:

Oh, you know the one:

Because I could not stop at First The Coach kindly waved me on. The stadium held our million fans In enumeration.

Do ya remember now?

Kristin RCw

Rob Merritt wrote in article ...

Oh my God! You missed almost a whole season of the Simpsons! How did you ever recover? ;)

Fox won the night with numbers of 22 compared to 14 for NBC. I know a lot

of people who aren't baseball fans who turned on the game to see this since it was a 37 year old record and was a moment in history. They aren't even sports fans, so someone doesn't have to be a sports fan to enjoy the game. I'm sure KOTH wouldn't have received ratings like the game did, so if you don't want to watch it because Fox is "jerking" you around, then don't. Unless you are a Neilsen house, they won't even know.

Gaynell

On 10 Sep 1998 00:42:43 GMT, [email] (Gaynell Bates) wrote:

No one is going to sit here and argue that Fox did the wrong thing. Fox is in the business of making money.

But lets look at it another way. I bet Fox could get three times the ratings by just showing a could of completely nude women for two hours. If that is true, should we just ditch KOTH for good and show that?

That is something I just don't understand. If you don't like something, you don't like it. Yes I know it happens all the time since America is filled with media lemmings.

True, however KOTH's ratings are going to be significatly lower because of it.

On Fri, 11 Sep 1998 20:43:56 GMT, [email] (Rob Merritt) wrote:

Sure! ;-)

Just because you missed the point, doesn't mean everyone's a lemming . I don't care for baseball, but it wasn't about baseball - it was about the record and about a great guy doing a great thing. You're too narrow-minded, it seems.

That's a common myth- it simply isn't true. Nielsen couldn't care less what you watch, they do base it on demographics, however.

Brad