America's favorite pastime

[Edaarin]

So I'm getting dragged to a Nationals game tomorrow as part a mentoring program. Sounds fun, but...

I can't even watch 3 hours of baseball on TV without my eyes glazing.

RFK Stadium makes Richmond look like McLean.

They're playing the Mets.

I'm still not 21, so I can't partake in the $6.50 beers.

[sellout]

I'm one of those people that can't stand watching baseball on television but actually being at the game is a lot of fun. I think you'll be surprised in a good way.

[Jorddyn]

Originally posted by sellout
I'm one of those people that can't stand watching baseball on television but actually being at the game is a lot of fun. I think you'll be surprised in a good way.

Ditto that.

I'm not a huge football fan, but one of my favorite memories is going to a Chief's game at Arrowhead.

Of course, there was much alcohol involved for me :)

Jorddyn

[hectomaner]

i'm not a fan of baseball at all, but it is true, a live game is completely different than a televised one

Just dont go on the field and stick a flag in the pitchers mount... You get kicked out...

[Killer Kitten]

Pity it isn't a minor league game. Mike and I used to go see the Long Island Ducks play, and an evening at a Ducks game was sure to be a blast.

Minor league games are like a 1950's revival. Games for the kids on the field, relaxed family atmosphere, fun food. Very laid back, mellow and friendly. If you enjoy baseball at all, I'd recommend a minor league game for a fun summer evening.

[Warriorbird]

Yeah. The one thing I have to say for Lynchburg, VA. Their minor league games were great to watch as a kid.

[peam]

Hah. The Hillcats weren't they?

[Sean]

Originally posted by Killer Kitten
Pity it isn't a minor league game. Mike and I used to go see the Long Island Ducks play, and an evening at a Ducks game was sure to be a blast.

Minor league games are like a 1950's revival. Games for the kids on the field, relaxed family atmosphere, fun food. Very laid back, mellow and friendly. If you enjoy baseball at all, I'd recommend a minor league game for a fun summer evening.

If you had waited a little longer to move to the middle of nowhere you could have watched John Rocker get destroyed trying to play for the ducks... Almost worth driving out to Long Island for.

[Edited on 7-7-2005 by Tijay]

[Latrinsorm]

If sunburn is a problem for you, wear sunscreen if it's going to be sunny.

[SnatchWrangler]

Originally posted by hectomaner
i'm not a fan of baseball at all, but it is true, a live game is completely different than a televised one

Yeah...it's much harder to fall asleep in those cramped chairs and with all the noise around you.

Seriously, I'm the same way. I can't watch baseball on TV, nevermind taking the time to commute to/from Shea or Yankee Stadium then sit through a game.

I went to one last summer with a bunch of buddies, of course we tailgated beforehand. I just wanted to stick around in the parking lot, but we went in around the 3rd inning. The game was boring as hell (like, 2-1 or something), when we got kicked out of the game in the top of the ninth inning (A friend, screwing around, threw a shoe over his shoulder. It hit someone and a fight nearly broke out. We were in a completely empty section...except for one group of 4 people out of about 70 seats. Of course it hit one of the 4 people...)

Anyways...as security escorted us out, we heard the stadium erupt. Piazza hit a walk off homer to end the game.

So uh...yeah...baseball is too boring to sit through unless you're a diehard fan. It may have to do with the fact that 90% of the games I've gone to in the past 5 years always tend to be those "exciting" pitchers' duels.

[AnticorRifling]

Originally posted by Dave
Just dont go on the field and stick a flag in the pitchers mount... You get kicked out...

The pitcher's what? n3rd

[Warriorbird]

"The Hillcats, weren't they?"

Lynchurg Redsox, Hillcats, Pirates... I think. I mainly watched when they were Mets and Redsox.



[Edited on 7-7-2005 by Warriorbird]

[Atlanteax]

Baseball is no longer America's favorite pasttime...

It's decisively now Football (no, not soccer, that's not a real sport)

Hey now, soccer is far better than Football, and takes more of an athlete than ten second plays..

[SnatchWrangler]

Originally posted by Dave
Hey now, soccer is far better than Football, and takes more of an athlete than ten second plays..

Far better if you like your action few and far between and low scoring contests.

I'm with Atlanteax. Football is far and away America's pasttime now.

[Warriorbird]

Actually... by numbers, America's pasttime is likely Nascar or pro-wrestling.

Originally posted by SnatchWrangler

Originally posted by Dave
Hey now, soccer is far better than Football, and takes more of an athlete than ten second plays..

Far better if you like your action few and far between and low scoring contests.

I'm with Atlanteax. Football is far and away America's pasttime now.
Strategy and finesse are hard for some people to understand. The biggest issue in football is when you will take your timeouts.

[Atlanteax]

Originally posted by Dave
Hey now, soccer is far better than Football, and takes more of an athlete than ten second plays..

I don't see any difference between soccer "athletes" and track athletes.

You run hard and fast, hope to get to the ball, and then you kick it.

Where 95% or so of the time is spent running... hence the comparision to being a glorified track athlete.

.

Besides, as George Carlin once pointed out... "it's not a real sport if you can't use your hands" (nevermind the goalie)

[SnatchWrangler]

Originally posted by Warriorbird
Actually... by numbers, America's pasttime is likely Nascar or pro-wrestling.

HAHAHAHAHA.

Check again. Do you realize the size of the TV network contracts the NFL gets dwarves the other major sports?

Pro-wrestling. :rolleyes: Go troll somewhere else.

[ElanthianSiren]

Damn, my vote was going to be all for bitching.

-M

[Atlanteax]

Originally posted by ElanthianSiren
Damn, my vote was going to be all for bitching.

-M

Nah, women have that mastered by the time they're through with college.

Their Olympics is when a group of 4+ of them get together, and gripe about things in their lives.

:saint:

[SnatchWrangler]

Originally posted by Dave
Strategy and finesse are hard for some people to understand. The biggest issue in football is when you will take your timeouts.

I grew up on soccer. I played from age 5 to age 17...so most of my childhood. I understand the "finesse" and "strategy" behind it. Not to mention the insane conditioning and hard work.

But you're simply trivializing football because you prefer soccer. Do coaches devise strategies and 5 different back-up strategies to combat a teams defense in soccer? Skilled players work together to momentarily find an opening to get the better of their nearby opponents to hopefully have the opportunity to do the same thing again. Soccer is a chess match on the field.

Football is a chess match both on and off the field. I'm sure soccer coaches don't even come close to putting in the man hours that football coaches and coordinators put in. You're talking out of your ass.

[Latrinsorm]

Originally posted by Atlanteax
I don't see any difference between soccer "athletes" and track athletes.Speaking as a former track athlete, soccer is nothing like track. I'd say it's most like hockey, though I've never played either beyond three brothers.

Baseball's attendance numbers are still way higher than football, and I see way more kids in Little League than Pop Warner, so I reckon that means Baseball is still the national pasttime.

SnatchWrangler, your trivializing soccer because you prefer football. Football is a strctured game, you follow what a coach tells you to do, you run this path etc. Soccer is flowing, always changing its a differenty type of mental game. You also dont have 8 backups for every player on the field if one is not preforming as you wish. I dont look at them as equals, One is flash and show, the other is a sport.
BTW, GO Bears!

[SnatchWrangler]

Originally posted by Dave
SnatchWrangler, your trivializing soccer because you prefer football.

The same as you trivialized football by saying the only decision you need to make is when to call timeouts. :smilegrin:

:2beers:

[Sean]

Originally posted by Latrinsorm

Baseball's attendance numbers are still way higher than football, and I see way more kids in Little League than Pop Warner, so I reckon that means Baseball is still the national pasttime.

I really enjoy baseball, both on tv and inperson. I probably like it more than football. But comparing attendance numbers for 16 games vs 162 games is a bit silly.

[Bobmuhthol]

Baseball is still America's pastime. I'd like to see a 162 game season anywhere else.

Anyone who says differently isn't American.

[Latrinsorm]

Originally posted by Tijay
I really enjoy baseball, both on tv and inperson. I probably like it more than football. But comparing attendance numbers for 16 games vs 162 games is a bit silly. That's a good point. However, do you think football games could draw upwards of 150,000 people per regular season game if they had the seating? I don't have the exact number for average attendance of a regular season baseball game, but I'd be surprised if it's below 15,000.

[ElanthianSiren]

I'd rather watch soccer than football.

Nothing beats guys in those shorts slide tackling each other. Football just has large men in too much padding.

-M

[Latrinsorm]

You must have loved Ed McCaffrey. ;)

I started watching Euro football recently as well. Reckon they're a bit better than the AYSO teams I played on.

[DeV]

Originally posted by Latrinsorm
That's a good point. However, do you think football games could draw upwards of 150,000 people per regular season game if they had the seating? It's not so much the seating as much as it's also the cost of a football ticket versus the cost of a baseball ticket. The season that both games are played also have to be taken into consideration. It's a seriously lopsided equation.

[SnatchWrangler]

Originally posted by Latrinsorm

Originally posted by Tijay
I really enjoy baseball, both on tv and inperson. I probably like it more than football. But comparing attendance numbers for 16 games vs 162 games is a bit silly. That's a good point. However, do you think football games could draw upwards of 150,000 people per regular season game if they had the seating? I don't have the exact number for average attendance of a regular season baseball game, but I'd be surprised if it's below 15,000.

Yes, but it depends on the team.

NY Giants and Jets season ticket lists are ~20 years long on the waiting list.

Alot of stadiums hold 70K+ now.

Granted, the NFL market is also much more spread out, with 32 teams.

And baseball averages are much more than 15K per game. Bad teams average that. It's probably closer to around 30K, but that's tickets sold, not necessarily people filling the seats.

[OreoElf]

Growing up in the 80's my biggest memories are still of baseball... They have basebal cards... not football cards that are worth tons now right? It was originally America's National Sport.... You don't just change that wantonly because a violent sport is more popular... Personally for live games I've always loved hockey... (GO Anaheim!) In general sports on tv is boring and a waste of time for me... live games are way more fun.

Comparing soccer and football... is like comparing chess and Candyland... They both have numerous fans... soccer is more popular world wide...

Do what you like and quit bashing things other people enjoy... you loonies... That's the American way for you... self righteous attitudes that bashes anything they don't like. Everyone's free to enjoy what they want... maybe people can add a bit of acception of others in their pea brains too.

[Edited on 7-7-2005 by OreoElf]

[Bobmuhthol]

<<That's the American way for you... self righteous attitudes that bashes anything they don't like.>>

I love Americans who put themselves above America.

[xtc]

Originally posted by Dave
Hey now, soccer is far better than Football, and takes more of an athlete than ten second plays..

Damn, Dave and I agree on a topic. Will wonders never cease.

I always thought America's favourite past time was eating.

[Syberus]

I can imagine there's a lot more kids in little leage than football for a number of reasons. Baseball is generally much cheaper to play, and as we enter the over-protective parent phase much safer as well. I played both baseball and football as a kid, and the commitment isn't really comparable. Baseball practice once a week maybe and a game or two during the week... compared to football which was 2-3 hour practices every day, half day practice on saturday, and a game on sunday (and this was when i was in 5th grade!)

[Skeeter]

If you don't think there is strategy involved in coregraphing every move of 11 guys at the same time, while trying to outsmart the 11 other guys doing the same thing, you've never "watched" football.

Also the body of a professional athelete can only take one game of football a week.

A soccer player can play multiple games in one day.

Oh come on. You act as if *most* football players are smart.

"Which way do I go, Which way do I go"

[Edaarin]

For the most part, consensus of enjoyment at the game was on target.

Things that sucked:

Going to a baseball game in business casual

Humid summer DC weather

$5.75 sausage hot dog

$6.50 Killian's

Getting heartburn because I went for a second hot dog and was advised by a partner against using my ID again, and thus had nothing to quench the fire.

2 extra innings

Seats that were engineered for malnourished Asian children

Getting violated whilst waiting in line at the Metro on the way out



Things that did not suck:

5.5 hours of chargeable "work"

Getting out of being a SQL slave for the afternoon

No sun, and occasional breeze

Seeing a bird drop a load on an unsuspecting fan five or six rows in front of me

4 hours of face time with another intern who apparently goes to my school

Getting free Dippin' Dots because the lady behind the counter overheard me saying she looked like Halle Berry

EDITed to add that RFK Stadium blows severe monkey balls.

[Edited on 7-8-2005 by Edaarin]