Welcome to Wednesday.....what else can be said?

To start off todays blog, we pay tribute to the WAY overdue induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame to Bert Blyleven, one of the top pitchers of the 1970s-1980s. Blyleven's career numbers were all too often brushed over by the Writers Association, for reasons that I have never been totally clear. A very deserving candidate got his button today, so congrats to Mr. Blyleven for joining baseball's immortals.

Also getting the call to Cooperstown today was Roberto Alomar, the preeminent second basemen of his time- without a doubt, a worthy entry, but in my opinion, definitely not the "no- brainer" the press has made him out to be- but if Ryne Sandberg is in.... ( just a small dig at my nephew here, the family Cubs lover)

Notable omission this year from enshrinement: Jeff Bagwell. While not a slam dunk, Bagwell had the career numbers for enshrinement. The next few years will prove to be interesting in regards to Hall membership, as the players from the "Steroid Era" come due & questions regarding their involvement with performance enhancing drugs loom overhead.

The fact of the matter remains that, whether proven guilty or not of steriod use, many players will be painted with the broad brush, & that is, simply put, an unfair reality of playing during baseball's darkest era.
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TNA has a PPV this coming sunday and, as much of a fan of their live shows as I am, I can honestly say I find most of what I see on their TV ( the little I watch) unbearable. Therefore, I am no expert when it comes to predicting their direction, partly due to my impatience watching their tv show, and partly because I don't believe they even know their direction.

I have always been a huge proponent for TNA's success- the wrestling world is always more interesting when there is competition, the possiblity of the top players switching to the other side, etc.

In the 1980s, even after WWF(WWE) started operating nationally, there were other notable wrestling offices providing competition , most notably Jim Crockett Promotions (NWA) & the AWA. Both provided a different approach than that of WWF, which gave the wrestling fan their choice of products- if you didn't like the more cartoonish aspects of WWF, you could watch the grittier NWA, or the more traditional wrestling based AWA.

I still believe that ratings, PPV buyrates, etc would be stronger the whole way around if a viable alternate product was provided, different from the flash & glam, cookie cutter WWE. Yet, TNA, with a good tv network to work off of, still seems insistant on being a copy of WWE, using the same convoluted ideas with in many cases less talented players.

That is not to say TNA has no talent- on the contrary, that have quite a bit, but by not allowing that talent to do what it does best, & instead trying to a) imitate WWE & B) pretending its still 1997, they are shortcutting their hopes of reaching the next level.

Reality time: TNA cannot compete with WWE, but they are capable of creating their own niche, & have yet to capitalize on it. Think about this: weekly TNA ratings on SpikeTV average 1.0, which is approximately 1 million weekly watchers. You think that, in this entire country, their are only 1 million wrestling fans that do NOT care for WWE's presentation of the sport? Of course not.

Without trying to get to in depth with numbers, the facts are that there are alot of disenfranchised fans of professional wrestling in this country, & possibly even a greater number of potential fans for whom, after a quick taste of  the current tv products, tuned out & turned away.

The big question is - how due you turn a non fan into a fan? Or a former fan into a current fan? This is a less than clear cut answer, but here are a few suggestions:

1) the "Crash TV" concept of the past doesnt work anymore- "angles" used to mean business- and why? because there werent 20 of them on every show- the human mind only has so much retention, especially for "shocking" moments; and once it doesnt shock you, its just something else on a tv show, and thats the LAST thing you want to happen.

2) the mainstream celebrity thing is always risky- and its been badly overdone this past year, mainly by WWE. Celebs rarely treat such appearances as anything but a paying joke, and minimize the potential to create the buzz the promotion is so desperate to obtain.

 3) quit trying to tailor your show the "hardcore" fan with all the alleged "insider" knowledge- whether you realize it or not, they are already there; you can't cater to a fraction of a potential audience- it will stunt your growth

There is an abundance of talent that can be used,cultivated,& grown- it would be nice if TNA used this opportunity to grow its long term business & become a real alternative for fans everywhere.

Thoughts? Opinions? Think I'm full of shit? Let me know!

Until next time...

SSS