In the same issue of the Daily News, they posted that they Eagles beat the Phillies pretty significantly in the ratings.

Philly will certainly support baseball, but it's a football town. Always has been, always will.

I'm not sure you can directly make that conclusion directly from those ratings. There are plenty of complicating factors:

The Phillies ratings may be lower because:
-TBS is carried in fewer households than Fox, so some viewers may have had no choice.

The Eagles ratings may be lower because:
-The Eagles game was in Philadelphia, so 60,000 Eagles fans were in the stadium instead of watching on TV.

The Phillies ratings may be higher because:
-The Phillies game was a more important game because it's the playoffs (although every individual NFL game is extremely important, especially against division rivals).

The Eagles ratings may be higher because:
-The Eagles were playing against a team that is close geographically, so some portion of the Eagles ratings may have come from Redskins fans.

Also, I presume a lot of people were watching both games, either by switching back-and-forth, or by setting up two TVs. How does Neilsen collect ratings these days? Do they still rely on a sample of viewers with specially designed boxes?

I'm not sure you can directly make that conclusion directly from those ratings.

Sure, you can problematize it all you want to, but if you can't make a conclusion based on the Eagles having a 50% higher rating than the Phillies, then you might as well give up the exercise.

I assume, all other conditions being equal, that this wouldn't happen in "baseball towns" like Boston or St. Louis. Having lived in all three, I can say with pretty good certainty that Philly is not a baseball town.

Regarding the TV ratings form Sunday, it's worth noting that the Phillies game was obviously important, but it wasn't critical:

1. If the Phillies lost, then the key deciding game 5 was yet to come, on Tuesday.
2. If the Phillies won, then they moved on the the NLCS, which are even more important games

I wouldn't be surprised if some split loyalty folks took that into account (maybe not as logically, but more instinctually). It does seem to me that after winning the first two games -- especially in beating CC -- most Philleis fans kinda assumed an NLCS berth so the rest of the NLDS seemed less important.

In the same issue of the Daily News, they posted that they Eagles beat the Phillies pretty significantly in the ratings.

I think every city/media does this. It goes back to the media worshipping the NFL and throwing baseball under the bus at every turn. The Brewers bumped the Packers from WTMJ for the first time I can recall, the radio rightsholder,--each of the last 2 sundays, and the media was quick to point out how the Pack got better TV ratings.

Nevermind that baseball is on TV near 150 times and total viewers far exceed NFL total viewers. In a given week, I bet the Phils get more TV eyes than the Eagles. If they are going to make a big deal about ratings for the one day the Eagles are on, then I am going to point out the ratings for the 5 other days baseball is on.

The Eagles and Pack get a ZERO 6 days per week.

Living in Philly I get the sense that while it's a football town, the Phillies currently resonate much more with the personality of the city than the Eagles do (and this is putting aside the obvious fact that the Phillies are on the cusp of that ever-elusive Philly championship).

For a guy named after a football personality, Beano sure doesn't like the NFL.

For a guy named after a football personality, Beano sure doesn't like the NFL.

Does the original like the NFL, or is he like his buddy Dan Jenkins in his devotion to CFB and indifference to the NFL.

Good question. I'm no Beanologist.

BeanoCook is a college football fan and has almost no interest or regard for pro football. massive difference between the two.

Wait, that's not the real Beano Cook?

I grew up a baseball fan. I went to Phillies games almost every home Sunday and occassionally a weekday night game.

We didn't follow the Eagles until Buddy Ryan came to prominenece, in about 1989 or so I'd say.
My father had something against the Eagles, not sure what it was, but they just weren't watched at my house. To this date, my philly sports interest goes Phillies-Eagles-Flyers-Sixers.

While the Eagles make the playoffs more often than the phillies, the Phillies have at least won a championship in my lifetime.

Thanks Beano. I wasn't sure if you liked the NFL or not. I was raised on the NFL and my dad made me do yardwork on Saturdays so I didn't really get into college football as a kid. It was never big in New England anyways. I do watch it now.