There's a Depression? 20 Reasons Why Sports Survive This Economy

I have been thinking about this for quite some time. The United States Of America is in one of the worst depressions the country has faced, yet sports seem to not miss a beat.

Fans are everywhere you look. Whether it's here on bleacherreport, other sports forums, or finding time to BS with their friends about how good or bad their team is.

This article will be filled with a good portion of true facts, as well as some good humor to keep it exciting. I have come up with 20 reasons as to why sports has survived this economy and keeps going strong.

1) First and foremost, Barack Obama. Our newly elected president has done good in office, but his recent news hasn't been on politics, it's been him filling out his bracket for the NCAA Tournament.

How much money are you using from the stimulus plan in Las Vegas?

2) World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE has become much more popular during these down times. TV records have been broken on all three channels wrestling has taken place on.

Somehow, millions of people still buy the pay per views to see the big events. Damn, didn't know money still grew on trees!

3) The World Baseball Classic. The WBC? Yes, not MLB, just the World Baseball Classic alone. Besides the U.S, every other team in the tournament has money. The fact that thousands have come from their countries to our Major League ballfields, to watch their teams play, has brought in some extra cash we can use.

4) The NFL is still the most successful sports organization when dealing with finances, making billions of dollars a year. Whether it's the Packers, or the lowly Raiders, there are to many diehard fans for the league to struggle during these times.

5) Major League Baseball has been the most controversial sport to draw revenue. From A-Rod's admitting of steroids, to the recent photo of himself, magizines and newspapers are still selling at a large rate.

6) The NBA has struggled, but they have been greatly promoting the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul and other upcoming superstars. That is why every team is making decent money!

7) The NHL outside game is a bigger event than the finals, selling out every game they have had, leading to some decent publicity for the NHL.

8) Skip Bayless still having a job on ESPN, a laugh everyone enjoys.

9) Michael Phelps winning his gold medals, then landing in the tabloids after his recent fallout with marijuana. You need to be a role-model Michael, come on man!

10) The Olympic Dream Team finally winning the gold medal. This finally restored some order to the world of basketball.

11) Joe Torre's Book, the one and only story every Yankee fan has read.

12) The NCAA Tournament, '08 and '09, thus far has brought tons of excitement. There is no doubt that the upsets have ruined the nation's office pools.

13) For every 10 college basketball fans, eight of them waste thousands of dollars with their misfortunes in the brackets; hoping next year will be a better year.

14) The college football season is always better than the previous year, which, of course, leads to more views and more money in that poor BCS' pockets.

15) Even though the BCS is a joke, the money that the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl brings in really helps the sport expand it's cash across America to every single program.

16) Over 100 million burgers and hot dogs are sold each week during football season.

17) Yankees and Cowboys: Besides being hated by everyone outside of their home states, both are opening billion dollar stadiums. This will surely bring the attention of both sports to them.

18) Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Michelle Wie: The only thing golf needs to promote during the Masters, and it's other events.

19) Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal: Being brodcasted on ESPN to the entire world sure gives ESPN a billion more then they already had, nice.

20) There are many things about ESPN that makes most of us want to shut it off, but the Sarah Palin interview on Sportscenter months ago must have earned millions of people's enjoyment; a reason why sports is still strong in their blood.

A lot of these might have a common reasoning, yet that is why sports continues to hit peoples flat screens every single day. They are a part of your live you never want to miss.

Matt Miselis is a writer for BleacherReport.com