"I Love Baseball"
by Rick Roberts
I have a passion for something that not all too many folks perceive as a particularly likely target for such a thing. I love baseball. When I listen to people describing the sport, I hear terms ranging from pastoral, relaxing, and prosaic from those who are fond of the game, to words like tedious, snail-paced or plodding from the ones who are less taken by its charms. Usually, both groups are just finding polite ways of saying it's boring. I disagree. Even though baseball doesn't offer the non-stop motion of basketball, or the sixty minutes of barely controlled violence of football, it can nevertheless be equally stimulating. And I mean no disrespect to those other sports. Believe me, I am very fond of them, too.
There is a difference though. Baseball requires a lot more mental effort. It is arguably an on field version of a chess match. And while I know that not many people would call a chess game "exciting," it still provides a great amount of dramatic tension. To a rabid fan, which I freely admit to being, the strategy involved with the field game (baseball) changes with every pitch, just as it does with every move in the board game (chess). And it all carries an abundance of tension.
There's barely enough time between pitches to consider all the relevant pieces of the puzzle. You have to tally up the equation of the score, the ball and strike count, any or how many men are on base (and which base), how many outs, what inning you're in, the particular strengths and weaknesses of the batter, is the man on base fast, and the list goes on. And as I said, the equation changes with every pitch. And still, for the most part, they conduct the affair in an elegant and stately manner.
It's been said more than once that baseball is a team sport consisting entirely of one on one confrontations. But as many a wealthy owner has discovered, assembling a team made up of the very best player at every position does not always lead to winning. Team chemistry is a major factor in the ultimate success of any team. And to watch a well-trained and effective team function in the field and make seemingly impossible plays is much like watching a well-oiled machine in action. Admittedly, these pleasures are more enjoyable when the game being watched is a good contest, rather than a one sided blowout. But I think that's the same in any sport.
Keep in mind that all this deeper analysis is not mandatory. For those who enjoy the leisure of spending an afternoon or an evening with a game that will unfold as slowly or as quickly as it chooses rather than paying allegiance to a clock with a specified length of time to get the job done, nothing more is necessary. But for those who perceive the game as an endless bore, there may be more to it than you have figured out yet.
Rick Roberts is a musician, singer, author, and songwriter. His songs, including “You are the Woman,” topped the music charts when he was the lead singer of the band Firefall. http://rickrobertsmusic.com/
If basketball is the checkers of the sports world, baseball is a chess match requiring mental energy of a demanding game.
There is a difference though. Baseball requires a lot more mental effort. It is arguably an on field version of a chess match. And while I know that not many people would call a chess game "exciting," it still provides a great amount of dramatic tension. To a rabid fan, which I freely admit to being, the strategy involved with the field game (baseball) changes with every pitch, just as it does with every move in the board game (chess). And it all carries an abundance of tension.
There's barely enough time between pitches to consider all the relevant pieces of the puzzle. You have to tally up the equation of the score, the ball and strike count, any or how many men are on base (and which base), how many outs, what inning you're in, the particular strengths and weaknesses of the batter, is the man on base fast, and the list goes on. And as I said, the equation changes with every pitch. And still, for the most part, they conduct the affair in an elegant and stately manner.
It's been said more than once that baseball is a team sport consisting entirely of one on one confrontations. But as many a wealthy owner has discovered, assembling a team made up of the very best player at every position does not always lead to winning. Team chemistry is a major factor in the ultimate success of any team. And to watch a well-trained and effective team function in the field and make seemingly impossible plays is much like watching a well-oiled machine in action. Admittedly, these pleasures are more enjoyable when the game being watched is a good contest, rather than a one sided blowout. But I think that's the same in any sport.
Keep in mind that all this deeper analysis is not mandatory. For those who enjoy the leisure of spending an afternoon or an evening with a game that will unfold as slowly or as quickly as it chooses rather than paying allegiance to a clock with a specified length of time to get the job done, nothing more is necessary. But for those who perceive the game as an endless bore, there may be more to it than you have figured out yet.
Rick Roberts is a musician, singer, author, and songwriter. His songs, including “You are the Woman,” topped the music charts when he was the lead singer of the band Firefall. http://rickrobertsmusic.com/
If basketball is the checkers of the sports world, baseball is a chess match requiring mental energy of a demanding game.
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