Baseball....... It’s America’s greatest pastime. Arguably the best game in the world (my opinion).
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Baseball is an acquired taste, I get that, but what bothers me the most about this is that most people say the game is “boring”. To me, when you say the game is boring it just means you don’t understand the game or care to understand the game.
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I get it, on surface the game looks slow which can be a turnoff to some, if you will. However, I challenge you to dig a little deeper and try to understand the game.
To me baseball is hands down the best sport out there, but I also understand the game. See, the game is a game within a game. It’s all strategic, baseball is a game of failure, and when you understand that and have an open mind about it, I think many more people will enjoy the game.
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Think about it like this, A .300 batting average gets you in the hall of fame, well, over a lengthy career it will. But what is a .300 average? That’s only 30%, which is a failing percentage, right? Well in baseball that gets you to Cooperstown.
Ted Williams once said “The hardest thing to do in baseball is hit a round ball with a round bat squarely” and that is single handily one of the truest statements I’ve ever heard when it comes to the game of baseball. However, the game gets much deeper than that, and I want to touch on it a little.
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Anybody can watch the game and get a general idea of what’s happening, but to truly understand the game you have to look at all the little details and understand what’s really going on to fully understand what’s going on, and I I think that’s where most people lose interest and claim for the game to be boring.
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There’s so many different situations that come along in a 9 inning game that makes it interesting. Like a key situation where you have the pitcher attacking this hitter, but pitching around the next hitter. Or, why is the catcher tailing the runner down to first? Why is the first baseman railing the runner to second? What about the infielder cutting off the throw to the plate from the outfield? Or even throwing behind a runner. It’s all these little things that makes the game very interesting. You will rarely see the same exact play twice as every single play is situational. Like, why is the infield playing in on the grass right now with a 1 run lead late in the game, or why is the infield playing deep or normal depth with a runner on third? I think once you understand these things, you will understand the game a lot more and maybe not see it as boring, or a waste of time. I could go on and on about this topic, but I would be better off writing a book on it than just a blog post.
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So, with these things said, I challenge the ones that think the game is boring to dig a little deeper into the game and try to understand it a little more. I feel like the more you understand, the more you will enjoy it.
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Feel free to leave comments below on your thoughts on this.
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