What Happened to Baseball?

Off Topic
41

[quote]nramaker wrote:
I think Bauer hit it on the head on the first page. 162 games is just too many to care about. Each game is so inconsequential that any drama within the game nearly is meaningless. Losing an NFL game is literally like going on a 10 game losing streak in baseball. The difference between a playoff team and a last place team may be that over the course of the entire season, the first team’s batting average was .290 while the latter’s was .275. That minor difference is almost imperceivable over the course of the seven month season.[/quote]

Last year the Phillies beat the Mets by one game. It came down to the final day of the season. Chicago and Boston both won their divisions by a mere two games. Colorado and San Deigo TIED and had to play an extra game that determined who would make the playoffs and that game went into extra innings!

Think these April and May games aren’t important when a 162-game season comes down to the final day?

[quote]
Plus I hate SportsCenter and their 24/7 Yanks and Sox circle jerks. [/quote]

I agree with that! That’s why I just follow the team blogs along with guys like Gammons, you tend to get a lot better coverage without all of the retarded catch phrases the anchors make up.

42

You, mean we are a nation of ADD’ers?

The problem is the way the game is now taught or really not taught. On the surface chess and baseball are the same. Like chess once you learn the rules and the teaching techniques are explained the game moves. Like chess, baseball can turn on a dime and its a whole new game.

I coach little league and am a High School baseball Umpire. At both levels the game moves fast and at the level of the “show” for me it moves even faster. Baseball just needs to get back to the basics of teaching rules and techniques. How many people do you know that can actually score a game, number a field or just track basic outs and runs?

Go Tribe!!!

43

I will say part of the problem with baseball is part of what has made today’s players so good. Over the past 5-10 years as OBP has become such an important stat hitters are taught to see as many pitches as possible whereas it seems like in the past players were taught to swing away a lot more. Also pitchers take a lot of time between pitches and batters are stepping out constantly. I’m not sure what can be done about that but that is definitely one thing that I think limits baseball a little bit to the casual fan.

44

[quote]

Aw man I LOVE baseball on the radio…in fact the Orioles had THE BEST radio guy back when I was going to grad school in Baltimore. It was awesome because i’d get out of class around 10:30 and the game would be almost over and the guy would be on the radio and then I’d drive right by the stadium…THEN…that fucker Angelos wouldn’t pay him the money to stick around and the guy went to the west coast…[/quote]

The announcer was Jon Miller. He still does Sunday night baseball on ESPN with Joe Morgan. Miller is my favorite too. He wrote a great book in the late 90’s called “whats right and whats wrong with baseball”. Check it out.

45

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
sumgai wrote:
A bunch of mindless horse shit

First of all, I love sports. I can watch pretty much any competitive sport and enjoy it. Why? Because watching people compete at the highest level, physically and mentally, really appeals to me.

To bash baseball because it’s “boring” is really an uneducated answer. Have you ever watched a chess match? Sure, on the surface it looks boring, but if you watch good chess players, there is a whole lot more involved. Baseball is the same way.

Also, dismissing it as a sport played by fat, slow people is also ridiculously wrong. Their uniforms are deceiving. Most of the guys playing professionally are in top physical condition. Are you aware that the average Major League player trains over 3 hours per day, between weights, cardio, stretching, sprinting?

I also love the “lack of scoring” argument that people use to justify why American Football is king in the U.S. Well, if every run counted as 3 or 6 points, which game has more scoring now? They’re probably pretty even.

I already said I love all sports. I LOVE football (college and pro), basketball (NCAA), lacrosse, ice hockey, soccer, whatever. But, baseball will always be my top sport. Every pitch has a purpose. Every pitcher-batter matchup is different. Each game offers multiple chances for any number of players to be make a difference in the outcome.

With all of that said, I can understand people not liking baseball for various reasons. But, please don’t bash it because you don’t understand it. Open your mind and give it a chance. I used to bash soccer too, until I watched it at it’s highest level with a knowledgeable fan.

DB[/quote]

Great reply. I’m a big baseball fan, but I spend a lot more time following the game (i.e. reading game stories, columnists, analysis, etc.) than I do watching actual games. Until the playoffs, I probably won’t watch more than a dozen games start to finish, probably well under that actually. Just a pacing issue, and the fact that three hours plus is a big chunk of time (unlike Sundays during football season, where you just write the day off).

And for me, fantasy baseball is a huge part of it, makes me far more interested in baseball and in non-Sox players. A thousand times more fun than fantasy football.

46

[quote]58buggs wrote:
You, mean we are a nation of ADD’ers?

The problem is the way the game is now taught or really not taught. On the surface chess and baseball are the same. Like chess once you learn the rules and the teaching techniques are explained the game moves. Like chess, baseball can turn on a dime and its a whole new game.

I coach little league and am a High School baseball Umpire. At both levels the game moves fast and at the level of the “show” for me it moves even faster. Baseball just needs to get back to the basics of teaching rules and techniques. How many people do you know that can actually score a game, number a field or just track basic outs and runs?

Go Tribe!!!
[/quote]

Oh HELL YEAH! Another Tribe fan. What are we going to do with Hafner?

To your point about teaching the game the right way, why can’t 98% of Major Leaguers lay down a proper bunt?

DB

47

[quote]nramaker wrote:

Plus I hate SportsCenter and their 24/7 Yanks and Sox circle jerks. [/quote]

I’ve ranted about this in past threads. Nauseating, it is. Every regular season game is not an epic battle worthy of the first 30 minutes of SportsCenter.

DB

48

[quote]son of liars wrote:

Aw man I LOVE baseball on the radio…in fact the Orioles had THE BEST radio guy back when I was going to grad school in Baltimore. It was awesome because i’d get out of class around 10:30 and the game would be almost over and the guy would be on the radio and then I’d drive right by the stadium…THEN…that fucker Angelos wouldn’t pay him the money to stick around and the guy went to the west coast…

The announcer was Jon Miller. He still does Sunday night baseball on ESPN with Joe Morgan. Miller is my favorite too. He wrote a great book in the late 90’s called “whats right and whats wrong with baseball”. Check it out.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s him. I’ll check out the book. Thanks.

49

[quote]jtrinsey wrote:

Last year the Phillies beat the Mets by one game. It came down to the final day of the season. Chicago and Boston both won their divisions by a mere two games. Colorado and San Deigo TIED and had to play an extra game that determined who would make the playoffs and that game went into extra innings!

[/quote]

Those races were really exciting…but…even though the games in april and may lead to that excitement…the early games just aren’t that exciting for me to watch…if there were only 81 games…wouldn’t you still get the excitement of the pennant races, but in half the time ? and then the earlier games would be more exciting to watch…

50

[quote]BF Bullpup wrote:
Himora22 wrote:
Then you have Bonds, the man is the home run king and most every hates him or is indifferent. I think that is some of the reason but not all of it.

I actually feel bad that Bonds can’t get a job anywhere now. He was the best hitter in baseball BEFORE he juiced (or at least before he got all big and strong) and he’s still among the best now. I don’t know if it’s worth it for pro baseball to make an example out of him like they did to Pete Rose.[/quote]

Actually, the number 1 reason no one will sign BB is that he may be going to prison sometime this summer. That and he’s a PR nightmare.

DB

51

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
BF Bullpup wrote:
Himora22 wrote:
Then you have Bonds, the man is the home run king and most every hates him or is indifferent. I think that is some of the reason but not all of it.

I actually feel bad that Bonds can’t get a job anywhere now. He was the best hitter in baseball BEFORE he juiced (or at least before he got all big and strong) and he’s still among the best now. I don’t know if it’s worth it for pro baseball to make an example out of him like they did to Pete Rose.

Actually, the number 1 reason no one will sign BB is that he may be going to prison sometime this summer. That and he’s a PR nightmare.

DB[/quote]

And a prima dona who teammates hate.

Hafner looks over the hill, but I can’t believe the kind of year Cliff Lee is having. Did not see that coming.