Happy long weekend BoD! All is right with the world; Joey
Chestnut reigns supreme, and the Cubs waved the white flag.
Today’s Question:
What was the most
ill-conceived heel turn you ever saw?
Answers tomorrow. If you want to head over to the
discussion, just scroll to the end of this column, or hit “Comments” at the
top.
Yesterday, I asked you about your favorite 4th of
July traditions. These are things that are specific to you; and as a result I’m
not going to comment, but rather share some of the variety of answers you
brought to the blog.
SodiePop: Used to be the entire family going to a
family friend's house on the lake (pretty well-off folks) and going boating,
tubing and grill out. Nothing beat that. That family ended up breaking up,
everyone sort of went their separate ways about 10 years ago and the tradition
died. I still miss the hell out of those days, and ever since then the 4th
hasn't been the same. I still struggle to find BBQs and parties to attend every
year, sadly.
BooBoo1782: Now, my favorite Fourth tradition is the
Boston Pops concert at the Hatch Shell. I've gone twice and caught the tail end
of a third (the one with David Lee Roth) from Storrow Drive), and had a
blast...also enjoy watching on TV when I can't go to Boston.
TseugThatsGuestSpeltBackwards:
When I was a kid, the people on my block
would blow up old appliances (tvs, stereos, etc.) Those were the good ole days
parallax1978: Playing a game of Civilization 4 as George
Washington, watching a documentary from History Channel on the revolution, and
then watching Independence Day the movie.
Mister_E_SeesTheLineInTheSand:
Everyone knows that July 1st is really
where it's at, but this year I decided in honour of you murican's that I'd go
out and get half plastered on the company dime. You're welcome, we can
definitely talk about making this a tradition.
daveschlet: Mine is watching War Games 1, from July 4,
1987. I watch it every 4th of July. One of my favorite matches ever and easily
*****
And finally, the winner of the comment of the day because
this just sound so bloody awesome…
jobber123: My favorite 4th of July tradition is going
out drinking on Newport ave in ocean beach and then watching the fireworks on
the beach...and then taking part in the annual marshmallow fight. Once the fire
works start THOUSANDS of people start throwing marshmallows at each other. I
remember the first year I was just randomly there and I was fucking blown away
by what was happening. Been back for every year since, I'll be there tonight!
Sometimes I just like to hangout and watch it and if you aren't throwing them
no one will throw them at you...unless your perched up on one of the rocks to
watch the fireworks. The you get smoked either way. The first time I went there
was this wicked young couple probably like 18/19 year old kids up on a rock
kissing under the fireworks and when it the marshmallows came out they got the
full on assault.
My neighborhood absolutely needs to adopt this. Mallowing
the hell out of unsuspecting newbs would make my year, and the fact that all
ages can get involved makes this all the better. One condition however; they
MUST be cleaned up before the morning, because holy hell the bugs!
JCP and Kmart didn't die because of technology, they are dying because of not meeting consumer's wants (low prices or high enough quality/prestige to make prices worth it) combined with getting the kiss of death. Once the media calls a company out as "dying" it almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. And WWE is dealing with technology issues. They are trying to move from the ppv model to a streaming service. They are dealing with the same challenges in regards to cutting the cord and DVRs as any other program.
ReplyDeleteTo go back to JCP and Kmart, it is hard to come back from a deaht spiral. You cut costs due to shrinking revenue, but cutting costs limits your choices for consumers, cuts customer service, cuts advertising, etc. This results in further decreases in revenue, lather, rinse, repeat. There is an old saying that you cant' cut your way to profitabiity. If WWE cuts back, makes the product look less shiny there, the wrestlers less talented and polished, etc. there is a distinct risk that they will have a similar death spiral IMO.
they shot themselves in the foot byoverpromising "revolutionary" football while having WWE style backstage footage and trying to hype "feuds." Make it minor league football and it might have made it. Promise something more, which it wasn't, and combine it with the wrestling stuff that most footabll fans don't want and you have a colossal failure.
ReplyDeleteBiggest example is how they hyped not having fair catches. It was real man's football. Imagine everyone's surprise and dismay when the first game came and the punt returner got a 3 yard halo while catching the punt. Overpromise and don't deliver and you will get killed. Heck, they got off easy in 2001 compared to what would happen in 2014 with Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of social media.
They also hyped up "old time, smash mouth football." Bringing back the bump & run, etc. The problem is people don't want to watch three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust-ball anymore. There's a correlation between gaudy passing statistics and scoring and attendance at least in the NFL. XFL scoring was so absurdly low that Vegas sportsbooks struggled to set O/U lines low enough.
ReplyDeleteThen they compounded things by changing rules around mid-season by going to NFL-style contact rules, which came off as bush-league.
Circuit City... tons of different banks
ReplyDeleteIsn't it worth it for the PPV alone though?
ReplyDeleteDo people really not understand that the WWE will be back to normal levels of profitability by next year? That massive losses are to be expected to start with such a dramatic shift in one of the key component of the business?
ReplyDeleteIf you don't understand business, don't talk business.
Regardless of what they tell you, 99.9% of American wrestlers want to headline Wrestlemania. They get into the business with that as the endgame.
ReplyDeleteTake that away and while there would be a few who would still grind away (a FEW), you'd see wrestling die pretty quick. Not instantaneously, but quick. Nobody's gonna destroy themselves on plywood covered in bedsheets for $20 a night if that's the highest level of respect and reward available.
$10 says they do when Vince dies. Vince is the one ashamed of being the "wrestling guy." HHH doesn't seem to have that problem.
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree, if anything you would get wrestlers more pure of heart, not doing it for just the fame or glory.
ReplyDelete"Linda would have to run for Senate two more times to really put a dent in their finances to the point where it would be an issue. "
ReplyDeleteDON'T GIVE HER IDEAS, GODDAMMIT
BigNasty96, quit bugging scott!!
ReplyDeleteThat's the few. Nearly everyone does it for the fame and glory. They tell you otherwise because the truth sounds a little ugly.
ReplyDeleteA rare moment of sense making on the internet. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think that it would vanish entirely. I'm sure that there would remain an indy scene.
ReplyDeleteBut on a grand scale, filling arenas and stadiums, I don't see a recovery in the event that Vince did go belly up.
Not to mention that the stock prices were freakishly inflated right before the Network kicked in. The stock prices going down brought it to more familiar levels.
ReplyDeleteYou're assuming that they will double their network sub #'s by next year.
ReplyDeleteHe probably will just stream them for free I think. Even though that's just as easy as putting on the network, I like being able to pause it or watch it at my own convenience. I honestly think I'll subscribe to it for as long as it's offered.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis is very good. WWE is actually getting out ahead of things with the network but the larger issue (as I see it) is that pro wrestling fandom is not growing ... and may never grow. The cultural zeitgeist has shifted to the point where another Hogan-era or Attitude-era boom is unlikely.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you can get 2 guys to fight each other in front of however many fans as it takes to pay those 2 guys to fight, something resembling what we call wrestling will continue to exist. That will never go away. Parlaying that into a multi-million (or billion) dollar company, that's the ever-evolving challenge. A few years ago I'd have said MMA fighting stood a chance of "killing" WWE. Now though MMA feels oversaturated: like they've peaked and are on the verge of a downward trend. Is "real" fighting not as interesting as a few years ago? I'm less sure what fans want now. WWE is still tops, but sort of at the low end of the level they are at. TNA has never figured it out. The Indies seem to be thriving in their niches... maybe the future of the sport is mass audience fragmentation? I just don't know. Maybe instead of trying to find their next top star, WWE needs to start figuring out what people are going to be willing to pay to see 5-10 years from now...
ReplyDeleteHaha, that was me VINCE JORDAN, IT WAS MEEEEEEEEEE ALL ALONG!
ReplyDeleteI know the McMahons lost $5 million of their own money in 1997, but I think people thinking the WWF would've went out of business are ahead of themselves. They weren't on the verge of losing their TV deal with USA and if anything, I can see Vince deciding to retreat back to the Northeast for a while instead of trying to run everywhere. No way do I see Vince throwing in the towel in 1997 or 1998.
ReplyDeleteWrestling as a publicly traded entity never made sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI think they were expecting their TV audience to get the Network and they had that silly study that said 60+ million people had an "affinity" for their programming. Like others have said, they should've launched the thing worldwide and I liked Scott's idea of how they might've gotten more subs if they opened the Network a couple of days after they introduced it in that press conference.
ReplyDeleteFor me, a problem is that I'm not that interested in buying their current PPV's. They aren't much different from RAW. If the Network had all of the old ECW shows up, I'd get it for that reason, but as a collector that has tons of old RAWs and Nitros + the SNME and Clash collections + nearly all the PPVs, I don't have much interest in paying for what I already have.
Also, people having problems getting the Network to work via their PS3s has given me pause about getting the Network in the future.