(Don't) Take Me Out To The Ballgame

[Commentary] Professional sports are simply more popular than ever on television. Now maybe it's all anecdotal, a temporary spike. It's been a brutal winter in most of the country, and gas prices are high, so maybe more people are staying home. But I'm convinced it's a much more significant trend, fostered by two factors. First, prices to too many sporting events are just too expensive. Second, as home television sets get larger and in clearer definition — even 3-D — people are more inclined to watch a game there in the family room, where they can see it free, and bigger and better, and in more comfortable surroundings. With today's monster-screen HDTV, if you give viewers — movies or sports — an option, they'll opt for the couch near the refrigerator at home.