The Wrong Side of Ultimate Media

So I had an opinion about ultimate but I don't want to post on my main blog because I'm afraid it will get too much exposure and I'll piss someone off. Anyway, here I get more or less the same crowd, but a on bit smaller scale so I thought I'd drop it here.

Ultimate Media

To get everyone acclimated, this is what I think about when I write. I put together an article about what I believe to be a relevant topic in ultimate. Right now its Worlds and the Club Season. I've got an article about Australia up right now on the blog and 5 on mssui. I've got ones on Boston and GOAT written but I'm waiting for the editor to edit/publish them.

Anyway, so after I publish, I sort of sit back and watch what happens. The shitty thing about posting on mssui is that I get no feedback. I made a 3rd blog (wow, 3!?!) called mssuicomments where folks can talk about mssui articles but no one seems to care. I suppose now my media has become informative over opinionated so I get the feeling people just read it and go "ok". However, I do like things like bananacut but it doesn't really give me much of an indication on what folks think of what I write. I have no real idea how the site works, just that the higher the number on the side of the article, the more folks like it, I suppose. But I wonder if people that read my stuff even know about bananacut. Then again, I used to get a lot of love on bananacut but not so much anymore. Ah, whatever fuck'em.

And this is where my current topic begins.

The Wrong Side of Ultimate Media

Anyway, so there are a few kinds of Ultimate articles. Stuff like this, which is nice and cute but I think it's a waste of time and then my stuff. I write about whats going on with teams and maybe a fun topic here or there, but other folks write about the growth of ultimate or ultimate getting exposure by Sports Illustrated or something. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with this and I understand why folks do it, but I think it's just stupid. (Starting to see why this is here and not on Diesel?)

Here's my beef. When people talk about basketball or football or even golf, they never talk about playing it. Same with less main stream sports like X-games stuff. Tony Hawk isn't getting on the mike and saying "Yeah we love this stuff, all kids should get skateboards, it'll change your life". He is just doing his thing and getting some awards/endorsements in the process. The reason why he can get away with this is because most people that watch baseball or football or whatever don't want to be the sports star, they just want to watch. Yes, every 8 year old wants to be Albert Pujols, but for the bulk of the adult fan base, most grown men are just like, "what'd he do today?" and that is what I want for Ultimate.

Now I suppose some folks could say, "we'll we want the sport to grow and we are trying to get exposure for it". What I think people don't understand is the delivery of Ultimate. How many times has someone been extremely enthusiastic about something and tried to get you to do it. Maybe if you're 8 or 10 you'll pickup Skateboarding, maybe if you're 15 or 18 you'll try Snowboarding, maybe at 20 or 22 you'll pickup surfing, but after awhile our ability to integrate into something new diminishes. Making new friends, changing ones lifestyle, all that stuff gets really hard once you get a bit older, simply because you are "set in your ways" and to make matters worse, what is scarier than someone who is over enthusiastic about something that you could care less about? How quickly would you have someone's interest in horse riding or fencing or capoeira go in one ear and out the other? Lighting fast, right?

But why are these sports more successful than ultimate? Why do they bring in 10X more people than ultimate? Because the interest to watch is there, the fanhood is there. Why do you think Baseball is America's sport? Because little kids want to be superstars, construction workers and plummers follow their favorite club, there are fans.

So I suppose the main issue with this human interest pieces is that they don't spark sustained interest in the sport. People that are not into the sport appreciate that there are people out there that enjoy a different game, but aside from that, there really is no further action. It becomes a simple news story, like "local boy saves elderly woman in fire" or "local high school sets recycle record". Yes, its cute and nice, but in a week, no one cares.

A Better Direction for Ultimate

What I find depressing about ultimate is that the people that play it don't even know whats going on in the sport. They themselves are not even fans. I would venture a guess that maybe 1 in 5 ultimate players are avid fans, ie they read up on teams, they know tournament schedules, basically, they have an interest in the sport outside their own team. This is crucial because it gives our sport credibility. Take IM flag football for example. Wouldn't you venture a guess that most people that play football for fun would have some idea of what is going on with it at the highest level? Or perhaps at least more would know than don't know. Could you say this about ultimate? How many players in summer league, college programs, or even club programs know/care about Sockeye or Bravo? Or even have an opinion? This is not good. If our sport was so bad ass and people should pick it up, why aren't players actually fans of it?

This isn't to say that ultimate players are at fault because, honestly, it isn't easy to become a fan. I have been following ultimate for about 5-6 years and there are still things I don't know because a lot of the information is cryptic or not published. This is why I started a blog and why I support things like mssui so much. I think the huddle is nice and I respect the interest in it, but I just don't really care about ultimate technique that much. To me, the writers are slightly above rule junkies. Yes, I think what you're doing is good, but I just don't care. No matter how much I read, I will always be limited by my athleticism and my geography. If I hit the track a ton and move to an ultimate hub, I might be able to make Sarasota but reading every article on the huddle isn't really going to improve my game all that much. But thats just my opinion. it isn't right or wrong, just mine. Feel free to read it all you want.

However, the bottom line is that I think the expansion of our sport through "spreading awareness" and exposing new comers to it via things like CSTV is really a waste of time. People that have never seen the sport are not going to pick it up simply by seeing it on TV. Most people cannot judge something with such a brief interaction and more importantly, people are resistant to change. The only way people will get involved with something new is if they think they'll like it and what better way than to see people enjoy it themselves.

If players developed the fan core that so many other sports have, wouldn't it be a much more appealing venture to new comers? I feel like if ultimate wants the size and reach of things like Lacrosse, we as a community need to support our "heroes" more. As it stands now, I get so much shit for liking this team or that and it makes me sad because you'd never hear of someone getting shit for wearing a Celtics jersey, unless you're a Laker fan. Ultimate should be no different.

As it stands now, I think ultimate is like a pyramid scam. You have a bunch of powerful people at the top spreading the game but as they spread it, only the bottom gets bigger. The number of elite few that are earning championships doesn't change but the community expands. In my opinion, it would be better if the sport were more like a sphere. You have a dense core of elite competition but it is surrounded by different groups and organizations that contribute different things. You can have media, fans, vendors, merchandise, etc.. All things that add the sport but are not player based. More or less, it wold be nice if someone cared more about the current players/community as opposed to just constantly focusing in on new people. It reminds me of UCSD. When I was there, once you paid your tuition, they couldn't care less about you. However, they invested millions in getting new students, and once they got there, bam, you're old news.

So here are two ideas that I have regarding this topic. 1) Drop CSTV. Talk about a waste of time. Every tournament from Centex to TiV to Club Nationals is covered by Rob on Ultivillage and so many people enjoy it. However, College Nationals is not. The UPA went with CSTV in order to give their competitors the "best experience possible" but in all honesty, it didn't change the tournament at all. If you make Nationals you are already stoked and adding this or that amenity is really tangential to the whole experience. It would be like buying a baby an iPhone. A baby is just a baby. It is just happy to be there and do its thing. It's not like you have to improve its life. However, if you give that iPhone to the parent, maybe they can take pictures of their kid and send them to friends and family. Likewise, CSTV is really for the fans if anyone. Most players at Nationals don't think about ultimate outside the lines and they shouldn't. They should focus on their game and thats it. However, if you are going to film the sport, you might as well package it in a way that the fans appreciate. It is theoretically sound to give ultimate the CSTV exposure, but as it stands now, you aren't targeting the right audience. It's like building a brand new pool for a high school, when they really need a new football field. Yes, theoretically, people enjoy swimming and you might get a rise in water sport participation, but if everyone wants something else, why not give it to them? Ultivillage is the wave of the future and the truth is that it packages a better product than CSTV ever could. The fans want ultivillage and the UPA is not practicing good judgement by staying with CSTV. In my opinion, broadcasting the sport is about giving the people at home the best experience possible and CSTV does anything but.

And here is idea #2. Why doesn't the UPA subsidize 5 Ultimate by offering financial breaks to teams that buy 5 Ultimate jerseys? 5 Ultimate is all over the UPA site and rather than have companies like Under Armor and Patagonia gobble up all the money in the sport, why not offer contracts to 5 Ultimate? Here is what the UPA should do. Tell teams that if they buy 5 Ultimate uniforms, they can have their UPA dues reduced/comped. 5 Ultimate offers the UPA part of the deal and instead of having money go the UPA and Patagonia, you have a closer circle with money going to 5 Ultimate and the UPA. You build an ultimate conscience company and cover your expenditures at the same time. Whats better is that if you go with something like this, it makes it easier for these companies to make excess jerseys to sell to supporters. 5 Ultimate can request that teams buy more apparel and those teams can sell them as a fund raiser, not unlike what Wisconsin and Chain Lightning have done.

With this sort of infrastructure, you could have a 5 Ultimate website that could sell jerseys and shorts to teams as well as fans and grow in a way that no ultimate based company has been able to do. As it stands now, the biggest issue for companies like VC and GAIA is that teams drop them for Patagonia or basically shuffle around and loyalty is out the door. However, if the UPA pulled an NFL move and backed a single company like 5 Ultimate, who they already support, they could give teams an incentive to stick with them. You still have to fill out forms for UPA IDs but the membership gets paid for along with your uniforms, good idea right?

Closing Thoughts

In any event, I just wish ultimate were a bit more consistent. Things like refs and fans give the sport a legitimate shot at growing. Expanding it at just the player level is nice, but its like educating college students. Yes, giving a kid an education from UCSD or Texas or whatever is good, but how often does it reflect well on the school itself. However, if you have a football team or just have pride associated with the school, people will show much more support and you increase your reach.

The UPA talks about expanding the sport, but I think it is going about it the wrong way. Why bring in new kid after new kid that is trying to learn a flick when a majority of your sporting population doesn't even care about the sport at the highest level? Why not spend more energy investing in fans and promoting the current players/teams, rather than trying to bring in new ones. As it stands now, people have taken the time and energy to invest themselves in the sport with companies like 5 Ultimate and ultiviallge, why not reward it? Why not license the sport out to them so that they can build the sport and themselves in the process. Patagonia, CSTV, these companies don't need ultimate and they aren't helping ultimate. They are like Wallmarts, gobbling up resources and giving little back.

I am a scientist meaning I am objective and I try and persue truth where possible. Established trends and loyalties are only good if they work and right now, I think that there are better ways of doing things. If CSTV was really doing its job, why has Rob done so well? If you are going to support 5 Ultimate, why not do it with some gusto? Yes these ideas are radical, but anyone with a mind for improvement knows that if you look at something that is what you want, the best way to get it, is to follow in its footsteps. If you want a sport to be played across high schools across the country and you want ultimate to be watched by people old and young, you have to take the necessary steps. The NFL, MLB, NBA, etc... are all perfect examples and taking what they have in common and applying them to ultimate is not a sin. It is a good business strategy and if the powers that be really want the sport to grow, this is the way to go.

just my thoughts

match unleaded

PS I think this belongs on MD but I will get someone from the UPA up my ass for talking bad about them.  I hate having to always fight for my opinions, but I suppose thats the burden.  Anyway, I've got a poll up.  Should or should I not post this on MD?