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I feel like the relentless optimization of sports has also contributed to this. Everybody's got media training out the ass, the majority of games have congealed around one or two correct ways to play a given position and exposure to Instagram etc. means that whilst the stars are more accessible than they've ever been there's just not that much of a cult of personality around them.
Or maybe I'm getting old.
Good point. The relentless optimization of sports, and the altering perspective to have more advanced metrics, is precisely the specialization I'm talking about. Old time stats were fairly intuitive: Runs Batted In or Touchdown/Interception ratios or points per game. Modern stats like True Shooting Percentage and Wins Above Replacement require a lot of background knowledge to properly apply in context. It's harder to keep up with multiple sports at that level of fidelity.
I also think that Fantasy and vidya and the book Moneyball, along with tbh a lot of other social changes, have caused a lot of fans to change perspective on sports: fans used to picture themselves as the man in the arena, now they picture themselves as coaches and GMs. More and more, superfans no longer fantasize themselves as the QB leading a game winning drive, they fantasize themselves as the GM building the team. Participation in youth sports and even rec leagues has declined in the major sports {largely as a result of social forces in which middle class athletic kids have fled the classic team-ball sports in favor of weirdo shit}. People less and less picture themselves hitting the game winning three, or coming to bat in the bottom of the ninth. More and more among the extremely online and the upper middle class the fantasy seems to be playing Billy Beane GM in the front office, finding the diamond in the rough players and being smarter than everyone else, or being a coach and building a fascinating scheme that no one can penetrate.
This lends itself to deep and specific knowledge rather than broad and shallow coverage, to deep dive statistical pieces you need to understand 15 advanced concepts to comprehend versus lightweight human interest stories about how X developed The Will To Win.
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