Also isn't it just way better on television? The 
    angle is always (or, to many nines of the time) 
    great, always close.

Yeah, absolutely, in a lot of ways. Although, people have been saying that since the dawn of TV. =)

There are things that are super special about the live experience that are tough to appreciate on TV, although they're also tough to appreciate in person unless you're lucky enough to be sitting rather close or just seeing the event in a small arena.

The speed and violence of an MLB player mashing a baseball in person is something else, if you ever get a chance to see it up close. Tennis is another sport where TV doesn't do it justice IMO.

Hockey's definitely one that I think can be a little hard to follow in person. Although, in the pre-HD days, it was REALLY hard to appreciate on TV because it could be damn near impossible to see the puck on a fuzzy 15" CRT!

In fact, "I can't follow the puck" was such a common complaint in the pre-HD days that I had a failed prediction that hockey would massively blossom in popularity once everybody had HD. Glad I had no money... I was so convinced of this prediction that I probably would have poured all my money into buying ownership stake in a hockey team or something lol.

There is something about hearing the crack of the bat in person that cannot be replicated on TV, even with a very powerful sound system.

And if you sit in the same seat for a number of games over a season, you'll start to anticipate things in ways you can't on TV (though the best radio announcers would anticipate them the same way).

I recall Fox in the 90s having the NHL embed something in the puck so that it would have a blue glow around it in their broadcasts.

It's not fair to say that it's an inferior or superior experience. What it is, though, is a different experience. I occasionally enjoy going to a game in real life for that difference.

If your purpose is just to watch a game you have so many more options so going in person has become a luxury experience entirely because it's no longer necessary.

That's what I mean by 'not being bigly into sports so maybe that explains it' - perhaps I should try it some day, but the 'what you can't get at home' experience of a stadium just doesn't appeal to me, personally.

Obviously it does to some people, I didn't mean to suggest that stadium-goers are idiots who don't realise it's objectively better at home! I just meant 'game-watching' - but even there, sibling commenter to you makes a point about the rawness of physical contact if you're close-up in the stadium.

You miss a lot with TV angles, depending on the sport. Like in hockey, you basically miss almost all the substitutions since they happen in real time away from the action.