As we enter the “Dog Days of Summer”, Major League Baseball is tasked with a seemingly impossible feat. Staying relevant. It is a fact that professional baseball, and I am not excluding the Minor Leagues, possesses the longest schedule of any professional sport. Personally, I love that. With this lengthy schedule, however, also comes the issue of maintaining its relevancy in the midst of other professional sports kicking off. That was an unintentional pun, but you know exactly what I am referring to.
The National Football League has somehow found a way to stay in the news 365 days per year. Granted, some of the newsworthy NFL talk does not always shine a positive light on “America’s Game.” Still, you cannot argue that 24/7 you can turn on sports talk radio and hear in depth discussion surrounding football. Why is that? More importantly, why can baseball not garner the same amount of attention?
The attention span of the average American is not dissimilar to a squirrel with a nut. If they are not grabbed in the 5-10 seconds spent channel surfing, chances are they will not return. By now, we baseball fans have heard all of the excuses. The games are too long. All the players are just standing around. You catch my drift. And I would now like to present a counterargument in defense of baseball.
FACT: In an average NFL game, although it may last close to three hours, a total of 10-12 minutes is actually played. Seriously, Google it. I just did. It begs the question, what are the 24 guys on the field doing for the other 2hrs 12min? One might say they are just “standing around.” Sound familiar?
Here is the difference between baseball and football. Football in its purest form, is first and foremost, a contact sport. On every play, grown men are given permission to run directly at other grown men with the goal of hitting them as hard as humanly possible. This is not acceptable outside the realms of a professional environment. To take it a step further, the act of tackling someone is borderline illegal. Baseball, on the other hand, is acceptable. It is this country’s oldest sport and can be played simply with a stick and ball. Aside from the occasional bang-bang play, players rarely come into physical contact with another.
I am no rocket scientist, although I do know one personally. Should the safer game not trigger more curiosity? Both contests take close to 3 hours to decide a winner. I have already covered that. But I think it comes down to this. Much like fans of NASCAR, people have this sensational lust and desire for violence.
I often say sports is live theatre. The first couple of innings/quarters/periods/trials, etc. are the opening act. Halftime/7th-Inning Stretch/Caution Flags acts as the intermission. Lastly, the final inning/4th quarter/period/laps is the climax.
As everything is played out in front of them, it is as if viewers live vicariously through these 230lbs men. Not much has changed if you go back and look through the history of sport. Gladiator arenas were extremely popular. They fought to the death. Thankfully, that is outlawed these days. But football is the closest we come to those arenas in today’s sports world. How does baseball compete with these modern day gladiators?
Over the next two weeks, I think baseball has an answer in the midst of NFL preseason games. The Little League World Series. The annual tournament for children ages 11-13 in Williamsport, PA will be broadcast on ESPN starting August 17. Americans, along with that sensational lust, also have a heart. On a given night in the LLWS, tears are shed. Smiles are plastered all over our television screens. Unlimited amounts of fun is had watching these kids on the grandest stage playing the grandest of games.
For at least a few days, baseball will have America’s attention again. Because after all, what is more beautiful than a smile and the laughter on a child’s face as they play a game? Nothing.