Is sports talk dead?

The novel is written, fall is in the air, and football has already started. So, of course, I occasionally think about doing some sports blogging here on “The Ink.” Yet, this summer, I heard local longtime Philadelphia sports talker Mike Missanelli was again out at 97.5, there was speculation that Jon Marks, another well-known sports talk guy in Philly, might be back in, and it all made me start asking myself a question.

Is sports talk dead?

How many times can you recycle the same guys? I mean no disrespect to Marks or Missanelli – I like both guys. But we’ve all seen the main sports talk hosts in town bounce between the two Philly sports stations. In fact, the ratings war between the one-time newcomer 97.5 The Fanatic and traditional favorite 94.1 WIP (formerly 610 on AM for years) used to attract plenty of interest in the blogosphere. I think we all expected an ultimate “winner” to emerge.

Now, I don’t think anybody cares.

Honestly, I don’t listen to sports talk anymore. I’m not being a “tough guy” by saying that, I’m just not in the car much these days.

Today, the closest I come to sports talk is hearing Phillies Post-Game Live and Birds Huddle because I leave the TV on after Phillies games as I’m doing other things. Birds Huddle is just awful. Barrett Brooks, the main analyst for the show, might as well wear pompoms for the Eagles. Post-Game is . . . eh.

Quite frankly, Eagles coverage in general seems soft. Maybe that’s just what happens when a long-suffering fan base gets two Super Bowl victories in 7 years.

So, I started wondering, what can “The Ink” be?

Last year, I did what I thought was a really good series on the changes taking place in sports media, complete with interviews of some big names in the industry. And readers didn’t give a damn.

I tried to bring in more writers, but with little to offer, the effort predictably flopped.

I don’t have the energy to do post-game reports.

I’ve thought about doing videos, but as a guy with a speech disability it would be tough to pull off.

More picks against the spread? The posts are certainly easy enough to do.

Analysis of the media? The idea of doing some original reporting does interest me, but may be an uphill climb.

The real question is, does any of it pull in readers?

The truth is, I do think sports talk, as I grew up and old with it, is dead. The shift in media coverage of sports is even more drastic than I realized a year ago. It’s not just traditional outlets versus podcasts. I think it’s sports news as we knew it versus figuring out what fans want today.

I believe fandom is changing. In the next 10 to 15 years, my guess is that the idea of having a favorite team will be passé.

Look at the commercials that air during games now. They’re not only selling gambling apps, they’re showing the viewer how sports are watched these days – true or not. And the amount of money being gambled certainly suggests it’s true. People aren’t just betting games or even props for the entire game. They’re shown betting the next player to score, the next team to score, even the next type of play that will be called.

Do you care more about “your team” winning or winning money?

People have watched players and team owners get richer and richer since the NFL players went to court in the 1980s and won free agency. Certainly, the money they make was escalating before that, but I think that is a reasonable time to look at and say it was the true start of players making the type of money they make today.

Owners consistently went back to fans to find more money. They raised ticket prices and the cost of team paraphernalia. They put games on cable. (Yes, Phillies games used to be on something called regular TV.) Now, more and more games are streaming, and fans are paying more and more money just to watch.

Now, after decades of watching everybody else in sports get rich, fans think we have our opportunity to get a “piece of the pie.” We literally hold the chance to win big in the palm of our hands in the form of our phones.

Who cares about post-game analysis? What’s the next bet?

Last night, I posted a couple picks on the Eagles-Dallas game on social media. I won with Dallas -8. I also lost a “same game parlay” because Dak Prescott didn’t pass for enough yards (thanks to CeeDee Lamb dropping the ball).

A couple weeks ago, I took “The Bet Life” on Blogger, thinking it might be time for a fresh start. Believe it or not, “The Ink” still gets a ton of hits, though it’s mostly due to the fact that there have been almost 1,000 posts on the site over the years.

What’s next? I don’t know. And, let’s be serious, most people haven’t read this far. But if you did, follow me on X @TheInkPSB or Facebook in case I figure it out.