You know what? I've finally figured out why football has replaced baseball as the most watched game in the United States. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier because it's oh so very simple.
Simply put, it's because this nation has turned into a country full of dolts.
I know. Harsh statement, right? Don't get me wrong. I like football. It's not my favorite game (that spot will always be reserved for the real National Pastime), but I do like it.
In fact, I was at every single football game in Cougar Stadium in 1984 when BYU won the National Championship. I loved those games. It was exciting, I admit it.
I'm not saying, either, that football fans are dolts. Quite to the contrary. I think some of them are quite brilliant and talented people. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that there are a lot of baseball fans who ARE dolts. There's one in every crowd, as the old saying goes.
For me, though, there is still nothing like a good old baseball game on a warm summer's night. I love sitting in the stands, eating dogs and even keeping score. I love the smell of a baseball, the feeling of dirt on my pants and the sound a wooden bat makes when it solidly hits a speeding ball. No sound in football, or any other sport for that matter, can compare to that. The only one that even comes close is the sound of a small, white, dimpled ball dropping into the bottom of the cup. It's close, but still, it's no cigar.
Nuances in baseball abound. Catcher getting signals from manager. Pitcher getting signals from catcher. Coaches getting signals from manager. Batter and runners getting signals from coaches. To sit and watch, from the dugout or from the stands or even from the field, it's intellectually stimulating. Will the runner go? What pitch will be thrown? Will the batter bunt? Where does the fielder go if the ball is hit to him? There are a million things to consider, and it all takes less than a couple of seconds.
You've got to be quick on your intellectual feet in a baseball game. Fielders have to constantly think about the play they will make if the ball is hit their way. Pitchers and catchers have to constantly think about pitches and their locations. Runners have to constantly think about what they'll do when the ball is hit. Do they take an extra base? Do they steal?
Drag bunt? Hit and run? Run and hit? Fair or foul? Delayed steal? Double play? Change up or curve? Pitch out?
It's a thinking man's game.
I'll go to my grave insisting that baseball, to be truly appreciated, has to be thought about. It was made to be slow.
Today, though, most people aren't slow. We drive fast to get from here to there. We sleep 5 or 6 hours a night because there's too much to do. We play video games all day long and have nothing but instant gratification.
I know one guy at work who is at his desk every single day before I get there at 7:30am and he's there when I leave at night just after 4. He won't take a day off when he's sick because he says there's "too much to do," so he comes in and tries to infect the lot of us. As far as I know, the man lives at the office. I'm all for dedication, believe me, but there's such a thing as going too far. The man has bags under his eyes, for Pete's sake.
Every day I hear on the news that so-and-so was killed in a car accident because he was going too fast.
I talk to parents who work 60-70 hours a week and hardly ever get to see their kids because they get home from work too late.
I hear about homes in which both parents work and leave their kids to a nanny or even to fend for themselves.
I hear about people who lose their temper in line at the grocery store because it's taking too long.
I heard yesterday about a guy driving down the Interstate who was the victim of road rage. Someone ran into his car with a motorcycle, for heaven's sake, because he slowed them down! Tore his rear view mirror off and left a big scratch down the side. A motorcycle!! Seriously?
We've become a nation of do-it-in-a-hurry, gotta-get-it-done now, winning-is-the-only-thing dolts. There's no time anymore for sitting and reading a paperback novel, studying and pondering the scriptures or just listening to good music. We don't go and visit our neighbors, we don't go and visit grandma and we don't write letters, unless they are sent via email.
Baseball is slow. It's counter to the way America is nowadays. We all move at the same pace at which football moves. Fast-paced. Breakneck speed. Put your head down and plow through the line.
Just a word of warning here before I close.
Watch out football.
One of these days the country is going to be going faster than you, too, and then you won't be the most watched sport in America anymore.
We'll all be hockey fans instead.
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