Baseball. America's FORMER favorite pastime (coaches, curve ball, strategy, game)

[7th generation]

Slow game speed: Hmm... the game has been played this way since it's start
I for one will switch channel to watch a game any day of the year over Nascar or football. I mean what other sport has a one on one (pitcher and hitter) until the ball is put into play and then it's a team effort! The strategies employed during the course of a game is totally as interesting as the game itself. Take me out to the ballpark! ~~~~oh yes!~~~~the mentality that the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is the only rivalry in the sport's history: aww come on that statement is true!~~~~~~Go Redsox~~~~~~

[gardener34]

I like to watch baseball, esp. at parks. But what really irritates me is the fact that some games you cannot see unless you subscribe to comcast sports net. We have a satellite dish because when we first moved in cable was unavailable to us here. So there are tons of white sox games I can't watch.

And I don't like the "coasts only matter" of mentality either. Like there are no midwest teams...

Still like to watch bball, my kids only like to play it. I like the fact that "it's not over til it's over". Like there is always the chance that in the 9th someone could load up the bases and get a grandslam and win that game.

[j33]

Originally Posted by gardener34

And I don't like the "coasts only matter" of mentality either. Like there are no midwest teams...

I find that intensely annoying as well, but I do still like to watch the games on occasion, I find football (american) much more annoying and slow paced than baseball.


...and as a White Sox fan, I find the romanticization of the Cubs almost unbearable

[RobE]

Wait a second: baseball will probably set another attendance record this season. How is it dying? Yeah, it isn't as big as football and it has pretty much lost the black youth to basketball and the NFL, but the people keep coming. At least now you can see some kind of game on tv just about every night during the season while it used to be very occasional broadcasts plus the Game of the Week on NBC.

The players make too much money compared to their worth to society, but so do football players and basketball players. And movie stars have always made money way out of proportion to what the average guy makes. Americans just love their entertainers whether it is on the silver screen or on the athletic field. Nobody holds a gun to the owners' heads to offer those kinds of salaries.

The NFL and NBA often seem little more than glorified criminal enterprises to me with the number of players in those leagues that show up on the police blotter. You don't have nearly as much of that in baseball even with idiots like Brett Myers and the whole steroid issue.

On the length of the games, if you are going to a game acting like you got a bus to catch then just stay home. As Bobby Valentine told the Japanese press (because this time issue has also come up in Japan with its leagues), "people don't go to games to look at their watches." I mean, Christ almighty, have you timed a college football game lately? Talk about long! And the last five minutes of just about any NBA game seems to take half an hour with all the fouling and time outs.

[Splinter]

This thread is funny. So many people on here trying to pass off their personal opinions about baseball as facts. Yeah, maybe you heard a friend of yours say that they don't like baseball like they used to, but look at the numbers...from MLB.com

With so many playoff races going down to the wire, more fans passed through Major League Baseball ballpark turnstiles this season than ever before.

The single-season attendance record was broken for the third consecutive season on Saturday as fans walked into the Metrodome to watch the American League Central game between the hometown Minnesota Twins and the visiting Chicago White Sox.

Someone at the game became the 74,926,175th fan to attend a MLB game in 2006, breaking the record set last season.

Including Sunday's regular-season finales, a total of 76,043,902 fans attended Major League games, representing a 1.5 percent increase over the previous record.

So the myth that baseball is losing popularity has been debunked.

Now, for those who think there is no competitive balance, and think only the Yankees and other big spenders dominate...consider that 7 different teams have won the world series over the past 7 seasons. yankees, d-backs, angels, marlins, red sox, white sox, cardinals. low budget teams like oakland and minnesota seem to make the playoffs every year. so there's another myth debunked.


some of you say that the strikes killed the game. funny, considering the NHL shut down for over a year and it looked as if the league might fold....the NBA was on strike in '99...and the beloved NFL has also been on strike a few times. my contention is that people that blame their lack of interest in baseball on the strike never really liked the game anyway.

as for steroids, EVERY sport, especially the NFL, has steroid problems. more NFL players are busted every year than MLB players. look it up. heck, even cyclists are using....so its not just a baseball problem.

some of you really need to develop your own opinions instead of listening to some talking head say that baseball isn't what it used to be.

[square peg]

I, for one, appreciate baseball. It's not about the hyped up, trumped up, pumped up superstars that get most of the ink. For true fans it's about the squeeze play, the hit and run, the double steal and tagging up on a foul ball, a triple; Clutch hitting, taking a pitch, a short hop, keeping score, a well turned double play and different ground rules in each park; A wasted pitch to reveal if the base runners are moving; maybe the batter is bunting. The curve, a hard slider, gas. 9 innings. Baseball is unique and as interesting a game for the follower as anything else under the sun. Its nuances leave one the time to ponder the next play, to be a manager, to utilize one's creative thinking capabilities. And if you love the game, you don't want to miss any of that.

[aiangel_writer]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

I used to love baseball. I wanted to be a ball player and everything when I was younger. Then came the strikes. Baseball lost a lot of it's luster and appeal to me after the FIRST strike back in '94. Ever since then, I just haven't cared about it.

I quit watching during the strike as well. Picked up football and taught myself the rules so I could understand what the heck was going on. Been a die hard football fan ever since.

Even watched basketball till Jordon retired and it went to pot.

Sad thing is my youngest is a dang good little baseball player with potential to get a college scholorship and then who knows. He is a catcher and keeeps his t.v. tuned into ball games. Younger players will grow to hate the bickering that goes on with trades and hold outs. How I wish it were the way it once was. I hope my son does not lose interest because of what he sees in Major leagues.

[Hawkeye48]

I used to go to see the A's play back when I lived in Sacramento. Occasionally I'll see a Royal's game at Rosenblatt here in Omaha. It's not the same as the major leagues, but it's a baseball fix.

I think if I ever win the lottery I'll travel and see a game at every major league stadium.

[Debsi]

I love MLB. It's my favorite sport.

Go Padres!

[groove1]

I used to love baseball and watched it growing up in Detroit a lot. Several reasons why I don't follow it anymore:

Not only are the games too slow, they take too long. You don't need 6 different pitchers in one game.

Expansion of MLB has killed the talent level as well as some rivalries (exceptions being ones such as Boston/NYY).

Playoff format. A team plays almost 200 games to make 1st place amd gets knocked out in a LCS.

Season is too long. If there is a game 7 this year in the WS, it will be on Novembr 1st.

Steroids. You don't need steroids to play baseball as 90% of the game you can play while sleeping.