"The caliber of play suffered and attendance declined year by year. Interest in college football was exploding, and there was this new game called basketball"

The quote by John Thorn highlights a shift in the American sporting landscape, highlighting a turning point in the development of viewer sports. Thorn points to a duration when the quality of play in an undefined sport-- probably baseball, offered Thorn's competence as a baseball historian-- was weakening. This decline in quality is identified as a factor for the decreasing attendance at video games throughout the years. One possible interpretation is that reduced performance and possibly a lack of compelling competitors or innovation resulted in less appealing experiences for audiences. With decreased quality, fans likely found less reward to go to video games, resulting in dwindling participation figures.

All at once, Thorn notes a growing interest in college football. This suggests a cultural shift where the enjoyment and novelty of college football captured the public's creativity, pulling attention and attendance far from other sports. College football, with its collegiate rivalries, pageantry, and the unique atmosphere of college campuses, might have offered an energy and neighborhood engagement that other sports at the time couldn't match. The ramification here is that as college football's appeal escalated, it might have contributed to individuals choosing to go to these games rather.

Moreover, Thorn introduces the emergence of basketball as a brand-new game, signaling yet another option for sports lovers. Basketball, with its fast-paced action and the reasonably smaller area required to play, presented a various sort of home entertainment. Its increase might suggest a diversification of sports interests among the general public, supplying yet another option that contributed to a decrease in average presence for other sports.

In general, the quote shows a transitional era in American sports history. It underscores how fluctuations in the quality of play can straight affect audience engagement and presence. In addition, it highlights how emerging sports can record the general public's imagination and shift cultural and home entertainment choices. This duration of sports development and its resultant shifts considerably formed the contemporary American sports landscape, influencing which sports ended up being dominant in the public sphere.