Proof that Forbes knows nothing about sports

by Dex on Aug 26, 2008 3:19 PM PDT Comment 23 comments

I've always thought that the Forbes Team Valuations were bunk. I understand the financials and how they figure them, but in a real world situation, the values have always come up short of what people were willing to pay.

Now they rank the "Worst Cities to be a Sports Fan" and San Diego comes up as the second worst city to be a sports fan. They base this on median income to cost of attending and then compare that to how well the teams perform.

What blows me away is how terrible we apparently are. Sure, the Padres have sucked this year, but we have made it to the playoffs recently. The Chargers may have disappointed in the postseason, but they basically dominate the regular season.

Well, maybe we can dig deeper. Oh, here's the error. According to Forbes, we've only had ONE playoff appearance. The Chargers have been to the playoffs plenty of times recently, and so have the Padres.

Forbes: "Oh... well our formula only counts last year..."

But we only have two pro teams. Even if you only count one year, that means that we've had HALF our teams in the postseason, which makes it really fun.

Forbes: "Yeah ummm...."

And what's this about us only having a .425 winning percentage? Sure, the Padres are terrible if you're only counting this year, but The Chargers had a .688 winning percentage! (not to mention the previous years, which you've ignored)

Forbes: "Oh... well we just added the wins in football to the wins in baseball..."

But there are only 16 games in a football season. You can't compare a football win directly to a 162 game season. The numbers will get all messed up.

Forbes: "Oh... You can't? I mean..."

The rest of the list is completely ridiculous as well. It sucks being a sports fan in Indianapolis? In Pittsburgh? In New York!?

Wouldn't you have thought that when Forbes had their interns come up with this formula, that they would've checked the results to see if they made sense? When you have those kinds of cities coming up as the worst cities to be a sports fan, and they're actually cities where sports fans thrive, then maybe the numbers need to be reworked before people start to distrust everything else that you write about sports.

Gotta give them credit though. They sure know how to write a linkbait headline. You'd just think that Forbes would have a little more class.

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Fat cat bastards.

I am the virus, are you the cure? I am morally, I'm morally impure.
I am a disease and I am unclean. I am not a part of Dex's well-oiled machine. GLB nation, assimilate me. Take me in your arms and set me free. I am part of a degenerate elite...dragging our society into the streeet...into the abyss and to the sewer...don't you see? Dex just told me, he told me on the GLB.

by Drama on Aug 26, 2008 8:16 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Written by Tom Van Riper,

~~The motto of Forbes magazine is~~ “The Capitalist Tool.”

Methinks they should stick to talking about finances exclusively. Lumping all sports into a flawed formula=useless results.

Chicks Dig the Bullpen. Last years'. This year's is meager.

by eastbaysd on Aug 26, 2008 8:22 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It feels right

Maybe some of their analysis doesn’t make sense, but it does feel like San Diego isn’t a great sports town. And the reason is simple: we’ve never won anything. And furthermore we never bitch loudly about never winning anything. We have a laid back attitude about sports because deep down San Diego doesn’t want to feel the pressure of having to perform on a big stage. If you are in San Diego and want to make it to the top, you leave.

by notsotricky on Aug 26, 2008 8:47 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I disagree with most of what you've said

But I’m glad San Diego doesn’t feel the need to bitch about not winning. The day SD turns into Boston or Chicago is the day I start hating it.

by Winfield's Ghost on Aug 26, 2008 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

The ability to still enjoy life despite the fact that your sports teams fail does NOT, in fact, mean that “deep down” you want them to fail. It means that you have enough perspective to put sports in it’s proper place. I’d call that being adult, not laid back.

Padres for life

by sdgaucho on Aug 26, 2008 9:03 AM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

So San Diego is the second worst city to be a sports fan?

If you’re a fan of sports, you better leave San Diego, because there’s only one place in all of America where you could possibly be doing worse.

And if you want to be a sports fan, then make sure you’re not moving to New York. There’s nothing for you there. Don’t go to Pittsburgh, because they’re almost as bad. That’s my point.

by Dex on Aug 26, 2008 9:12 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup

We’ve had plenty of great teams, just not a team that’s won it all. The ’98 Padres were a force to be reckoned with and we ran into what has been commonly referred to as one of the best baseball teams of all time that last year in the WS. Not a whole lot we can do about that.

by Phantom on Aug 26, 2008 8:57 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

San Diego picks bad spots for playoff runs

It tends to be a very good San Diego team running into something historic.

Okay, or they just blow it. But I like the first explanation.

by goose1 on Aug 26, 2008 11:33 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Psssst

I heard Forbes called the Padres all fat.

by thenerdhater on Aug 26, 2008 9:36 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Worst city to be a sports fan

Las Vegas, Nevada – home of zero major professional level sports teams. They have the Las Vegas 51s Triple-A squad, and UNLV collegiate sports.

Nevermind that the 51s used to be a Padres affiliate, but now are a Dodgers one, so you see a ton of hats of both teams, with fans not liking each other, and for some reason there always seems to be a lot of Cubs fans present, so it kind of sucks to be there.
†Andruw Jones appears on the 51s’ current roster; looks funny to see his name on a minor league roster, but I guess we could all see that coming.

Nevermind that UNLV fans will almost always be outdrawn by fans of the away team because their opponents’ alma mater won’t ever need a better excuse to make a Vegas trip, so it kind of sucks to be a UNLV fan.

Or, I’d have to say any major city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose state has zero professional major level teams, because Washington DC does not count as a part of Virginia, and the Nationals stink, and the Orioles belong to Baltimore and Maryland, and they stink too. But while we’re on Washington, it stinks there too, because the cost of living is astronomically high, and their sports teams haven’t done squat in quite a while. Yeah, the Redskins won a bowl in like 1991, and the Bullets won a championship in like 79 or something, but they haven’t done anything else since. Not even Michael Jordan could save the Wizards. Sure, the Wiz have made the playoffs for a few years, and the Redskins keep sneaking into the playoffs with 9-7 records, and the Capitals do similarly, but as far as I’m concerned…

If you ain’t first, you’re last! (fatty)

So unless your city has a sports franchise that has won a major title in the last five years, it sucks to be you, sports fan.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Aug 26, 2008 9:38 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs

royhobbs, you might be obese, and probably have a raging case of dandruff

but I like the way you’re thinking…

What have you done for me lately San Diego?? This is exactly why I am a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan. I like San Diego for alot of reasons…burritos, the beach, the babes… but the Padres and Chargers need to win us a championship, like, NOW. Until then, you’ll see me in my Red Sox and Patriots gear getting drunk and obnoxious and cheering for “my favorite teams.”

"...do hereby declare that I am not a member of the Human race (not an earthling) and in fact am an alien from another planet other than earth. I hope that this will prove to the person that is putting electric shocks to my head that I am an alien. I am declaring this so that I am not in any violation of any world or international laws of the earth as I am showing by this admission that I am in fact an alien."

by The Kipper on Aug 26, 2008 11:34 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Vegas does have one positive

you can bet on all sports AND watch a ton of them at the same time in the sports book

by thenerdhater on Aug 26, 2008 12:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There's sports betting in Vegas?

I go purely to watch the shows. Purely. I’m pure. Purity itself. I was named “Most Pure” by Forbes Magazine. And if they said it, it must be so. I am so pure…

Chicks Dig the Bullpen. Last years'. This year's is meager.

by eastbaysd on Aug 26, 2008 12:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Drama

Email writing time. I’m sure it’s already in your draft box, unless you’re getting slow.

Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world. -Babe Ruth

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Aug 26, 2008 11:10 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

"getting"?

by Drama on Aug 26, 2008 11:12 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Even if you're "getting" fat

doesn’t mean I don’t expect an email.

17. Speaking to reporters, IOC president Jacques Rogge criticized:
(a) The Chinese government, for reportedly sentencing two protest-permit-filing septuagenarian women to a labor re-education camp
(b) The IOC, for reportedly cutting a secret deal allowing Chinese Internet censorship of foreign journalists
(c) The Chinese government, for revoking the visa of former Olympian and Team Darfur activist Joey Cheek
(d) The IOC, for saying nothing about Cheek
(e) Bolt, for being happy

by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Aug 26, 2008 11:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know.

I mean, it’s Forbes. You know? Some idiot from Forbes did zero homework and made up another stupid list. I just can’t get fired up about it. Maybe I’m just nostalgic these days…I miss the days when Dex was calling us all a bunch of fat pricks.

by Drama on Aug 26, 2008 12:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

slow = fat

With all due respect, you are not allowed to find our division rivals sexy.

by Wonko on Aug 26, 2008 11:12 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Forbes thought-showering

“Economy’s sucking, guise… let’s troll the sports nerds!”
“YAHHH!!!”

Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?

by Axion on Aug 26, 2008 11:42 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

How long is this fat thing gonna go on?

Cant we talk about something more PC, like head lice?
Flea infestations?
Hammer toe?
Having an ear growing out of one’s ass?

Chicks Dig the Bullpen. Last years'. This year's is meager.

by eastbaysd on Aug 26, 2008 12:10 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Interesting that it's you trying to rain on our parade.

Very interesting.

by Drama on Aug 26, 2008 12:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This comment makes

supermodels look fat.

There I said it.

With all due respect, you are not allowed to find our division rivals sexy.

by Wonko on Aug 26, 2008 12:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

"We are Talking about Forbes Magazine!"

We aren’t tallking about the draft.
“We are Talking about Forbes Magazine!”
We are not talking about the games.
“We are Talking about Forbes Magazine!”
We are not talking about competition.
“We are Talking about Forbes Magazine!”
We are not talking about all the other great sports in San Diego/Tijuana
“We are Talking about Forbes Magazine!”

And speaking of Forbes magazine I am going to use a quote from Warren Buffet, when they ask him out there analysis of him buying South American Oil companies in the mid 90’s. “I don’t read them”.

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. " ~Frank Sinatra

by Sammy G on Aug 26, 2008 2:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs