ChampionSplit: A Historical Perspective

[Taylor]

FRC is said to have been designed after the sporting model, and that is true. Sports are highly celebrated in our culture, and if you can't beat 'em, join em.
There have been spirited discussions, on this forum and others, about the validity of calling FRC a sport. It looks like the consensus says yes, FRC is a sport.
The breakdown comes from equating FRC with the wrong types of sports.

We instantly think of the Big 4 sports - Basketball, Baseball, Football, Hockey. But these are established, traditional, entrenched. The youngest of these, Basketball, has been around since 1891. That's five times as long as our precious FRC. Not only that, but going back to Dr. Joe's point, these sports are pervasive. They've captured Top Of Mind Awareness by being literally everywhere. Television (and other media) is a big part of this, but a bigger part is the fact that these sports are publicly played/discussed all year long.
Also, the Big 4 do have world championships, but there is a defined number of elite teams, and they're all bankrolled by million- or billionaires working closely with city, county, and state funding. They do the championship because they can.

What if we look at FRC as a sport, but compare it to other models that may more closely resemble the way FRC is set up?

At every FRC event (on- or off-season) I've ever attended or heard of, there is an awards ceremony at its conclusion. I've never seen awards handed out after a regular-season baseball, hockey, basketball or football game.

I have, however, seen this tradition with golf, horse racing, tennis, boxing, auto racing, marathons, swimming. With these sports, each event stands on its own; there are a series of large events that have a lot of prestige throughout the year but are roughly equal in weight. Racing has the Triple Crown; golf and tennis with the Grand Slam.

Yes, I understand that athletes may participate in multiple grand events, and that doesn't necessarily translate to FRC. This is where I, like Richard McCann, am reminded of the CFB Bowl Series.

Oh yeah - that paradigm has become obsolete. But it worked for a while, and only got replaced 140 years after the game was invented. We haven't even hit a quarter century yet.

Another issue is that with all the sports I mentioned above - they're all boutique activities. For eleven months a year, hardly anybody gives a rip about IndyCar. Horse racing? In May, everybody is an expert, but try to start a conversation in November and you'll get blank stares. Boxing relies on events called "The Fight of the Century" - that's literally once every five generations.
These niche sports are all woven into our culture, and for brief annual flashes, they capture the nation's imagination, but for the majority of the year, nobody cares about them.

That's where we are.

Only, as Dr. Joe says, we're not televised.

Once we've enchanted the masses, then a World Champion will be meaningful. But until then, we're just trying to be bigger than kayaking.