Baseball: Our National Pasttime?
>> 06 August 2007
Baseball confuses me.
Now, before you misunderstand that and start patronizing me with "In baseball, there are nine players; the pitcher throws the ball and the catcher catches it..." I should clarify that I understand the scoring, the positions, the strategy, etc--but to me the sport is still a bit of an enigma (not to the extent that baseball's illegitimate-second-cousin-by-marriage relative [cricket] is, but you get my point).
I love going to baseball games. I like the vendors yelling. I like being able to sit back and relax while watching a sport. I especially like the guarantee that I will get to hear Ozzy Osbourne scream: "ALL ABOOOOOARDDD! HAHAHAHA..." multiple times in a game, because I am fairly sure that it is a League mandate that each team must have a player whose 10-second approach-the-plate-music is Black Sabbath's "Crazy Train."
And yet, if I'm surfing the channels on TV and I have a choice between watching the "Battlefield Earth" television broadcast premiere on TNT* and a baseball game, I hesitate. 
Granted, the hesitation lasts a split-second and I choose baseball, but this still concerns me as a self-proclaimed sports' fan.
Maybe it's because I sometimes have difficulty accepting professional baseball players as athletes. Guys that spend most of their time sitting, standing, or chewing, and who get winded after jogging 180-feet, don't present much of a defense for themselves to be classified as athletes.
But the other half of me thinks about the physics that is involved in pitching, or hitting a baseball with a relative toothpick for a bat, and it blows my mind. Einstein never even got around to explaining it. There is no denying that the hand-eye coordination needed for baseball requires ridiculous skill. I'm guessing the hand-eye coordination needed to adjust yourself 50 minutes every night doesn't, however.
I guess I'm trying to say that I find it difficult to understand the appeal sometimes. Maybe guys like watching baseball on TV because they can sit on their couch with one hand down their pants and tell their wives: "Look, babe. That guy has no problem adjusting himself in front a stadium of people and millions of viewers. Why can't I do it at home in front a few of your Tupperware-party friends?"
So I began this blog trying to talk it out in hopes of resolving my feelings about baseball... And I end just as confused and ambivalent, if not more, than when I started...
*I understand that TNT would never do this and the idea that they would even consider broadcasting "Battlefield Earth" is a blatant insult to the competency of their staff, but it was the first network that came to mind.
11 ideas preached:
you know, i didn't even like baseball until last year. And I think it was the NBA that drove me to appreciate the game. My reason is completely different that yours, but year after year I watched the NBA and continually felt like the whole game was in the hand of the ref. No traveling was called, favorable fouls for the stars, and every time someone drove the lane, FOUL. I got sick of it. In baseball, the umps have a minimal say in the outcome of the game. Sure they call balls and strikes, but if someone hits one over, there's no questionable offensive foul, just to keep the game close.
Also, try following one team for an entire summer, it gets addicting. Go PADRES!!!
But seriously, it's close enough to college football season, shouldn't we be focusing on that? GO COUGARS!!!!
Good one.. good one... Padres are actually pretty fun to watch- but I don't think I would like baseball either if I had to pretend to appreciate it through the likes of the Nationals... so I suppose we should cut this poor "sports fan" a little slack...
...and I still find these intelligent blogs so difficult... I get tripped up over all the big, hard words like "enigma";)
I have to say when I saw Casey left a comment I was thinking he was going to rip into you, but he actually presents a great logical argument and I have to agree with his point. It has its scandals like Roids of course, but are any sports exempt? Baseball is a great sport to have on in the background to study or something. Not a lot of action drawing you away and when there is you were glad you saw it. I mean this as a good thing.
Hey now, we must not leave out the Diamondbacks, the household favorite. They are hot right now and just in time too. With Kim back and Webb gettin' 'er done, they are fun to watch. We even use the D-Backs as our FHE Activity many times during the"season". So, no Padres for us unless they are playing "our team".
That was a great post. And we actually do love baseball. What we really love is College Baseball since ASU is always in the contender mix. See, the idea is relaxing in nice weather with a hot dog or nachos or whatever you choose as your poison and of course swigs all around. Then you set your inner sports fan free to hoot and hollar as you see fit. Well, it just works for us. So we raise the giant foam finger to Baseball. It's number one!
Casey gives me that adjusting himself excuse all the time : ) I love baseball as well, and I agree with the last comment that it has a lot to do with the atmosphere. I love the hot dogs, sitting out on a warm day, filling out a scorecard. You can just sit and relax and watch a great sport being played.
I've got no problem conceding the points that have been made.
I suppose I didn't balance my entry as much as I planned, because I wanted to convey that my confusion stemmed from the contrast of enjoying the experience of being at a baseball game while finding it difficult to watch on TV.
The atmosphere of games is what I enjoy, because something about being there is just so American.
Plus, I should be thankful that there is a sport besides competitive eating (no disrespect to my boy Kobayashi) in which my people have a well-known presence (Ichiro, Matsui, Matsuzaka, Iguchi, etc)
no, i totally agree with your point. I've only been to one Padres game this year, but almost every day I come home from school and I put on the Padres game on the internet. But despite crappy resolution, and terrible audio, I keep tuned it. It's something about the purity of the game. And also this might take a long argument to prove my point, by I honestly believe that 99% of baseball players give it 100% every game, unlike other athletes in other sports.
Casey. . . is that you? "the purity of the game" ??? I would like an explanation of that just to hear you say it, I don't care how long it is.
If giving it 100% in basebal wasn't such an easy and non athletic thing to do I think that may be something to talk about. But baseball is a game of spirts of speed and instants of effort. If they were going and doing something 100% of the time 100% effort would be somewhat commendable.
Bottom line is baseball is rough to watch unless you're there in person or completely tired with your hand down your pants on the couch on a hot day with the AC blarin. There I said it.
Casey,
Given teh 100% comment, do you feel players work out as hard as they can to be the best players they can. Like wouldn't some of them benefit from some running. Like Giambi, you could throw him out from left field at first. Do you think that is why they hit so well so its a tradeoff. I would not say they are in shape when they would lose to a grade school kid in a sprint.
there is more competition in baseball than in any other sport. I don't care who the player is, if you're not performing you can get ready to pack your bags. And i think you might be underestimating the difficulty of hitting a 90+ mph fastball. Certainly one of the most difficult tasks in sports if not the most. Getting to first base is the easy part, but to be able to hit the thing comes first. Give me a basketball and I promise I can make a 3 pt shot in 20 attempts (and I suck at basketball), and I can catch a football and run with it, but I'll give you an entire afternoon at the batting cages and lets see if you can get a hit off a 90mph machine, and I'm not talking about dribbling a slow grounder. And just like other sports, like football and basketball, not every player is extremelly athletic, like the O-Line, or Shaq. I guarantee some grade school kids would beat shaq in a sprint, but it's okay, because his game isn't to be really fast and agile. Same with Giambi, or David Ortiz. They're not suppose to be fast. And yes, I do think for the most part that they give it 100%. If you only had 4 chances to swing the bat per game, why wouldn't you try your best to do so. Try and convince me that they strike out on purpose, or that a pitcher purposefully tries to give up homeruns.
Post a Comment