Monday, October 19, 2009

Why baseball is hard to watch



I love baseball. I love to play baseball. I usually like to watch baseball. If it is the regular season, I can't watch too much on T.V., but I love to go and see it in person. Come playoff time, I like to watch the games. Usually. This year, the teams I wanted to be in the playoffs didn't fair too well. The Diamondbacks? Not even close. The Cubs? Please. The Twins made it in spectacular fashion, but got swept in the first round. The same for the Red Sox, lost in the first round. I have been watching the Angels and the Yankees (AKA The Evil Empire) series. So far, good games, but the Angels have come up short in the first two games.

Anyway, baseball has become hard to watch. The pace of the game is usually brutal, but this time of year, the stakes are so high that it is fun to watch. So, why is it so hard to watch? Three reasons:

1) Spitting. Really, do they have to spit as much as they do? Even the players who are not chewing tobacco are spitting? What are they spitting up? Luge's? Any time they have a close up of a player, they spit. Disgusting.



2) Scratching. It's horrible. The only thing players do more than spit is scratch themselves. I get it. The gear isn't the best. But really, do you need to "adjust" every time you are on camera? With the technology today, there has to be a more comfortable solution.



3) Thundersticks. For those of you who are not in the know, Thundersticks are long, narrow plastic balloons that are used as promotional noise makers. The noise is created when two thunder sticks are struck together. They were first used by the Angels in the 2002 World Series. These should have been prohibited by Major League Baseball. I am all for the cheering and supporting of your team, but this is ridiculous. They are too loud. Usually, crowd noise is an advantage to the home team and I usually say the louder the better. Clap, whistle, stomp, whatever you can produce is fine. But these Thundersticks go too far. They turn cheering on you team to just unbearable noise. It is no longer an advantage, it is a distraction to all. If you were to ask the players what they think, they would tell you the same thing. It disrupts the game. They should be banned!
Tell me what you think. Agree? Disagree?

1 comment:

H said...

I think that little boys scratching theirs bums are cute, but big boys scratching their balls are not.