Friday, February 3, 2012

Why Baseball Is Special

Being a baseball fan is different than being a fan of any other sport. There are games almost everyday for six months. There are good things and bad things that come with that. It connects the fans to their team and keeps them connected. For half the year baseball is a constant in the fan's life. It is always there as an escape. And as long as you're watching to enjoy the game, it will never let you down.

But the constant presence can also be frustrating. If your team is struggling the reminder will always be there. Sometimes it's necessary to think about other things but baseball is always there calling you. It'll envelop your night no matter what you intended to do. But I guess none of those are bad if you really love baseball.

There are just so many things to love about baseball. It requires strategy but not so much that players and coaches need binders to know what to do. And even though there's strategy there is no way to have a specific game plan. The manger can't make players hit line drives to left field or seeing-eye base hits that barely sneak through the right side of the infield. And one can only be so certain as to where to position their fielders.

Baseball is the only game where the ball is given to the defense. The defense is given control of the offense until that changes in the split-second it takes the batter to blast the ball to deep right field. Baseball is also the only game where each team has equal opportunities to score. They have 27 outs and just have to do as much as they can with them. And extra innings work exactly the same as the rest of the game, as any overtime should.

Baseball is life for multiple hours a day for six months of the year. It will take up as many hours a necessary be it only two or maybe four and a half. It doesn't care if you have something else to do and ultimately the fans don't care either. The beautiful summer game, America's pastime, will grab you and not let you go. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

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