Popularity polls come and go. As the baseball playoffs begin, the NFL is boasting that one poll shows it is more than twice as popular as the national pastime. But a new survey looks deeper into the American psyche, rating the sports that are loathed the most. No. 1 on the list, by far, is dogfighting, hated or disliked a lot by 81 percent of the public, according to a poll conducted by the Sports Marketing Group in Atlanta. Makes you wonder what the other 19 percent were thinking. The PGA Tour is the No. 5 most hated and disliked sport (30.4 percent), followed by the PGA seniors’ Champions Tour (29.9), the LPGA Tour (29.2), [8th] NASCAR (27.9), Major League Soccer (27.6) and the ATP men’s tennis tour (26.5). That’s a lot of people who hate or dislike events that sponsors are backing with billions of bucks.[Jump tp NASCAR section] NASCAR turns off almost as many with the opposite image: red, white and blue or as some see it, redneck, blue collar and white skin even if it is has broadened its appeal to millions who don’t fit that description. For most of the sports, with the exception of NASCAR, which has grown both in popularity and unpopularity with increased exposure on television, there was little change from the Sports Marketing Group’s study that asked the same questions 10 years ago.(see full AP story at Yahoo )(9-27-2003)
