Iconic FSU baseball coach Mike Martin knew why football became king | Commentary

Running off at the typewriter. …

Well, the ratings for last weekend’s Super Bowl are officially in and the telecast averaged 123.4 million viewers across television and streaming platforms, making it the most watched TV show in American history.

With the Kansas City Swifties, er, Chiefs overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers shattering the old ratings record (set last year), I am reminded of a conversation I had once with legendary FSU baseball coach Mike Martin, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 79.

I was doing some research for a column several years ago on when and why football surpassed baseball to become America’s national sport. I decided to call Martin — the winningest college baseball coach in history and an avid football fan — to get his perspective.

Martin essentially admitted to me that his beloved baseball is too slow-paced and tranquil for today’s hectic, instant-gratification society. In today’s world, we don’t just want to watch a game. We want to experience an extravaganza of excitement, emotion, passion, pageantry, rivalry and revelry. And we want all of that in three hours or less.

And as Martin pointed out, football essentially began its ascent and started surpassing baseball with the proliferation of television sets in American homes in the 1950s.

“It’s not even close. Football is is king,” Martin told me in his folksy, fish-and-grits North Carolina twang. “Baseball is lousy to watch on TV. Baseball’s a game I can watch with my wife, and we can sit there and talk about things.”

And then he chuckled and said: “I got news for you, I ain’t talking to my wife on third-and-4.”

If you ask me, those few words — I ain’t talking to my wife on third-and-4 — perfectly explain the allure of football.

Thank you and rest in peace, Mike Martin. …

Short stuff: Speaking of the Super Bowl, a 16-ounce can of beer at the big game in Vegas cost $18.90. The only people who can afford those kinds of prices are Taylor Swift, LIV golfers and Georgia football recruits. … Speaking of big money, the SEC announced that it distributed $51.2 million to each school in the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Meanwhile, ACC schools are trying to pool their money so they can buy a beer at the Super Bowl. … Best pre-Super Bowl Sunday meme: “I hear Taylor Swift’s boyfriend will be attending the Usher concert this weekend.” … Why did Chip Kelly take a $4 million pay cut to leave UCLA as the head coach and become offensive coordinator at Ohio State? It’s called “gettin’ out while the gettin’ is good.” … Speaking of weird coaching moves, did you see where the Gators lost strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald, who left after only five weeks on the job to join his old buddy — new Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien. Boston College? Really? Seriously? Moral of the story: Three or four years of certain job security at BC is better than one potential year of job security in Gainesville. …

Three predictions for Sunday’s Daytona 500: (1) Bubba Wallace will win the race. (2) Toby Keith will be the most prevalent music playing in the infield. (3) A NASCAR wife in a luxury suite will get her beehive hairdo caught in a ceiling fan. … Has Shaq’s jersey retirement ceremony ended yet? … Speaking of the Shaq’ ceremony, I thought it was touching when he told the crowd, “The Orlando Magic will always have a place in my heart.” Unfortunately, they had an even bigger place in his rearview mirror. … Here’s hoping the PGA Tour cracks down on the Phoenix Open for the embarrassing behavior of so many fans last week at what has turned into golf’s version of a frat-house keg party. Can’t we have one final refuge in sports where decorum and civility is expected and drunken, obnoxious behavior isn’t accepted? … Why are so many people upset that well-known Orlando personal injury attorney Dan Newlin did a Super Bowl commercial while wearing a MAGA hat? Last I checked, it was HIS commercial and HE paid for it. However I do wonder if Newlin should have taken the old Michael Jordan approach to advertising. When asked once why he didn’t take political stances publicly, the NBA legend, Nike pitchman and closet Democrat replied, “Because Republicans buy sneakers, too.” I guess Newlin didn’t get the memo that Democrats get in car crashes and sue insurance companies, too …

Even several days later, I still can’t believe San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan took the ball first in the Super Bowl overtime despite the NFL implementing new postseason overtime rules in March 2022 that allows each team to get a possession regardless of what the team with the ball first does. Shanahan said his discussion with the team’s analytics staff had indicated it would be best to take the ball first because if both teams matched scores on their opening drives, the 49ers would get the ball to open the portion of overtime in which the first team to score would win. In other words, Shanahan was looking ahead to the third possession of overtime. Come on, dude, know who you’re playing. You’re not playing freaking Tommy DeVito and the Giants here; you’re playing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. You play to win the game in one of those first two possessions — and the way you do that is by taking the ball second so you know what you have to do to win the game. I’m not saying Shanahan suffers from a chronic case of paralysis by analysis and over-planning, but I think he already has an architect drawing up retirement-home blueprints for his unborn grandkids. …

Last word: From John McEnroe, who turns 65 on Friday: “The older you get, the better you used to be.”

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen