my rant on the sport of baseball

[Tony Montana]

Since, we're sort of bashing hockey in another thread, I'd like to get people's opinions on America's favorite past time, baseball. I DO NOT understand the fascination of baseball. I'd rather go to the park for a picnic then sit in the stands for 3hrs watching a baseball game. I don't even consider most of these guys real athletes.

Ooooooo, they can hit a fast ball at over 100 miles an hour! So what? I've seen more impressive things done at Cirque du Solei. It still doesn't make me care to watch.

Baseball players require zero cardio. Any sport that can be played twice in one night is NOT a tough cardio sport to play! Any sport that has 162 (or whatever) regular season games played 6/7 days a week is NOT a tough cardio sport!

Please someone explain to me what's so great about baseball. How can this sport fill 50,000 seat stadiums and consume 1/2 the highlights on ESPN sportscentre?

Baseball's popularity in the USA proves one thing to me. It doesn't matter so much how good/exciting something is. What matters more is how people perceive things to be. Baseball is seen as "America's past time". It's seen as this big deal that's been around forever. People talk about rivalries like Boston vs. New York. Hollywood puts out baseball movies all the time. The legends of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle are know by every household.

Baseball is further proof that people are sheep! People will watch/follow whatever you tell them to do. People are not independently minded enough to come to the same in fact THE ONLY conclusion about baseball. And that conclusion is that the sport is boooooorrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg!

[BruceLee]

I'm not a big fan of baseball, especially with old man Selig ruining the game with his idiotic leadership and vision but baseball is not boring.

I'd equate baseball or futbol to MMA and basketball and American Football to K-1. Sure K-1 has it's 80% knockout ratio and freakshows but to the educated fight expert MMA is more appealing.

The skill level in mastering kicking a futbol or hitting a curve or slider, or preserving a rocket arm for 20 years is alot higher than dunking a ball or running for paydirt.

I would surmise that because baseball and futbol rely so heavily on skill that unless you are highly educated about the sport or play the sport regularly or in the past, that watching those sports would be boring.

With basketball and American football, there is more excitement and scoring, which serves our instant gratification, but in some ways it is more rewarding to struggle through 30 minutes of non scoring and then getting a goallllllllllllllllllll! Once again look at MMA, some people think it's boring when it gets on the ground, but if you understand all the nuances and strategy of the ground game it can be very exciting to watch 30 minutes of nothing and then getting a submission.

To be honest I have such a short attention span that watching any sport live can be boring to me. It's more about where I'm sitting and any extra curricular activites. I can be bored at a football or baseball game if I'm in the cheap seats, but give me courtside tickets to even a Denver Nuggets game, or 10 back at old Chicago Stadium and I'm fully into it. Centerfielder bleacher at Chicago Cubs games are great too, primarily because you're so close to the field and you can heckle the players, and everybody in the crowd is wasted with beer.

When I watch games, baseball is the type of game that I'll do something else while watching the game. With football or basketball it's harder to do that because the actions so quick and you'll miss huge chunks of what's happening.

In some ways baseball is like fishing in that you can do other things while doing it. I never understood fishing but it has a certain appeal to alot of people and I believe that baseball has that same type of appeal to alot of people.

[Tony Montana]

In some ways baseball is like fishing in that you can do other things while doing it. I never understood fishing but it has a certain appeal to alot of people and I believe that baseball has that same type of appeal to alot of people.
I agree. But, can you imagine a stadium of 50,000 people and millions of television viewers watching someone fish?

I just don't get the fascination with baseball.

[nhbfan8080]

After MMA, its hard to consider many games as 'sport'.

I feel golf is for geriatrics but apparently some people think its a legitimate sport.

[themunchies]

I'm actually a big fan of baseball. One of the main fascinations with baseball for me, is the technique and the science of the game. Other sports like Football or Hockey don't have near the science that baseball does, especially when it comes to hitting. Hitting a baseball at the pro level is BY FAR the hardest single thing to do in sports today, which makes it all that more interesting.

[Tony Montana]

Hitting a baseball at the pro level is BY FAR the hardest single thing to do in sports today, which makes it all that more interesting.
I think skating 30mph and taking a slapshot is just as difficult.

[themunchies]

you're kidding me right? What percentage do you think the best hockey players in the world are successful at hitting a slapshot skating 30 MPH? 70%? 80%?

Well in Baseball, the best players in the world, hit at a 30% rate. Just hitting at a 27% rate means you're a good player.

I rest my case.

[IB_BLAZED]

I watch baseball because I used to play and it is a competitive SPORT. I'll admit it's not the most exciting at times, but the same can be said about any sport. Apparently you've never played baseball, it's not as easy as it may look mister. I don't think it should be called "America's favorite pasttime" though, that title should belong to football, the greatest sport on the Earth!

[guyincognito]

you're kidding me right? What percentage do you think the best hockey players in the world are successful at hitting a slapshot skating 30 MPH? 70%? 80%?

Well in Baseball, the best players in the world, hit at a 30% rate. Just hitting at a 27% rate means you're a good player.

I rest my case.
Watching a hockey player hit a slapshot at 30 mph sure looks a lot better than some fat turd hitting a baseball. If the best players can only hit at a 30% rate that tells me the sport sucks. The problem with baseball is it's not aesthetically pleasing. I watch the highlights and there's nothing exciting about them. If 2 minutes of highlights are so boring why would waste 3 plus hours of my life watching a full game. Watching any hockey highlights beats that crap any day.

[themunchies]

I disagree. Just watch the MLB playoffs, it's far more exciting than hockey.

[guyincognito]

I disagree. Just watch the MLB playoffs, it's far more exciting than hockey.
When I watch the sports recap and they're showing baseball I change the channel because it's totally uninteresting. Why would a slow ass three plus hour game be more exciting than that? If you don't a bone crushing bodycheck or a good fight is more exciting than, well, what's the comparison to baseball? There's nothing in baseball more exciting than that. I've seen highlights of bench clearing brawls in baseball and they can't fight worth ****. It's too bad there's no more brawls in hockey. Don't see why baseball can have them but in hockey it's too violent. Maybe because they actually know how to fight.

Chalk it down to difference of opinion. Unless there were radical changes in the rules of baseball I will never watch.

[ACIDBATHBELFORT]

Nothing beats a good football game.

[kai]

Nothing beats a good football game.

A good MMA fight beats anything

[ACIDBATHBELFORT]

Im talking about team sports here. In one on one competition, no doubt MMA all the way.

[Tony Montana]

you're kidding me right? What percentage do you think the best hockey players in the world are successful at hitting a slapshot skating 30 MPH? 70%? 80%?

Well in Baseball, the best players in the world, hit at a 30% rate. Just hitting at a 27% rate means you're a good player.

I rest my case.
I don't agree with this analogy. 80% of hockey players may be able to take a slapshot. But maybe 5% actually go in the net. that would be a more relevant comparison to your 27% base hit analogy.

Anyway, I don't mean to knock on any baseball fans in here. Personally, I hate the sport. But that's just my taste. I actually play and love watching golf. to each their own.

My original point however still stands. How can a sport as slow as baseball be so popular when sports like MMA are still underground? that ain't right.