As the 2012 baseball season begins to wind down, a brand new football season is about to begin. With the local team out of contention, many sports fans' focus will soon move away from the diamond and on to the gridiron. With that in mind, I'm here to run down a list of ten reasons why baseball is still better than football.
1- Heritage. Baseball has a long history, deeper and more rich than any other sport. The lore of baseball dates back for well more than a century. While football fans generally have memories that focus on their fantasy team highs and lows, baseball fanatics' lives are laden with memories of things like Steve Carlton leading the National League in wins for a last place team in 1972 or Jackie Robinson's groundbreaking rookie season of 1947 or perhaps the historical postseason prowess of certain franchises. Click to read more.
2- Players on the field are more identifiable. Helmets on football players prohibit viewers of televised games, and those viewed in person, from seeing a player's face and emotions. Baseball players are more exposed and this allows fans to better recognize and identify with the individuals that are representing their city and region.
3- The unwritten rules. Players that act like hot dogs and taunt or celebrate in too grand a fashion on the baseball diamond get plunked in retaliation, while show-offs with the pigskin dance around like they're drunk at a prom or strike poses like models and get away with it.
4- Head-to-head focus. Each at bat features one on one competition, not just a particular match up on the field that might have an impact on certain plays. It's batter vs. pitcher each and every time up and that's sort of feature that's not found in any other game.
5- Global impact. Baseball is a world wide game, played in countless countries. American style football is exactly that...American. Baseball is played in Canada, Cuba, Japan, Korea, South America, Australia, all through Latin America and plenty other places worldwide.
6- The minor leagues. Developmental ranks allow fans to watch players become the stars of the future and the parks these guys play in allow fans to view the sport of baseball in a more intimate and highly affordable manner. Fans can go home having experienced an entertaining match up with future or former stars of the game every time out.
7- Spring training. Football training camp is okay, but it's local. Annually, thousands of baseball fans make the exodus during the late winter weeks and travel to the considerably warmer states of Florida and Arizona to see their typically more northern teams get ready for a season full of high hopes. Additional reasons for vacationing are surely welcome.
9- No penalty hesitations. Regularly in football, fans are faced with instances where celebrating and cheering are delayed while everyone wonders if a flag that was thrown has bearing on the score or defensive stop they've just witnessed. In baseball, no such pauses are necessary and a score or key strike out can be rejoiced over immediately.
10- Safety. You're not going to hear parents scoffing at suggestions for their children to join the local Little League team. However, many of them feel football is too dangerous and of great concern to the health of their children. Baseball is more safe for youngsters looking for a team sport and something to be involved with.
1- Heritage. Baseball has a long history, deeper and more rich than any other sport. The lore of baseball dates back for well more than a century. While football fans generally have memories that focus on their fantasy team highs and lows, baseball fanatics' lives are laden with memories of things like Steve Carlton leading the National League in wins for a last place team in 1972 or Jackie Robinson's groundbreaking rookie season of 1947 or perhaps the historical postseason prowess of certain franchises. Click to read more.
2- Players on the field are more identifiable. Helmets on football players prohibit viewers of televised games, and those viewed in person, from seeing a player's face and emotions. Baseball players are more exposed and this allows fans to better recognize and identify with the individuals that are representing their city and region.
3- The unwritten rules. Players that act like hot dogs and taunt or celebrate in too grand a fashion on the baseball diamond get plunked in retaliation, while show-offs with the pigskin dance around like they're drunk at a prom or strike poses like models and get away with it.
4- Head-to-head focus. Each at bat features one on one competition, not just a particular match up on the field that might have an impact on certain plays. It's batter vs. pitcher each and every time up and that's sort of feature that's not found in any other game.
5- Global impact. Baseball is a world wide game, played in countless countries. American style football is exactly that...American. Baseball is played in Canada, Cuba, Japan, Korea, South America, Australia, all through Latin America and plenty other places worldwide.
6- The minor leagues. Developmental ranks allow fans to watch players become the stars of the future and the parks these guys play in allow fans to view the sport of baseball in a more intimate and highly affordable manner. Fans can go home having experienced an entertaining match up with future or former stars of the game every time out.
7- Spring training. Football training camp is okay, but it's local. Annually, thousands of baseball fans make the exodus during the late winter weeks and travel to the considerably warmer states of Florida and Arizona to see their typically more northern teams get ready for a season full of high hopes. Additional reasons for vacationing are surely welcome.
8- Steady leisurely pace vs. stop and go, stop and go. Certainly, there are folks that criticize baseball for being a slow game, but steady and balanced is superior to a break followed by a timeout followed by a kick followed by another break and so on. Constant game play outweighs the boredom of cheer leading routines and commercials.
9- No penalty hesitations. Regularly in football, fans are faced with instances where celebrating and cheering are delayed while everyone wonders if a flag that was thrown has bearing on the score or defensive stop they've just witnessed. In baseball, no such pauses are necessary and a score or key strike out can be rejoiced over immediately.
10- Safety. You're not going to hear parents scoffing at suggestions for their children to join the local Little League team. However, many of them feel football is too dangerous and of great concern to the health of their children. Baseball is more safe for youngsters looking for a team sport and something to be involved with.
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