Unabashedly stolen from Brother Bill Bouie:
There's baseball, and then there are the minor sports. MLS, NBA, NFL, etc. Minor sports are all fine sports. They're just not baseball. They're not as interesting.
Baseball is perfect. Remember the first time you saw a major league diamond? Remember how it struck you?
You thought it was perfect, right? You were right then, and you're right now. Other sports come and go, but none of them can be as good as baseball.
Baseball isn't just better than football. It's better in dozens of ways. The game itself is better. The ballparks are better. The players are more skilled, the announcers more talented.
Opening Day is the best day of the year. The day after the World Series is the saddest.
Sometimes, baseball's off-season is more interesting than football's season. I felt this way even when I lived in places that didn't have knuckleheads running the NFL team.
It was a closer call in those places, but in the end, baseball always wins out. Anyway, on Super Bowl Sunday, let's run down some of the ways baseball is better than football:
1. Parity
MLB has more parity than the NFL. This wasn't always true. It is now. As the great Jayson Stark points out, since 2000, eight different MLB franchises have won the World Series. Meanwhile, seven NFL franchises have won the Super Bowl since 2000. Since 1970, 18 MLB franchises have won the World Series. Fifteen different NFL franchises have won championships in that span.
2. Skill level
Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. Throwing a baseball from 60 feet, 6 inches is the second-hardest thing. The NFL has some phenomenal athletes. None of them is as gifted as Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt.
3. Diamonds
It's still one of God's greatest creations. It's perfection on every level. Next time you walk into Minute Maid Park, take a moment to appreciate it. From the perfectly trimmed grass to the raked infield dirt to the chalked lines, it's about the base place on earth to spend a few hours. No matter how bad a day I've had, stress flows from me when I see a big league diamond.
4. Ballparks
Baseball's worst parks are better than football's best. If you've ever spent an evening at Dodger Stadium, you'd understand. It's both tranquil and energizing if one place can be both. If you're really lucky, you'll someday stand on the right-field concourse at AT&T Park and admire the view of the bay, the odor of garlic fries, the majesty of the place.
5. Home runs
Ever see Will Clark launch one? Or Junior Griffey? Lance Berkman? The home run is the greatest thing in sports. It combines a high skill level with amazing power. That instant when the ball is soaring out of the park is indescribable. Have you ever enjoyed anything more than Jeff Kent's game-ending home run in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS? Or Chris Burke's 18th-inning shot that ended a 2005 NLDS series against the Braves?
6. Season
A baseball season is perfect. As Bart Giamatti wrote, ''It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come out, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.''
7. Cheerleaders
Football has 'em. Baseball doesn't.
8. All-Star Game
Baseball's mid-summer classic is a celebration. Of great players. Of the game itself. Football has nothing even close. The Pro Bowl? Do they still have that?
9. MLBPA
Baseball players have a union that has represented its members better than any other on earth. Baseball is better for having a strong, independent union. Pity the poor retired NFL players that have trouble having their gruesome conditions cared for.
10. Labor peace
Thanks to Commissioner Selig, baseball has it. Football is headed for a shutdown in 2011.
Baseball is perfect. Remember the first time you saw a major league diamond? Remember how it struck you?
You thought it was perfect, right? You were right then, and you're right now. Other sports come and go, but none of them can be as good as baseball.
Baseball isn't just better than football. It's better in dozens of ways. The game itself is better. The ballparks are better. The players are more skilled, the announcers more talented.
Opening Day is the best day of the year. The day after the World Series is the saddest.
Sometimes, baseball's off-season is more interesting than football's season. I felt this way even when I lived in places that didn't have knuckleheads running the NFL team.
It was a closer call in those places, but in the end, baseball always wins out. Anyway, on Super Bowl Sunday, let's run down some of the ways baseball is better than football:
1. Parity
MLB has more parity than the NFL. This wasn't always true. It is now. As the great Jayson Stark points out, since 2000, eight different MLB franchises have won the World Series. Meanwhile, seven NFL franchises have won the Super Bowl since 2000. Since 1970, 18 MLB franchises have won the World Series. Fifteen different NFL franchises have won championships in that span.
2. Skill level
Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. Throwing a baseball from 60 feet, 6 inches is the second-hardest thing. The NFL has some phenomenal athletes. None of them is as gifted as Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt.
3. Diamonds
It's still one of God's greatest creations. It's perfection on every level. Next time you walk into Minute Maid Park, take a moment to appreciate it. From the perfectly trimmed grass to the raked infield dirt to the chalked lines, it's about the base place on earth to spend a few hours. No matter how bad a day I've had, stress flows from me when I see a big league diamond.
4. Ballparks
Baseball's worst parks are better than football's best. If you've ever spent an evening at Dodger Stadium, you'd understand. It's both tranquil and energizing if one place can be both. If you're really lucky, you'll someday stand on the right-field concourse at AT&T Park and admire the view of the bay, the odor of garlic fries, the majesty of the place.
5. Home runs
Ever see Will Clark launch one? Or Junior Griffey? Lance Berkman? The home run is the greatest thing in sports. It combines a high skill level with amazing power. That instant when the ball is soaring out of the park is indescribable. Have you ever enjoyed anything more than Jeff Kent's game-ending home run in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS? Or Chris Burke's 18th-inning shot that ended a 2005 NLDS series against the Braves?
6. Season
A baseball season is perfect. As Bart Giamatti wrote, ''It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come out, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.''
7. Cheerleaders
Football has 'em. Baseball doesn't.
8. All-Star Game
Baseball's mid-summer classic is a celebration. Of great players. Of the game itself. Football has nothing even close. The Pro Bowl? Do they still have that?
9. MLBPA
Baseball players have a union that has represented its members better than any other on earth. Baseball is better for having a strong, independent union. Pity the poor retired NFL players that have trouble having their gruesome conditions cared for.
10. Labor peace
Thanks to Commissioner Selig, baseball has it. Football is headed for a shutdown in 2011.
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