As baseball season kicked off just over a week ago, my excitement for what should be another great summer following my favorite team, the defending AL champion Texas Rangers, could not be contained. The Rangers' 9-2 record in their first 11 games has obviously done nothing to temper my enthusiasm.
Growing up, I was interested in all the sports that I could find time to watch. My mom said she knew Kyle and I had a “problem” when she came home to see us watching a random women’s volleyball match on ESPN2. We were only 10 years old.
As you can tell, sports have been my biggest interest for the majority of my life. There is nothing in the world that is more entertaining than watching highly skilled athletes competing at the highest level.
Each sport requires a different set of skills and each sport is awesome in it’s own way. If any kind of sporting event, you can witness greatness.
I love football. It is thrilling to attend football games because of the intense action involved and there is no comparison to the athleticism needed to excel in this awesome sport.
Basketball is great. While referees have clouded my love for the game recently, watching great players (Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, etc.) dominate at this game is one of the most awe-inspiring things that you can see in sports.
I have even begun to love hockey in the past four years or so. The game is so fluid, yet physical, and it is quite unique compared to other American sports. And of course, nothing compares to the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Even with how awesome these sports are and how much I enjoy them, none of them even come close to conjuring up the same kind of feelings that I have about baseball.
Maybe my early love for baseball is the reason it is #1 in my eyes. As a child, the only sport I ever attended consistently was baseball. Texas Rangers games were easy to go to on the cheap and it was a fun summer activity for our family.
During the time that we went to a lot of games, the Rangers always sucked. We always seemed to go to Rangers v. Devil Rays games and the Rangers would lose more often than not, even with how terrible those Devil Rays teams were. That’s how bad the Rangers were.
Even with many losing experiences, I still have many fond memories of the Ballpark in Arlington and it was always my favorite place to be during the summer.
One of the major reasons that baseball is the best overall sport is the relaxed atmosphere of it’s games. Yes, sports are supposed to be as exciting as possible, but there is just something unexplainably enjoyable about putting up your feet, having a nice tray of nachos and watching some baseball with the people you love.
It may sound cliché, but watching a baseball game is just a great way to connect with people. When attending more high-paced games like hockey and football, it is hard to really converse and get to know the people you attend the game with. Baseball is different in that it is very conversational and relaxing. Many great father-son relationships have been created around a baseball diamond, and that is no coinceidence.
Some people understand this love for baseball, but a lot of others find it odd that people could be so interested in such a “boring” game. It’s hard to argue against the fact that baseball’s action is slow-paced, but it is really what happens in between the action that makes this sport so interesting.
As the batter waits for the pitch, you can almost see the wheels turning inside his head, wondering what pitch the pitcher will throw next. Then you look at the pitcher, who is pondering what spot he can put his next pitch in where his opponent wont crush it out of the ballpark.
There is so much strategy involved in the pitcher-batter conflict. The pitcher seems to control the action with the pitches he selects, but it could be argued that what the batter does/is good at is what actually controls the action.
This battle (mental and physical) happens with every single pitch that is thrown. The pitcher thinks: ‘Do I throw a curveball in the dirt here and hope he chases it or do I try and sneak a fastball by him.’ while the batter thinks: ‘Don’t get fooled by a curveball, but don’t miss your chance to hit a good fastball…’ Who comes out on top?
The anticipation rises with each passing pitch because of the fact that it could be the one that decides the game.
Anticipation is also present during the action. A player strokes a ball to the gap that gets down and slowly rolls to the wall. The crowd rises to its feet as the batter rounds second to try and stretch a double into a triple. He dives in safely and the crowd goes into a frenzy. Talk about exhilarating.
These kinds of feelings are present in other sports, but baseball lives and dies with this feeling of anticipation, from pitch to pitch, inning to inning and game to game.
Another reason baseball is so uniquely awesome is that you honestly never know what is going to happen when you show up at a ballpark.
Bengie Molina, the slowest player in the history of baseball, could stroke a triple to the alley in right center to complete a cycle. Edwin Jackson, a guy with great stuff but terrible command could throw a no-hitter. There are so many ways greatness can present itself in the game of baseball, so each game is a mystery.
Things like this don’t happen near as often in other sports. Sure, a receiver could have a breakout game (Kevin Curtis’ 3 TD game in the opening week of 2007 comes to mind), but greatness occurs more frequently in baseball games.
Unique personalities also make this game interesting. Where else can you find a guy who throws an 85 MPH, side armed fastball be as successful as a guy who can throw 98 MPH?
These unique personalities help create so many awesome memories. Remember how the 25 idiots came together and ended a nearly century long World Series drought for the Red Sox? How about how the ‘Claw and Antlers’ phase swept North Texas last summer on the way to an unforgettable October? There is no team-wide bond like the one that is formed through baseball.
That statement is probably true because the game is played nearly every day. Teams spend all of their time together, on and off the field, so they have to have a special chemistry to be great.
The fact that the game is played every day is another reason why baseball is so great. People think that baseball could get boring in this way, but the fact that each day brings a new starting pitcher to the mound makes each game uniquely interesting.
Your team could get crushed 15-2 one day and come back the next day and beat the same team 8-1. This variance day to day makes the game easy to watch and makes it easy to say “Well, there is always tomorrow.” There is always something to look forward to during a baseball season and each day presents a different challenge.
This is always said when there is an explanation on why baseball is great, but it is so true that it bears repeating. The fact that there is no clock in the game makes it so unique and so much more watchable.
You don’t always have to be worrying about how much time is left and a team with a lead can’t just run out the clock. Each team gets 27 outs at the beginning of the game to play with, and whoever does the best with them gets the win. It is simple, yet extremely fair.
I could go on and on with the reasons why baseball is awesome (stats, prospects, trades, etc.), but this post could go on for a couple more thousand words, so I’ll just stop it here and end with a story on how rewarding baseball can be.
Even with how awesome I thought baseball was for the first 19 years of my life, my team never really rewarded me with any sort of success. We had never made the playoffs during the time that I was a die-hard fan and we rarely came close. I never thought of abandoning my team, but it was frustrating that the team would be so disappointing year in and year out.
My (and the rest of the dedicated fan base’s) persistence paid of in September and October of last year. The Rangers had a fantastic season and won the division for the first time since 1999. Excitement ramped up in the DFW area and the team went on an improbable run to their first World Series ever.
I’ve never seen a city get so far behind their team as I did last fall. The Rangers were riding a high wave of confidence and the fans were treated to some of the most thrilling and rewarding baseball games I have ever seen. To people who say sports are pointless and a waste of time, tell that to the 50,000+ people in attendance (plus an uncountable number of fans watching across the country) who were going absolutely nuts when Neftali Feliz struck out Alex Rodriguez to advance the Rangers to the World Series.
Poetic justice at it’s finest, and something that could only be produced by the great sport of baseball.
