Tune in Saturday November 1st to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Friday, 31 October 2025
Thursday, 30 October 2025
World Series-Game 5
There was a vibe.
And it was different from a regular game.
The intensity was ratcheted up a notch. You knew you were experiencing something different. And the fact that it could be seen by others on TV...never factored in. It was intimate, for the 52,175 in attendance.
But it was not a full house.
Now I'm not saying the best seats were not filled, that would be untrue. But the far distant spots in the upper deck, where it starts to curve around, out past the foul poles, you couldn't miss it...there was a veritable plethora of unsold seats.
Now you could say it was scalpers not lowering their prices to flip them... But these are the worst seats in the house, and the scalpers buy the most desirable seats, not these.
So why were they unfilled?
BECAUSE THEY COST $881!
Now the funny thing is the vibe at Dodger Stadium was better than almost any show I've been to. At the venue, there's always jockeying for position. Someone won't sit down. Others talk. And then there's the pushing ahead, the intimidation. You know, you've experienced it at an arena show. Where the music is supposed to bring us together.
But not at the World Series. As Marc mentioned, once we exited the building, it would be a different story. And he was right. As soon as we hit the parking lot the police had a fan in a hold against a patrol car, arm extended, signing...
Blake said it was an agreement not to come back... For at least a year. There have been too many fan on fan crimes in the Dodgers lot. So the cops are cracking down.
But inside the building?
Everybody was friendly, everybody was in it together, it was the culmination of a long season, everybody was there for the Dodgers, for the game... Sure, there were a few Jays fans, but mostly you saw an ocean of Dodger blue.
And it was like a party.
This is not the baseball of yore, a solemn event. Where you sit quietly until the action takes place. There was a constant stream of music. Cheerleaders throwing t-shirts. It was all amped-up, sans the viciousness of the NFL.
Have you seen these players? Unlike in the Mantle/Mays days, they work out. But they're all not perfect physical specimens. They're short, they're tall, some are a bit overweight...but they have the skills. This makes baseball different, the only direct equivalent I can think of is golf.
But baseball's got a different momentum. Sure, the pitcher is regularly in action, like the golfer, but really what we're waiting for is a burst of activity, a hit.
And the Dodgers seem to have lost the ability to do so. And you can't win without scoring runs. And sure, the Jays' pitcher was stupendous and...
This isn't the baseball of the past forty years. This baseball goes fast, almost TOO FAST! The innings are going by and you want to put on the brakes, because this is the last game at the stadium for the year. But with the new rules, if there's not a lot of offense...
And the Jays are playing a different game, more old school, moving the runners around the bases. The Dodgers play statistical baseball, and it says to go for the long ball. And sometimes that works, but last night it did not.
So normally a game is an outing... The food is as important as what takes place on the field. But in this case, I couldn't get up, the food was irrelevant, I wanted to soak up the action, the experience, it demanded your attention.
And the question was...is it the same everywhere else?
Marc said no way... You don't get the party vibe in New York. And he also said you don't see overweight people at Dodger Stadium, that the contrast was palpable.
But what you've got to know, especially now, when "California" is a pejorative, when half the country has labeled it a hellhole... We've disconnected. We're not fighting back, why? Stay where you want, we have it good. Where else can you watch baseball at the end of October in the eighties? In your shorts and t-shirt?
Yes, it was a celebration of California culture, a victory lap. With the broad sky and the palm trees in the distance... A veritable paradise. How could you not feel good?
I will say that the air started to come out of the balloon at the end of the middle innings, especially when the Blue Jays pulled so far ahead, but before that? Everybody was in it together, willing the Dodgers to perform...
Even though they didn't.
So you had to be there... Just like at a show. But at what price?
Now you can't watch the show at home, except for rarely, like with Coachella. But if you tune in that just gives you FOMO. Yet baseball is all over TV, it used to depress ticket sales drastically. But not in L.A... Which always leads the league in attendance, in one of the oldest parks in existence. Sure, the food is better than it used to be, but not in the league of the two new stadiums in NYC, never mind elsewhere. The product isn't much different from what it was in the sixties. It's traditional, even down to the symmetrical field.
So what is the draw?
It's almost mystical.
In reality, Los Angeles is a two team town. The Dodgers and the Lakers. Sure, there are other outfits, other leagues, but if you live here you know, these two are the primary ones. And everybody is aware of them and how they're doing.
But the passion is different. On the east coast you want to fight to the death over your team, that's the way support is evidenced, with attitude, almost anger. Whereas here...it's all pleasant.
Then again, how to describe the vibe of Los Angeles to those who see it as a scary place where no one can make ends meet? But in truth, L.A. is a giant suburb, and chances are where you live there's little crime, you feel safe, which is what it really comes down to. And how depressed can you be about your problems, how much can you complain, when every day it's sunny and warm, all you have to do is walk out the front door to feel glad to be alive.
Which means you don't need a sports team to feel good about yourself. The team is an addition to your life, not everything.
But what is it worth to you? Do you need to go?
Obviously some saw the financial proposition as too much. Nearly a grand for a baseball game? No. Whereas with shows there's no limit to what people will pay just to be inside, as long as they can see the stage.
So why don't they charge what the tickets are worth at concerts?
In sports, it's a badge of honor to have paid a lot.
And the funny thing with shows is for all the bitching and moaning, people still buy the tickets. Because they need to be there and the ducats are probably underpriced.
But they hate on acts...say they're greedy if the ticket prices are too high.
Maybe that's a difference. The Dodgers are the Ticketmaster of the team. They take the heat and the players skate... The players are fungible, the team remains. Whereas with concerts, it's the act's name on the marquee.
But why should shows be priced artificially low? Let's go one step further, why should the entire industry be handicapped by the vocal few who bitch about high prices and either pay them or don't go? Fans are willing to pay. And if the acts don't charge, then the secondary market gets all the uplift.
These guaranteed sellout acts should take a page from the Stones. Admit that they're worth it and charge a fortune, what the tickets are truly worth. They're gonna sell, and no one comes out of a show and says they paid too much for a ticket. Either they loved it or they didn't. Price doesn't come into the equation, no one says I paid $200 but really it was only a $100 show.
But that's the world we live in. Where everybody's afraid of the bogeyman. That there's some force out there and if you make one false move...
Newsom has proven this wrong for the Democrats... Ironic that he's from California. Schumer and Jeffries are still pussyfooting.
If the concert industry shook off the constraints and charged what the tickets are worth... The audience would adjust, get over it, in a short period of time, they'd accept this as normal. This is kind of like the switch from sale to subscription by Adobe and then Microsoft... Sure, there are people complaining that they used to pay once and have it forever, but under the new model, you get constant updates. Adobe's revenue went down for a brief period, and then shot up!
It's about changing the mind-set.
In the concert industry we've got the fallacy that the problem is Ticketmaster. No, the problem is we've got too many people fighting for too few underpriced tickets. Who wouldn't want to be a scalper. Score a good seat for $250 and you can flip it for a grand! It's found money! Sure, not every show...but a lot of these acts are guaranteed sellouts.
So you can sit there at home and instead of complaining you can't get a ticket in the frenzy, you'll ask yourself what is it worth to you to go?
Nobody on the consumption side is going to like this at first. Just like they said music should be free back in the sixties. An extremely desirable good, which is perishable to boot, is going to command increased attention and ultimately revenue...why not capture it?
All you've got to do is be brave.
You're paying for Ohtani to play for the Dodgers, we're all paying. We don't sit at home and say he should take less. If anything, we know that if he does, the Dodgers and their deep pocketed owners will just capture the revenue. Why can't acts be paid what they're worth? So the secondary market doesn't capture the uplift?
We need a change of heart and mind. Someone's just got to step up, and then the whole paradigm will flip. This is what the audience wants, a fair shot at getting a good ticket. And under the present system, that's an illusion. Yes, this will probably cause face value to go up, but it can also go down, based on demand... Like I said, the public thought corner upper deck seats weren't worth the price...but they still had the option to buy them. Wouldn't you like the option?
--
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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And it was different from a regular game.
The intensity was ratcheted up a notch. You knew you were experiencing something different. And the fact that it could be seen by others on TV...never factored in. It was intimate, for the 52,175 in attendance.
But it was not a full house.
Now I'm not saying the best seats were not filled, that would be untrue. But the far distant spots in the upper deck, where it starts to curve around, out past the foul poles, you couldn't miss it...there was a veritable plethora of unsold seats.
Now you could say it was scalpers not lowering their prices to flip them... But these are the worst seats in the house, and the scalpers buy the most desirable seats, not these.
So why were they unfilled?
BECAUSE THEY COST $881!
Now the funny thing is the vibe at Dodger Stadium was better than almost any show I've been to. At the venue, there's always jockeying for position. Someone won't sit down. Others talk. And then there's the pushing ahead, the intimidation. You know, you've experienced it at an arena show. Where the music is supposed to bring us together.
But not at the World Series. As Marc mentioned, once we exited the building, it would be a different story. And he was right. As soon as we hit the parking lot the police had a fan in a hold against a patrol car, arm extended, signing...
Blake said it was an agreement not to come back... For at least a year. There have been too many fan on fan crimes in the Dodgers lot. So the cops are cracking down.
But inside the building?
Everybody was friendly, everybody was in it together, it was the culmination of a long season, everybody was there for the Dodgers, for the game... Sure, there were a few Jays fans, but mostly you saw an ocean of Dodger blue.
And it was like a party.
This is not the baseball of yore, a solemn event. Where you sit quietly until the action takes place. There was a constant stream of music. Cheerleaders throwing t-shirts. It was all amped-up, sans the viciousness of the NFL.
Have you seen these players? Unlike in the Mantle/Mays days, they work out. But they're all not perfect physical specimens. They're short, they're tall, some are a bit overweight...but they have the skills. This makes baseball different, the only direct equivalent I can think of is golf.
But baseball's got a different momentum. Sure, the pitcher is regularly in action, like the golfer, but really what we're waiting for is a burst of activity, a hit.
And the Dodgers seem to have lost the ability to do so. And you can't win without scoring runs. And sure, the Jays' pitcher was stupendous and...
This isn't the baseball of the past forty years. This baseball goes fast, almost TOO FAST! The innings are going by and you want to put on the brakes, because this is the last game at the stadium for the year. But with the new rules, if there's not a lot of offense...
And the Jays are playing a different game, more old school, moving the runners around the bases. The Dodgers play statistical baseball, and it says to go for the long ball. And sometimes that works, but last night it did not.
So normally a game is an outing... The food is as important as what takes place on the field. But in this case, I couldn't get up, the food was irrelevant, I wanted to soak up the action, the experience, it demanded your attention.
And the question was...is it the same everywhere else?
Marc said no way... You don't get the party vibe in New York. And he also said you don't see overweight people at Dodger Stadium, that the contrast was palpable.
But what you've got to know, especially now, when "California" is a pejorative, when half the country has labeled it a hellhole... We've disconnected. We're not fighting back, why? Stay where you want, we have it good. Where else can you watch baseball at the end of October in the eighties? In your shorts and t-shirt?
Yes, it was a celebration of California culture, a victory lap. With the broad sky and the palm trees in the distance... A veritable paradise. How could you not feel good?
I will say that the air started to come out of the balloon at the end of the middle innings, especially when the Blue Jays pulled so far ahead, but before that? Everybody was in it together, willing the Dodgers to perform...
Even though they didn't.
So you had to be there... Just like at a show. But at what price?
Now you can't watch the show at home, except for rarely, like with Coachella. But if you tune in that just gives you FOMO. Yet baseball is all over TV, it used to depress ticket sales drastically. But not in L.A... Which always leads the league in attendance, in one of the oldest parks in existence. Sure, the food is better than it used to be, but not in the league of the two new stadiums in NYC, never mind elsewhere. The product isn't much different from what it was in the sixties. It's traditional, even down to the symmetrical field.
So what is the draw?
It's almost mystical.
In reality, Los Angeles is a two team town. The Dodgers and the Lakers. Sure, there are other outfits, other leagues, but if you live here you know, these two are the primary ones. And everybody is aware of them and how they're doing.
But the passion is different. On the east coast you want to fight to the death over your team, that's the way support is evidenced, with attitude, almost anger. Whereas here...it's all pleasant.
Then again, how to describe the vibe of Los Angeles to those who see it as a scary place where no one can make ends meet? But in truth, L.A. is a giant suburb, and chances are where you live there's little crime, you feel safe, which is what it really comes down to. And how depressed can you be about your problems, how much can you complain, when every day it's sunny and warm, all you have to do is walk out the front door to feel glad to be alive.
Which means you don't need a sports team to feel good about yourself. The team is an addition to your life, not everything.
But what is it worth to you? Do you need to go?
Obviously some saw the financial proposition as too much. Nearly a grand for a baseball game? No. Whereas with shows there's no limit to what people will pay just to be inside, as long as they can see the stage.
So why don't they charge what the tickets are worth at concerts?
In sports, it's a badge of honor to have paid a lot.
And the funny thing with shows is for all the bitching and moaning, people still buy the tickets. Because they need to be there and the ducats are probably underpriced.
But they hate on acts...say they're greedy if the ticket prices are too high.
Maybe that's a difference. The Dodgers are the Ticketmaster of the team. They take the heat and the players skate... The players are fungible, the team remains. Whereas with concerts, it's the act's name on the marquee.
But why should shows be priced artificially low? Let's go one step further, why should the entire industry be handicapped by the vocal few who bitch about high prices and either pay them or don't go? Fans are willing to pay. And if the acts don't charge, then the secondary market gets all the uplift.
These guaranteed sellout acts should take a page from the Stones. Admit that they're worth it and charge a fortune, what the tickets are truly worth. They're gonna sell, and no one comes out of a show and says they paid too much for a ticket. Either they loved it or they didn't. Price doesn't come into the equation, no one says I paid $200 but really it was only a $100 show.
But that's the world we live in. Where everybody's afraid of the bogeyman. That there's some force out there and if you make one false move...
Newsom has proven this wrong for the Democrats... Ironic that he's from California. Schumer and Jeffries are still pussyfooting.
If the concert industry shook off the constraints and charged what the tickets are worth... The audience would adjust, get over it, in a short period of time, they'd accept this as normal. This is kind of like the switch from sale to subscription by Adobe and then Microsoft... Sure, there are people complaining that they used to pay once and have it forever, but under the new model, you get constant updates. Adobe's revenue went down for a brief period, and then shot up!
It's about changing the mind-set.
In the concert industry we've got the fallacy that the problem is Ticketmaster. No, the problem is we've got too many people fighting for too few underpriced tickets. Who wouldn't want to be a scalper. Score a good seat for $250 and you can flip it for a grand! It's found money! Sure, not every show...but a lot of these acts are guaranteed sellouts.
So you can sit there at home and instead of complaining you can't get a ticket in the frenzy, you'll ask yourself what is it worth to you to go?
Nobody on the consumption side is going to like this at first. Just like they said music should be free back in the sixties. An extremely desirable good, which is perishable to boot, is going to command increased attention and ultimately revenue...why not capture it?
All you've got to do is be brave.
You're paying for Ohtani to play for the Dodgers, we're all paying. We don't sit at home and say he should take less. If anything, we know that if he does, the Dodgers and their deep pocketed owners will just capture the revenue. Why can't acts be paid what they're worth? So the secondary market doesn't capture the uplift?
We need a change of heart and mind. Someone's just got to step up, and then the whole paradigm will flip. This is what the audience wants, a fair shot at getting a good ticket. And under the present system, that's an illusion. Yes, this will probably cause face value to go up, but it can also go down, based on demand... Like I said, the public thought corner upper deck seats weren't worth the price...but they still had the option to buy them. Wouldn't you like the option?
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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KT Tunstall-This Week's Podcast
A one woman tour de force!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kt-tunstall/id1316200737?i=1000734192646
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zGZwfJTILuSMF2ZaDN6UU?si=KM8FydnyRR6wc3aRvuV_Zg
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/kt-tunstall-303836787/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/2546e3ec-c024-4f86-83d7-f0d958d910c3/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-kt-tunstall
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kt-tunstall/id1316200737?i=1000734192646
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zGZwfJTILuSMF2ZaDN6UU?si=KM8FydnyRR6wc3aRvuV_Zg
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/kt-tunstall-303836787/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/2546e3ec-c024-4f86-83d7-f0d958d910c3/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-kt-tunstall
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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Tuesday, 28 October 2025
The Game
1
"Baseball players aren't so square
They've got beards and stringy hair"
"The Sixties"
https://open.spotify.com/track/1Uhgw36mJ8HnPyVUMNdnIa?si=4420d00af8eb421c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiwIKZuTy_c
Do you know this song? It's from T-Bone Burnett's 1983 album "Proof Through the Night." He tried to make it as an artist before he broke through as a big time producer... I'd say the Counting Crows' debut was his breakthrough...remember when there used to be a buzz on a band, when you wondered who'd they'd sign with, when you'd go to the Whisky for the record company sponsored debut? I do. And I remember seeing Counting Crows but...
But, I bought T-Bone's solo debut, "Truth Decay," because by then we knew who he was and I'd purchased the Alpha Band record, which I was disappointed in, and if you were invested in an artist, you followed them through. Which led me to "Proof Through the Night" and "The Sixties"...you should listen to it, especially now, it's a time capsule of what once was, which is kind of funny, because at the time it was a reflection upon what had come before.
Baseball players were clean-cut. Music and dope and long hair was not for players, they were part of an American institution. And then they started wearing double-knits ("Eddie, Are You Kidding?"...if you don't get the reference, you've got something to look forward to in life) and doing cocaine and it turned out being rich and famous they were further over the line than the hoi polloi. And T-Bone captured this head-scratching change in this song.
Because by the eighties, everything was up for grabs. Baseball had been supplanted by football as America's Pastime. MTV made musical stars bigger than they'd ever been. Reagan legitimized greed and even Jerry Rubin became a stockbroker (I doubt today's kids even know his name, never mind Abbie Hoffman's...) And Steinbrenner resuscitated the Yankees and the Mets had another run and then we came to the hedonistic nineties and..
Baby boomers were still invested in baseball, the same way they're invested in the Beatles, they'd been there, done that.
2
Turn seventy and your life can become one big victory lap, revisiting your old haunts, reminiscing about past activities, stuck in the mire. You can be an aged act singing songs you wrote in your twenties to those maybe a step from the grave.
Or you can re-evaluate and try to push forward. Take risks, march towards new horizons.
Or you can get even deeper into what once was.
I was baseball-crazy in the early sixties. Could tell you every player, knew the stats from the baseball cards and the magazines...but somewhere along the line I lost my dedication. Started after I realized I was never going to play in the major leagues. Which as a kid you believe you can do. Before the aforementioned Beatles it was the heart's desire of nearly every young American male (before girls started playing in the Little League).
Records were broken by faceless players, at least to you, but the game soldiered on. And compromised its gravitas in the process. Pursued the NFL instead of walking its own way. Focusing on television and the bucks as opposed to the game.
Baseball was a daylight sport, to be played in the afternoon. We hated that the World Series started while we were still in school, but we caught the full games over the weekend and...we rushed home to catch the last few innings on TV during the week...hopefully the principal put the game on the PA before class ended.
That's how big baseball was.
It's not that big anymore.
It's kind of like music. Football is Taylor Swift. Actually, bigger. And then every league has its own following. Every sport has its own following, with community available on the internet, and baseball is just another sport.
I hate that they modernized the rules, but they had to, the games were becoming interminable. Which I thought about during last night's marathon...it would have been twice as long if they'd allowed the batter to keep stepping out of the box, the pitcher to take extra time on the mound. Now the game flows, it's comprehensible.
Other than for the relief pitchers.
3
This is one thing I can't get past. It's changed the character of the game. A complete game is a rarity, akin to a diamond certified album, something from the old days. You pitch your five innings and...they bring in endless relievers.
It's all about statistics. And the statistics say not to bunt, to go for the home run, but they also say that pitch count is everything and...
You bring in a reliever and often the game changes completely. This is not a one inning closer with a smoking fastball, and when you're fresh from the bullpen how's your control?
In many cases not good. So you walk people and the whole game changes.
But that's the new sport. And I enjoy going to Dodger Stadium, love the experience, because it's still one place where all races and economic classes mix. But I never watch at home. I don't have that much time. Or I'd rather dedicate my time elsewhere. And people tell me how they're watching and I say I'll do so in the old folks home (which maybe they're already living in, in their mind anyway).
But that does not mean I don't pay attention.
But that gets harder now that the paper doesn't print the standings.
So I knew the Dodgers were playing the Blue Jays. And I followed the initial games from afar, being many time zones away, but now I was back and...was I going to watch?
Baseball, unlike basketball, is never over. You can always come back from behind. And now with the endless relief pitching, who is dominating at first might be far behind in the later innings. So I watch the score and...
Stopping Netflix for Felice's bathroom break, I switched to the game and it was the eighth inning and it was tied and...
This I was into.
And needless did I know I would be into it for another three plus hours.
4
Like George Carlin said, baseball can go on forever!
Well, not anymore. They put a runner on second.
But not in the World Series!
And by now the Blue Jays were wise. They wouldn't let Ohtani hit. And the Dodgers weren't connecting at the plate, especially the bottom of the order.
As for the Jays...
I've always been an American League fan. I hated the Dodgers when I lived in Connecticut. Started to warm up in the days of Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson's pinch hit home run...
But that was 1988, nearly forty years ago. Can you believe it?
I certainly can't.
And in the passing time our country has completely changed, now it's the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, and the haves possess dugout seats, and sit behind the plate, roped-off from the hoi polloi, and by time I tuned in, a number had already left, or never got there to begin with. FOR THE WORLD SERIES??
Tickets to the Series were a dream. Unattainable. To just be there. Now if you're rich enough you can do anything, and say you did. You don't need the same passion. But passion is everything.
So the innings played out, one by one. One nailbiter after another. The commentators creating nonexistent controversies... Like the umpire expert ultimately said, if the catcher has the ball, he can block the plate. Everybody knows that. The rules are baked into us from those days back when.
Inning after inning. Like the sixties. You'd wake up and find out a game on the west coast went twenty two innings. Wow, to be there!
Now eventually, by time the game ended, at 11 PM on the west coast, a good number of people had left. But if you believed, if you were hard core, you had to be there.
And you couldn't turn the TV off.
The thing about baseball is you manage yourself. I'm sitting there thinking...doesn't Dave Roberts know he's going to run out of pitchers? Is he so baked into the data that he's lost common sense?
And first the Blue Jays burned out the bench and then the Dodgers, pinch runners and pinch hitters didn't move the needle.
And then there was little base activity and it looked like NO ONE would ever score. We know, unlike Carlin, that a game eventually ends, but would this one?
I'd say the Jays had a bit more momentum. And our pitchers were not as good.
And pitching became everything.
And at this point, I'm a Dodger fan. Felice has abdicated, resigned, she can't get over them going to the White House. We all take our personal stands.
But the thing about the Dodgers is... It's L.A! Not like New York. It's not gritty, but airy. We are not so eager to cut our heroes down and keep them in the doghouse. Baseball retains some of its core elements here. November is too late for baseball in most of the country, but not in L.A. Used to be the season never started before April and the Series was the first week of October... The Boys of Summer played in the summer.
But not anymore. Now it's about the bucks.
That was the great thing about baseball. It was pure, based on the record... If you had the best in your league, you went to the World Series. Not anymore. Which sucks.
But it's getting colder in the nation and we're still playing this game, WE'RE STILL PLAYING THIS GAME!
Roberts brings in Clayton Kershaw... If he's retiring, how old am I? And I'm worried about control, especially with all those men on base, you don't want to walk someone in.
And then Roberts pulls him after he closes out the inning.
Which leaves us with the dregs, Will Klein, who even spent part of the year in the minors. A closer who's only good for a few pitches, an inning or maybe two...
But Klein turned out to be the Hanukkah pitcher... The lamp kept burning, long after they thought the fuel was gone.
But that's not real life. In real life... Will Klein has pitched so many innings, can go so long, he can do it.
And he did. With his smoking fastball and good control.
Which started to flag at the last minute, but he closed out the Blue Jays.
And then came Freddie Freeman.
5
These are men playing a boys' game. You realize this when you're older than they are. They're no longer heroes, just engines of profit (then again, I'm glad they get fat salaries, better they get remunerated than the deep pocket owners).
But the other thing is they're professionals. Which means if the ball is catchable, if the play is doable, they will succeed. Not always, not like back in the day, the fundamentals are not imbued as much as they used to be, but when your heart sinks when you hear the crack of the bat...you know there's a good chance it's covered.
But these guys still live in the locker room. It's a different ethos. A band of brothers based on jockeying for position. You fight on the field, but also off it, albeit psychologically.
But they're out there doing it. The cash is good, but the dream is not as rosy as we thought it was when we were little. What's it like to peak before you're forty?
And it's not like anybody is a national hero anymore. We're subjected to all your warts, all your faux pas. But still, you show up and play the game.
Meanwhile, the biggest star in the game is from Japan. That'll get your head twisting like Regan in "The Exorcist."
And you knew the Dodgers always had the chance of coming back, that's the beauty of playing in your own building.
But as time wore on you had to remind yourself, when your emotions and nerve-endings were shot, that this was not the final game, it was still early in the Series, and whoever won or lost...it made a difference, but it didn't mean everything.
And then the players themselves seemed to run out of gas. You started to wonder if anybody could hit the ball. Was it going to be a matter of waiting for one of the pitchers, the last pitcher, to wear out?
And Klein's speed started to wane, and he lost some of his accuracy too. At what point would this be determinative?
And the opposing pitcher, Little, had less time on the mound.
Nobody was scoring. Everybody was waiting for the big home run.
But it never came.
Until it did.
And then Dodger Stadium erupted. And I smiled. You had to. This was the joy of the game. As Bob Costas famously said, "sports are a metaphor for life," and it's the little victories that matter.
And they are little. With so much in the pipeline only diehards can remember award winners and champions.
But in the moment...
Actually, it was the team's emotions that were the spark, in reaction to Freddie's home run. After all, this was their workplace. They'd lived half the year for this, maybe their whole lives, this was a spontaneous release.
And you could feel it.
Will we feel it tonight, going forward?
Possibly, but this contest of wills that used to be seen in baseball is not as prevalent as it was previously. There's the mid-game pitching change that can alter the momentum. And everybody's swinging for the fences... They're not eking out runs, they come in blasts, in packs. And they did earlier in last night's game, but then the contest quieted down.
It was just like the old days.
And those days were best.
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"Baseball players aren't so square
They've got beards and stringy hair"
"The Sixties"
https://open.spotify.com/track/1Uhgw36mJ8HnPyVUMNdnIa?si=4420d00af8eb421c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiwIKZuTy_c
Do you know this song? It's from T-Bone Burnett's 1983 album "Proof Through the Night." He tried to make it as an artist before he broke through as a big time producer... I'd say the Counting Crows' debut was his breakthrough...remember when there used to be a buzz on a band, when you wondered who'd they'd sign with, when you'd go to the Whisky for the record company sponsored debut? I do. And I remember seeing Counting Crows but...
But, I bought T-Bone's solo debut, "Truth Decay," because by then we knew who he was and I'd purchased the Alpha Band record, which I was disappointed in, and if you were invested in an artist, you followed them through. Which led me to "Proof Through the Night" and "The Sixties"...you should listen to it, especially now, it's a time capsule of what once was, which is kind of funny, because at the time it was a reflection upon what had come before.
Baseball players were clean-cut. Music and dope and long hair was not for players, they were part of an American institution. And then they started wearing double-knits ("Eddie, Are You Kidding?"...if you don't get the reference, you've got something to look forward to in life) and doing cocaine and it turned out being rich and famous they were further over the line than the hoi polloi. And T-Bone captured this head-scratching change in this song.
Because by the eighties, everything was up for grabs. Baseball had been supplanted by football as America's Pastime. MTV made musical stars bigger than they'd ever been. Reagan legitimized greed and even Jerry Rubin became a stockbroker (I doubt today's kids even know his name, never mind Abbie Hoffman's...) And Steinbrenner resuscitated the Yankees and the Mets had another run and then we came to the hedonistic nineties and..
Baby boomers were still invested in baseball, the same way they're invested in the Beatles, they'd been there, done that.
2
Turn seventy and your life can become one big victory lap, revisiting your old haunts, reminiscing about past activities, stuck in the mire. You can be an aged act singing songs you wrote in your twenties to those maybe a step from the grave.
Or you can re-evaluate and try to push forward. Take risks, march towards new horizons.
Or you can get even deeper into what once was.
I was baseball-crazy in the early sixties. Could tell you every player, knew the stats from the baseball cards and the magazines...but somewhere along the line I lost my dedication. Started after I realized I was never going to play in the major leagues. Which as a kid you believe you can do. Before the aforementioned Beatles it was the heart's desire of nearly every young American male (before girls started playing in the Little League).
Records were broken by faceless players, at least to you, but the game soldiered on. And compromised its gravitas in the process. Pursued the NFL instead of walking its own way. Focusing on television and the bucks as opposed to the game.
Baseball was a daylight sport, to be played in the afternoon. We hated that the World Series started while we were still in school, but we caught the full games over the weekend and...we rushed home to catch the last few innings on TV during the week...hopefully the principal put the game on the PA before class ended.
That's how big baseball was.
It's not that big anymore.
It's kind of like music. Football is Taylor Swift. Actually, bigger. And then every league has its own following. Every sport has its own following, with community available on the internet, and baseball is just another sport.
I hate that they modernized the rules, but they had to, the games were becoming interminable. Which I thought about during last night's marathon...it would have been twice as long if they'd allowed the batter to keep stepping out of the box, the pitcher to take extra time on the mound. Now the game flows, it's comprehensible.
Other than for the relief pitchers.
3
This is one thing I can't get past. It's changed the character of the game. A complete game is a rarity, akin to a diamond certified album, something from the old days. You pitch your five innings and...they bring in endless relievers.
It's all about statistics. And the statistics say not to bunt, to go for the home run, but they also say that pitch count is everything and...
You bring in a reliever and often the game changes completely. This is not a one inning closer with a smoking fastball, and when you're fresh from the bullpen how's your control?
In many cases not good. So you walk people and the whole game changes.
But that's the new sport. And I enjoy going to Dodger Stadium, love the experience, because it's still one place where all races and economic classes mix. But I never watch at home. I don't have that much time. Or I'd rather dedicate my time elsewhere. And people tell me how they're watching and I say I'll do so in the old folks home (which maybe they're already living in, in their mind anyway).
But that does not mean I don't pay attention.
But that gets harder now that the paper doesn't print the standings.
So I knew the Dodgers were playing the Blue Jays. And I followed the initial games from afar, being many time zones away, but now I was back and...was I going to watch?
Baseball, unlike basketball, is never over. You can always come back from behind. And now with the endless relief pitching, who is dominating at first might be far behind in the later innings. So I watch the score and...
Stopping Netflix for Felice's bathroom break, I switched to the game and it was the eighth inning and it was tied and...
This I was into.
And needless did I know I would be into it for another three plus hours.
4
Like George Carlin said, baseball can go on forever!
Well, not anymore. They put a runner on second.
But not in the World Series!
And by now the Blue Jays were wise. They wouldn't let Ohtani hit. And the Dodgers weren't connecting at the plate, especially the bottom of the order.
As for the Jays...
I've always been an American League fan. I hated the Dodgers when I lived in Connecticut. Started to warm up in the days of Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson's pinch hit home run...
But that was 1988, nearly forty years ago. Can you believe it?
I certainly can't.
And in the passing time our country has completely changed, now it's the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, and the haves possess dugout seats, and sit behind the plate, roped-off from the hoi polloi, and by time I tuned in, a number had already left, or never got there to begin with. FOR THE WORLD SERIES??
Tickets to the Series were a dream. Unattainable. To just be there. Now if you're rich enough you can do anything, and say you did. You don't need the same passion. But passion is everything.
So the innings played out, one by one. One nailbiter after another. The commentators creating nonexistent controversies... Like the umpire expert ultimately said, if the catcher has the ball, he can block the plate. Everybody knows that. The rules are baked into us from those days back when.
Inning after inning. Like the sixties. You'd wake up and find out a game on the west coast went twenty two innings. Wow, to be there!
Now eventually, by time the game ended, at 11 PM on the west coast, a good number of people had left. But if you believed, if you were hard core, you had to be there.
And you couldn't turn the TV off.
The thing about baseball is you manage yourself. I'm sitting there thinking...doesn't Dave Roberts know he's going to run out of pitchers? Is he so baked into the data that he's lost common sense?
And first the Blue Jays burned out the bench and then the Dodgers, pinch runners and pinch hitters didn't move the needle.
And then there was little base activity and it looked like NO ONE would ever score. We know, unlike Carlin, that a game eventually ends, but would this one?
I'd say the Jays had a bit more momentum. And our pitchers were not as good.
And pitching became everything.
And at this point, I'm a Dodger fan. Felice has abdicated, resigned, she can't get over them going to the White House. We all take our personal stands.
But the thing about the Dodgers is... It's L.A! Not like New York. It's not gritty, but airy. We are not so eager to cut our heroes down and keep them in the doghouse. Baseball retains some of its core elements here. November is too late for baseball in most of the country, but not in L.A. Used to be the season never started before April and the Series was the first week of October... The Boys of Summer played in the summer.
But not anymore. Now it's about the bucks.
That was the great thing about baseball. It was pure, based on the record... If you had the best in your league, you went to the World Series. Not anymore. Which sucks.
But it's getting colder in the nation and we're still playing this game, WE'RE STILL PLAYING THIS GAME!
Roberts brings in Clayton Kershaw... If he's retiring, how old am I? And I'm worried about control, especially with all those men on base, you don't want to walk someone in.
And then Roberts pulls him after he closes out the inning.
Which leaves us with the dregs, Will Klein, who even spent part of the year in the minors. A closer who's only good for a few pitches, an inning or maybe two...
But Klein turned out to be the Hanukkah pitcher... The lamp kept burning, long after they thought the fuel was gone.
But that's not real life. In real life... Will Klein has pitched so many innings, can go so long, he can do it.
And he did. With his smoking fastball and good control.
Which started to flag at the last minute, but he closed out the Blue Jays.
And then came Freddie Freeman.
5
These are men playing a boys' game. You realize this when you're older than they are. They're no longer heroes, just engines of profit (then again, I'm glad they get fat salaries, better they get remunerated than the deep pocket owners).
But the other thing is they're professionals. Which means if the ball is catchable, if the play is doable, they will succeed. Not always, not like back in the day, the fundamentals are not imbued as much as they used to be, but when your heart sinks when you hear the crack of the bat...you know there's a good chance it's covered.
But these guys still live in the locker room. It's a different ethos. A band of brothers based on jockeying for position. You fight on the field, but also off it, albeit psychologically.
But they're out there doing it. The cash is good, but the dream is not as rosy as we thought it was when we were little. What's it like to peak before you're forty?
And it's not like anybody is a national hero anymore. We're subjected to all your warts, all your faux pas. But still, you show up and play the game.
Meanwhile, the biggest star in the game is from Japan. That'll get your head twisting like Regan in "The Exorcist."
And you knew the Dodgers always had the chance of coming back, that's the beauty of playing in your own building.
But as time wore on you had to remind yourself, when your emotions and nerve-endings were shot, that this was not the final game, it was still early in the Series, and whoever won or lost...it made a difference, but it didn't mean everything.
And then the players themselves seemed to run out of gas. You started to wonder if anybody could hit the ball. Was it going to be a matter of waiting for one of the pitchers, the last pitcher, to wear out?
And Klein's speed started to wane, and he lost some of his accuracy too. At what point would this be determinative?
And the opposing pitcher, Little, had less time on the mound.
Nobody was scoring. Everybody was waiting for the big home run.
But it never came.
Until it did.
And then Dodger Stadium erupted. And I smiled. You had to. This was the joy of the game. As Bob Costas famously said, "sports are a metaphor for life," and it's the little victories that matter.
And they are little. With so much in the pipeline only diehards can remember award winners and champions.
But in the moment...
Actually, it was the team's emotions that were the spark, in reaction to Freddie's home run. After all, this was their workplace. They'd lived half the year for this, maybe their whole lives, this was a spontaneous release.
And you could feel it.
Will we feel it tonight, going forward?
Possibly, but this contest of wills that used to be seen in baseball is not as prevalent as it was previously. There's the mid-game pitching change that can alter the momentum. And everybody's swinging for the fences... They're not eking out runs, they come in blasts, in packs. And they did earlier in last night's game, but then the contest quieted down.
It was just like the old days.
And those days were best.
--
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Sunday, 26 October 2025
More Springsteen-Deliver Me From Nowhere
It's a business. Just because you liked the film, that does not mean it will be a commercial success, which was my point.
Funny how all the left wingers who can't understand how people vote for Trump can't understand that the masses might not go to see this movie.
This is no different from the Swifties, who spew hate at me fifteen years later. They're defending their turf. The rest of the public?
Shrugs.
The goal of making a major motion picture is to make money, how do you achieve that?
If you have a niche product, then your film must be extremely good, so great that it engenders word of mouth, such that people who were not paying attention in the first place are going to be motivated to go.
This is what happened with the Dylan movie, "A Complete Unknown." It opened domestically the first weekend to $11,655,553 and then continued to $23.2 million in the first week and ultimately $140 in all.
As for Bruce's movie... The initial three day gross was $9.1 million.
However, unlike "A Complete Unknown," the reviews were not so positive. The Dylan flick has an 82 critics' rating on RottenTomatoes as opposed to "Deliver Me From Nowhere"'s 61. So will the general public be inspired to see it? Will people enjoy it if they aren't fans of Bruce? You needed to know nothing about Bob to enjoy his movie, as for the Boss?
Now $9.1 million may seem close to $11,655,553, but the devil is in the details... "A Complete Unknown" opened in 2,835 theatres and "Deliver Me From Nowhere" opened in 3.460.
As for international...
Let me quote "Variety":
"'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' a musical biopic about the making of his beloved 1982 acoustic solo album 'Nebraska,' is falling flat with $7 million at the international box office and $16.1 million globally. Analysts suggest the film is struggling because unlike, say, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Rocketman,' which were all-encompassing, crowd-pleasing looks at Queen and Elton John, 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' focuses on one, less commercial chapter in Springsteen's expansive, decade-spanning career."
https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/box-office-springsteen-fizzles-overseas-black-phone-2-hits-80-million-1236561522/
There you have it.
And if that's not enough for you:
"'Springsteeen' Box-Office Ain't Glory Days"
"Though he delivered a number of worldwide hits, quintessentially American rocker Bruce Springsteen hasn't been able to translate that into box-office success.
"The biopic "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" was released in multiple markets this weekend alongside its U.S. release and is bombing – the title earning just $7 million overseas. At the same time, its domestic debut is coming in smaller than projected – slipping slightly to $9.1 million and fourth place.
"Budgeted at $55 million, the film's audience exit scores haven't been strong, with the blame going less on the film's makers or cast – rather its subject matter. Namely, the choice to focus on Springsteen's depression and his arthouse album "Nebraska". While critics may love it, the album has none of the major hits that made him a global superstar."
https://www.darkhorizons.com/springsteen-box-office-aint-glory-days/
I could quote stories ad infinitum, but I think you get it.
I remember hearing "29 Palms" on "Fate of Nations," Robert Plant's 1993 return to form, and wondering why it wasn't a hit. I was speaking with Danny Buch, the Atlantic promotion man responsible, and he said they tried with the song and album at rock radio, but the music didn't react, it didn't resonate with the audience, and therefore radio stations dropped it. Does not speak to the quality of the tunes, but the audience reaction.
Once again, it's a business.
So you want to make a profit. You have the budget, the marketing and the theatrical gross, of which only half comes back to the studio. DVDs are dead, but there are streaming television licensing fees. That means so far, the studio is only entitled to $8.05 million of the proceeds on the Springsteen movie. How is it going to make its money back on a $55 million budget?
It's not.
Now not every picture goes into profit, but a bunch of them better, or...
So looking for the highest grosses, studios decided to make big budget pictures that could play around the world...believe me, the average person in China is not a Bruce Springsteen fan... Ergo, superhero movies, high concept flicks. But along the way, the world changed. Now China has its own domestic production, with 2025's "Ne Zha 2," which has grossed in excess of $2 billion dollars ("Ne Zha," released in 2019, grossed $707 million).
Now you might tell the studio to make cheaper films. But the irony is it may cost just as much to promote/market a $2 million film as it does a $50 million film. So the opportunity cost is just too high.
But by stopping the production of more adult/meaningful fare, by stopping taking risks, whole swaths of the public have given up on the theatregoing experience. YOU may have gone to see the "Springsteen" film this weekend, but most Boomers and Gen-X'ers never go to the theatre at all.
So the question is...is theatrical movie distribution dead?
Well, looking at summer grosses, as the year is not over yet... 2025 sits at $1.6 billion...whereas in 2019 it was $2.6 billion. It's going in the wrong direction.
A great picture will draw people to the theatre... But those are always left field productions that no one thought would become juggernauts. Think of "Star Wars," even "Pulp Fiction." They were sui generis. Where are the unique titles made and promoted by the studios today? Nonexistent, because the cost and ultimate risk is too high.
Begging the question whether a pivot is necessary...
Which is what Netflix is. It was such a joke in Hollywood that everybody licensed their content to the streaming company, helping them build a monolith while they were left behind. Can you see why the Springsteen movie is a dud?
If not, you know nothing about business...
Now it costs much less to make and promote an album than a movie... And the business used to be based on growing nobodies into ubiquitous somebodies. But the majors can't manage to do that anymore. So, like the studios, they've retreated to signing and promoting that which will theoretically appeal to the largest audience...which is rarely unique...unique is too hard to sell!
Meanwhile, developing indie acts don't spend 200k making an album.
But we live in an emotional world. Facts are secondary in not only politics, but the arts. And when confronted with the truth, no one wants to acknowledge it.
Split Ticketmaster from Live Nation and ticket prices will go down?
Don't make me laugh.
As for the ticket fees... Without them, there's no show, they're part of the budget. But the acts won't tell you that...they too beat up on the fees, even though the benefit from them...and Ticketmaster is paid to take the heat.
You may be an early adopter with a broad audience able to influence others. But everybody knows word of mouth doesn't happen unless the product is good.
But if it's good, something can build over time.
But with the movie business you get one shot, you fire all your guns at once, and if you don't go boffo at the b.o. right away...good luck. Hell, insiders can tell whether a film will make money within HOURS of its opening.
You're entitled to your personal biases. But if you think everyone is going to agree with you, even if you're angry about it, you're wrong.
Enjoy what you want, there are no rules. But that does not mean what you enjoy others will.
As for "Deliver Me From Nowhere"... As a streaming project with a low budget... The Mötley Crüe movie "The Dirt" only has a 37% RottenTomatoes rating...but I watched it, the viewing experience was baked into my Netflix subscription. As for the budget, it was less than half of the Springsteen flick, $23.1 million.
Netflix doesn't need to have every project hit. Just enough that people won't give up their subscriptions. And it's always the left field, unexpected productions that become a cultural phenomenon. Like "Stranger Things" and "Squid Game." They were not promoted for eighteen months ahead of time. They were dropped on the service and people checked them out, enjoyed them, told everybody they knew about them and then you had to watch the series to be in the know, to participate in conversation.
Meanwhile, Hollywood can't stop beating up Netflix for not opening its films in theatres. As box office goes down, the studios consolidate and...
The worm turns.
Turn with it.
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Funny how all the left wingers who can't understand how people vote for Trump can't understand that the masses might not go to see this movie.
This is no different from the Swifties, who spew hate at me fifteen years later. They're defending their turf. The rest of the public?
Shrugs.
The goal of making a major motion picture is to make money, how do you achieve that?
If you have a niche product, then your film must be extremely good, so great that it engenders word of mouth, such that people who were not paying attention in the first place are going to be motivated to go.
This is what happened with the Dylan movie, "A Complete Unknown." It opened domestically the first weekend to $11,655,553 and then continued to $23.2 million in the first week and ultimately $140 in all.
As for Bruce's movie... The initial three day gross was $9.1 million.
However, unlike "A Complete Unknown," the reviews were not so positive. The Dylan flick has an 82 critics' rating on RottenTomatoes as opposed to "Deliver Me From Nowhere"'s 61. So will the general public be inspired to see it? Will people enjoy it if they aren't fans of Bruce? You needed to know nothing about Bob to enjoy his movie, as for the Boss?
Now $9.1 million may seem close to $11,655,553, but the devil is in the details... "A Complete Unknown" opened in 2,835 theatres and "Deliver Me From Nowhere" opened in 3.460.
As for international...
Let me quote "Variety":
"'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' a musical biopic about the making of his beloved 1982 acoustic solo album 'Nebraska,' is falling flat with $7 million at the international box office and $16.1 million globally. Analysts suggest the film is struggling because unlike, say, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Rocketman,' which were all-encompassing, crowd-pleasing looks at Queen and Elton John, 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' focuses on one, less commercial chapter in Springsteen's expansive, decade-spanning career."
https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/box-office-springsteen-fizzles-overseas-black-phone-2-hits-80-million-1236561522/
There you have it.
And if that's not enough for you:
"'Springsteeen' Box-Office Ain't Glory Days"
"Though he delivered a number of worldwide hits, quintessentially American rocker Bruce Springsteen hasn't been able to translate that into box-office success.
"The biopic "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" was released in multiple markets this weekend alongside its U.S. release and is bombing – the title earning just $7 million overseas. At the same time, its domestic debut is coming in smaller than projected – slipping slightly to $9.1 million and fourth place.
"Budgeted at $55 million, the film's audience exit scores haven't been strong, with the blame going less on the film's makers or cast – rather its subject matter. Namely, the choice to focus on Springsteen's depression and his arthouse album "Nebraska". While critics may love it, the album has none of the major hits that made him a global superstar."
https://www.darkhorizons.com/springsteen-box-office-aint-glory-days/
I could quote stories ad infinitum, but I think you get it.
I remember hearing "29 Palms" on "Fate of Nations," Robert Plant's 1993 return to form, and wondering why it wasn't a hit. I was speaking with Danny Buch, the Atlantic promotion man responsible, and he said they tried with the song and album at rock radio, but the music didn't react, it didn't resonate with the audience, and therefore radio stations dropped it. Does not speak to the quality of the tunes, but the audience reaction.
Once again, it's a business.
So you want to make a profit. You have the budget, the marketing and the theatrical gross, of which only half comes back to the studio. DVDs are dead, but there are streaming television licensing fees. That means so far, the studio is only entitled to $8.05 million of the proceeds on the Springsteen movie. How is it going to make its money back on a $55 million budget?
It's not.
Now not every picture goes into profit, but a bunch of them better, or...
So looking for the highest grosses, studios decided to make big budget pictures that could play around the world...believe me, the average person in China is not a Bruce Springsteen fan... Ergo, superhero movies, high concept flicks. But along the way, the world changed. Now China has its own domestic production, with 2025's "Ne Zha 2," which has grossed in excess of $2 billion dollars ("Ne Zha," released in 2019, grossed $707 million).
Now you might tell the studio to make cheaper films. But the irony is it may cost just as much to promote/market a $2 million film as it does a $50 million film. So the opportunity cost is just too high.
But by stopping the production of more adult/meaningful fare, by stopping taking risks, whole swaths of the public have given up on the theatregoing experience. YOU may have gone to see the "Springsteen" film this weekend, but most Boomers and Gen-X'ers never go to the theatre at all.
So the question is...is theatrical movie distribution dead?
Well, looking at summer grosses, as the year is not over yet... 2025 sits at $1.6 billion...whereas in 2019 it was $2.6 billion. It's going in the wrong direction.
A great picture will draw people to the theatre... But those are always left field productions that no one thought would become juggernauts. Think of "Star Wars," even "Pulp Fiction." They were sui generis. Where are the unique titles made and promoted by the studios today? Nonexistent, because the cost and ultimate risk is too high.
Begging the question whether a pivot is necessary...
Which is what Netflix is. It was such a joke in Hollywood that everybody licensed their content to the streaming company, helping them build a monolith while they were left behind. Can you see why the Springsteen movie is a dud?
If not, you know nothing about business...
Now it costs much less to make and promote an album than a movie... And the business used to be based on growing nobodies into ubiquitous somebodies. But the majors can't manage to do that anymore. So, like the studios, they've retreated to signing and promoting that which will theoretically appeal to the largest audience...which is rarely unique...unique is too hard to sell!
Meanwhile, developing indie acts don't spend 200k making an album.
But we live in an emotional world. Facts are secondary in not only politics, but the arts. And when confronted with the truth, no one wants to acknowledge it.
Split Ticketmaster from Live Nation and ticket prices will go down?
Don't make me laugh.
As for the ticket fees... Without them, there's no show, they're part of the budget. But the acts won't tell you that...they too beat up on the fees, even though the benefit from them...and Ticketmaster is paid to take the heat.
You may be an early adopter with a broad audience able to influence others. But everybody knows word of mouth doesn't happen unless the product is good.
But if it's good, something can build over time.
But with the movie business you get one shot, you fire all your guns at once, and if you don't go boffo at the b.o. right away...good luck. Hell, insiders can tell whether a film will make money within HOURS of its opening.
You're entitled to your personal biases. But if you think everyone is going to agree with you, even if you're angry about it, you're wrong.
Enjoy what you want, there are no rules. But that does not mean what you enjoy others will.
As for "Deliver Me From Nowhere"... As a streaming project with a low budget... The Mötley Crüe movie "The Dirt" only has a 37% RottenTomatoes rating...but I watched it, the viewing experience was baked into my Netflix subscription. As for the budget, it was less than half of the Springsteen flick, $23.1 million.
Netflix doesn't need to have every project hit. Just enough that people won't give up their subscriptions. And it's always the left field, unexpected productions that become a cultural phenomenon. Like "Stranger Things" and "Squid Game." They were not promoted for eighteen months ahead of time. They were dropped on the service and people checked them out, enjoyed them, told everybody they knew about them and then you had to watch the series to be in the know, to participate in conversation.
Meanwhile, Hollywood can't stop beating up Netflix for not opening its films in theatres. As box office goes down, the studios consolidate and...
The worm turns.
Turn with it.
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