[LUconn]

Your examples of unwatchable sports are extremely popular things to watch.

[PAmedic]

Hope you have a lot of ammo. You are going to be pretty annoyed over the next 10 years, b/c the sport is growing faster than any in the world. MMA is going to be shoved down your throat by ESPN and the major networks at a healthy pace in the coming years as they continue to realize the earning potential. It's still in its infancy...it's not going away.

one step closer to the Romans and their coliseum.

when there is a run on lions, watch out.

good thing we're not "Christians"- oh, wait

[Sly Fox]

Olympic boxing is much safer than MMA. Try making a much better comparison with a sport that doesn't have protective headgear and padded gloves.

I admit that I have never really developed anything more than a casual interest in MMA. I'm old enough to remember when boxing was a regal sport that hung with the NFL & MLB as the top sports in America. I hate seeing what became of the sweet science.

[BJWilliams]

My friend seanspeaker would likely concur with you on that point Sly...and have a detailed explanation as to what precipitated such a fall

[LUconn]

The PPV method of delivery may make the sports a lot of money, but I think it really holds them back from mainstream. I think that's why The Ultimate Fighter is so popular.

[GoUNCA]

I came here because you have football and to see if anyone else thinks that Brian Kelly is as big an idiot as I do, but then I found this. Peter Gammons has been a mainstay. He generally knows what he is talking about and he isn't going to be fired for a sex scandal (Harold Reynolds along with Steve Phillips), he's pretty much the most stable thing ESPN had for baseball. (full disclosure: I live in Boston. The place breathes baseball)

And far as MMA goes? It'll be around until someone dies/seriously injured or the average American IQ rises, whichever occurs first (I know where my money is).

[GoUNCA]

It's much more likely that someone will die in an NFL game after playing through a concussion. Will the NFL be over then?

While that may be medically arguable, it's not the point.

The NFL can just create a rule over playing with concussions/standardize the use of concussion helmets, etc. NASCAR adds roof flaps, restrictor plates, Hahn's device, etc. All of these qualm underlying mainstream societies' fears. Sure there are people who want unrestricted stock car races with cars driven by guys wearing only goggles and a half-burned cigarette on their skull, but that would certainly put them out of the mainstream. And there is always the very mainstream Rugby, which is football without safety.

The question is what do you add to MMA? Gloves and a helmet? Then you are olympic boxing with kicking and ground moves. Not to mention that mainstream society has become less accepting of overtly violent sports and so there is a shorter leash (I know football is arguably violent, but the Oregon player got suspended once he threw a punch....sorry, double standard). Once something bad happens there isn't something to "fix" to placate the public that also maintains the sport. It's the new and faddish thing, but it'll be like boxing soon enough. Faster if something bad happens.

[RubberMallet]

Anyone who calls MMA a sport should be shot on sight...

Hope you have a lot of ammo. You are going to be pretty annoyed over the next 10 years, b/c the sport is growing faster than any in the world. MMA is going to be shoved down your throat by ESPN and the major networks at a healthy pace in the coming years as they continue to realize the earning potential. It's still in its infancy...it's not going away.

mma fanatics have been saying this since 94 when it first started picking up steam...

i enjoy watching it from time to time but its not all that and a bag of doritos.

[Liberty4Life]

I think in the future, as our nation becomes more of a wuss, I believe soccer will gain in popularity.

Good luck convincing anybody with half a brain that a non-contact sport that doesn't require you to be particularly athletic (see the many fat people that have succeeded in baseball) is somehow less wussy than a full contact sport which any exercize science major could tell is the most physically demanding in the world.

Look, I'm not going to deny that running back and forth for 90 minutes isn't exhausting. But you can't deny that soccer is a bit... umm... "dainty".

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