Surely you've tuned into the news lately, right? Well, how did the Dow Jones Industrials fare? Did you look? Did you see? Did you care?

Motley Fool Co-Founder and Chief Rule Breaker David Gardner didn't. Why?

Because he thinks the Dow is irrelevant.

Sound like heresy? The Dow Jones Industrial Average is, after all, the index that investors have looked to for decades to gauge the daily pulse of the American stock market. It's supposed to be a perfect sampling of the biggest and most important U.S. stocks.

But the Dow consists of just 30 companies, and -- surprise, surprise -- there are some pretty big players not on the list.

Who's missing? For one, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), arguably the greatest brand in the world, which recently overtook Microsoft to become the world's largest tech company. And Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), the unparalleled Internet giant and America's go-to search engine.

When the likes of Apple and Google are left out, why would anyone peg the performance of the stock market at large to the Dow? David Gardner explains his take on the Dow in this Fool TV video.

For more Fool TV goodness, visit FoolTV.com.