It can't be a niche sport when the likes of NPR's Frank Deford offers flattering commentary comparing Michael Phelps to dominant athletes such as Messr's Woods and Federer. You can listen here: www.npr.org/.../story.php
One comment in the SI article that bothered me was the citation of swimming as a "niche sport".
From SI's perspective it's certainly a niche sport. Their bread-and-butter
sports are football, baseball, basketball and hockey, with a little bit of
golf and tennis thrown in. (Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the swimsuit edition.)
I was sitting in the doctor's office this morning and they happened to have
that issue. I got to the end of the second page and was disappointed to
see the article wasn't more detailed.
I went to their website just now. They don't even list swimming in their
"Other" tab.
Skip
Sorry...I have to strongly disagree. He put in years of yardage and hard workouts before he got any monetary rewards! He deserves every penny of what he is getting right now. He wants to be the best in the world. I think it is awesome that swimmers are finally making a fraction of the money that other professional athletes make.
I'm with you, Beth! There is no way that anyone could continue to push themselves through the kind of workouts that Phelps does if it was only for the money. Phelps main motivators seem to be:
1. He hates to lose
2. He wants to elevate the sport of swimming, particularly in the US
Based on his recent results, and on the fact that there was a two page spread in Sports Illustrated on World Championships (the only swimming news that I've ever seen in SI in a non-Olympic year is those little 'Faces in the Crowd' blurbs), I'd say he's doing pretty well on both counts! Yay Phelps!!
Based on his recent results, and on the fact that there was a two page spread in Sports Illustrated on World Championships (the only swimming news that I've ever seen in SI in a non-Olympic year is those little 'Faces in the Crowd' blurbs), I'd say he's doing pretty well on both counts! Yay Phelps!!
One comment in the SI article that bothered me was the citation of swimming as a "niche sport". It's certainly the most popular participant sport in the US, (if you count noodlers and their ilk), and one of the "glamor" events of the Summer Olympics. I know it's not Monster Trucks or World Wide Wrestling:dunno: , but give me a break - "niche sport"?
From SI's perspective it's certainly a niche sport. Their bread-and-butter
sports are football, baseball, basketball and hockey, with a little bit of
golf and tennis thrown in. (Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the swimsuit edition.)
I was sitting in the doctor's office this morning and they happened to have
that issue. I got to the end of the second page and was disappointed to
see the article wasn't more detailed.
I went to their website just now. They don't even list swimming in their
"Other" tab.
Skip
SI appeals to a certain "niche" of old high school/college football/baseball jocks that still think,"I could've been a contender!" :thhbbb:
