Why do you care about baseball?!

Sure, I may be a little biased since I grew up playing and loving it and the last NFL team left LA when I was in elementary school, but I don’t think I’m wrong. I still played football and basketball with the neighborhood kids and my friends and even threw in the occassional soccer or street hockey game, but baseball is king among my friends and I. I’ve actually managed to school some Europeans and Australians into liking the sport, so I’ve got some experience in this area.

First, here’s a critique of the flaws I see in the other major sports of the world/US:

NFL Football – Football’s popularity is overblown because the season is by far the shortest of all sports. It’s only 16 games, 19-20 if you go all the way. Virtually all of the games, with the exception of one or two, are on the same day once a week. Over the course of the season you get 8, maybe 9 chances to see your team at home. As a result, ratings skyrocket and ticket prices are astronomical even in the worst sections becasue of the scarcity and shortness of the NFL season. People wait all year to see the NFL and have a very small window of opportunity to actually enjoy it. I’m not saying it should be longer because I understand the physical toll football takes per game. What I’m saying is that the scarcity of games is what gives the NFL more hype and pull. If it was on more often, like the other major sports, it’s hype would be reduced. Think about it, if you hold a junkie from his smack, he’s going to be really excited the few times he gets it. Give it to him everyday and he’s more docile and content.

Other flaws in the NFL: There are way too many friggin’ penalties. I read somewhere that there’s over 80 in the rulebook now. You can’t go 5 minutes in an NFL game without a play being cancelled or stopping the clock because someone who was nowhere near the ball touched another guy the wrong way or whatever. It’s annoying. Also despite what people think, the NFL is REALLY SLOW. In a 3 hour broadcast there’s maybe 10-15 minutes of actual play action, the rest is simply the ticking of the clock and lining up. I also don’t like how the Superbowl is rarely played in a city who’s team is actually in it. How pissed would LA fans be if the 2010 WS was Angels-Dodgers and the entire thing was played in Minnesota because they have a new stadium or whatever?. Finally, I think the NFL has become too much of a show. The players union is threatening to strike over their salaries while there’s a major recession going on, yet Ocho Cinco will buy a friggin’ semi-truck to drive around in. That and they get into these little twitter battles, which I think is immature and pointless.

Basketball – Here is the only sport where scoring has little significance. Before you get all pissed about that statement, think about it, an NBA team typically has to score somewhere in the range of 80-100 points to win a game, sometimes more. A player has to score 15+ to be a really significant impact on the game. Bynum sinks a 3 with 8 minutes left in the 2nd. Who cares, that shot is going to be erased by the opposing team in mere moments. In all of the other major sports, EVERY. POINT. MATTERS. One goal, one run, or one touchdown/kick by one player can decide the game in the other sports. In basketball, a team needs to score an average of what, 30+ times to even have a chance?

Basketball too, gets mind-numbingly slow, particularly in the final minutes. I’m talking about fouls and free-throws. These don’t even take time off the clock, and also usually don’t matter because of the insignificance of scoring addressed earlier. The last 2-3 minutes of a basketball game gets stretched into 15-20 (at least it seems like) because everyone fouls, goes to the line or calls timeout. I live with a massive Laker fan who watches every NBA game on TNT so I don’t feel I’m exaggerating here.

Hockey – I actually like hockey and I’ve tried to get into it. I’d like to say I’m a closet Ducks fan…if I knew when the damn season was you know, in progress. Hockey’s problem is it’s lack of a cultural connection with most of the US. It’s huge in Canada, sure, because every Canadian grows up with snow and the opportunity to learn how to ice skate near their home. In the US, you have very limited chances to do this if you live south of say, Washington or Indiana and you don’t live in the mountains. It also rarely gets covered on any major sports network until the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin, and by that point, it’s kind of late to be getting into the sport.

Soccer – Yeah, it’s “the world’s game”, but that’s only because it was spread around the world by the British Empire for a couple of centuries. If any other nation had been in that position, some other game would be in soccer’s position. I would also argue that basketball and baseball are making as many new inroads on new territory as soccer is, particularly in Asia.

As far as the game goes, I won’t deny at all that it takes athleticism. In fact, it requires incredible stamina, like that of a distance runner. However, to me the game isn’t much more than 90+ minutes of guys running and kicking a ball around. Occasionally one will make it into the goal and then more running and kicking will ensue. I’ll watch it for a little bit, but beside the occassional penalty, corner kick, or goal there doesn’t seem to be much going on. I also don’t like how nobody besides the goalies can use their hands. I just don’t see how you can have a major sport where most of the players aren’t allowed to use their primary controlling limbs. For you soccer fans, you’re probably really pissed at me for saying this, but that’s just how I and a lot of us in non-soccer nations feel. Maybe it’s because we didn’t grow up with the game, but it is what it is.

What makes baseball the greatest – Where do I begin? It’s played in the greatest weather and almost every day for 6 months. You have absolutely no problem following your team through any medium. You get 81 chances to see them at home, and compared to the other sports, it’s inexpensive (unless you’re a Yankee or Mets fan).

It is ingrained in our culture. There are over 150 years of rich, vibrant history behind “The National Pastime” and each era of the game gives us a glimpse of where we were culturally and socially in that period of history. American and Canadian kids, and now kids all over Latin America, the Carribbean, and parts of Asia have grown up playing and loving it for generations. Football can’t say this. Basketball can’t say this. Soccer, with the exception maybe of the UK (I don’t know for certain), probably can’t say this. See Ken Burns’ “Baseball” if you don’t believe me.

Baseball is a game of wit and reflexes. The pitcher and hitter are constantly trying to outhink and outduel each other. The slightest change in grip can completely alter a pitch. Hitting said pitch has been scientifically proven to be the most difficult task in sports. A third of a second can be the difference between a ground out and a single, or a strike and a homerun. It is the only game where the defense has the ball. It has the largest field on which 18 men are constantly locked in a struggle for victory. The game can change in a flash, on any pitch. ( See my favorite, most recent example. )

Finally, my favorite part of the game; there is no clock. The game and the season are not over until someone actually wins and someone actually loses. There is no taking a knee, no dribbling because the shot clock is longer than the game clock. Two teams are tied at the end of the season…they play for that last playoff berth instead of deferring to head-to-head record or point differential, and give their fans 110% effort until the last out. No team is saved or screwed by the buzzer, they are saved or screwed by their own performance. Some people say it’s slow and boring. I argue otherwise, each pitch advances the game and can result in a run. Each pitch is technically play action. The pitches are the seconds, the outs are the minutes and the innings are the periods. The game methodically moves along as each chance is extinguished by the players, no matter how long it takes, until victory is achieved. This is true competition and a true test of a team and its skills. This competition remains the same from Opening Day until the final out of Game 7 of the World Series in front of whichever team’s loyal fans get the hard-earned privelege of witnessing it.

That is why I love baseball and why I feel it is the greatest sport yet invented. If you prefer one of the other sports, I have no problem with that. Like what you like and please don’t take offense to this because it’s just my opinion. All of the sports I mentioned require talent, athleticism and practice, this is just my defense of baseball in comparison to its competition. Comment away or TL;DR

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