perfidy

I'm not trying to say that the baseball revelations this week really should matter, and I'm certainly not trying to justify the coverage it's getting.

However, I was once upon a time a major major baseball fan, and I am saddened to see the game reduced to this. I basically bailed on the sport in the early-mid 90s, and barely paid attention to the big HR record chases. These *shocking* revelations are not surprising in any way, shape, or form.

I do think the Roger Clemens revelation is particularly disappointing. All of this has basically invalidated the past 20 years of the sport.

What a crock. I'm glad that I don't really care all that much.

Finally, anyone who claims to A) really love the sport, B) really follow the sport closely, and C) be surprised is D) an idiot.

Also, I don't think that because I once thought baseball was best means that it is. It just was for me at that time. Different strokes for different folks.

I also watched NASCAR for about 5 or 6 years very seriously. People used to say "all they do is drive around in circles", but NASCAR fans know that isn't at all the case. One day I suddenly said "You know what? All this is, is a bunch of guys driving around in circles."

I had loved the sport for a while and truly appreciated it while I did. But I just drifted across the line of not caring that much any longer. Some of my friends are still major major NASCAR fans, and I can totally see where they're coming from. I just can't "get into it" any more, though I used to be just like them.

Neither I, nor anyone I know, gives a fat rat's ass what happens in the world of big time wrestling.

But thanks for checking.

PS: All it took was one look at Jose Canseco in 1988 or so and you could tell things weren't going to end well.

MO,
Ahhh, see that's the problem. I'm off to a bad start, because I never had any interest in baseball to begin with.

Now, then let me ask a new question: why is/was baseball interesting to you? To make you a major major fan?

I'm not sure if you're really asking why care about sports or why care about baseball specifically. I'll assume the latter.

I basically followed the sport in part as a form of entertainment. Something that's better about baseball than any other sport is that listening to a game on the radio is actually worthwhile and can be just as good as watching on TV. You can be doing a lot of other things with the game on in the background and not really miss anything. Most other sports on the radio, even if you devote most of your attention to it the announcers aren't able to convey a terribly interesting account of events.

Seeing baseball live is better, in my mind, than seeing any other sport live. (Ice hockey is close.) Sure, being at a particular game or big event can be a big deal, but on average I will enjoy a typical baseball game live much more than any other typical game live. Football, currently the only sport I really spend any time on, is better on TV than live most of the time.

On the more abstract side, I enjoy the stats of baseball more than the stats of any other sport. Unlike football, you pretty much has the same measuring stick to gauge every player by, and the simple volume of stats means that you can get a pretty solid picture of relative ability. Poring over box scores consumed hours of my time every day.

The day-in, day-out of baseball gives it something that other sports don't. With at 162-game season, it's a bit more of a day-in-the-life look at the team. Get bombed? Well, you play again tomorrow. The fact that I knew the game would be on the radio that night made a lot of days more bearable.

The simple nature of the game and the openness seems to have room for more "character"-type players, and the list of baseball anecdotes, legends, and amazing stories is endless. All sports have this, of course, but I think that baseball's nature makes it more able to generate a much more solid "world" around itself.

I also like the whole concept of the minor league system and players working their way up through their team's organization. I used to live five minutes from the AAA team in Colorado Springs and at $3 for a ticket we spent a lot of enjoyable afternoons and evenings at the old ball game.

All that said, I've tried to recapture some of that old excitement for the game, both for myself and for my kids. I can't find it anywhere. I don't know if it's because I'm older or if it's because the game has become such a joke. Probably both.

Very sad.

maybe they should split the league. An all natural league, and an anything goes league. The all natural league would ban drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, weight training and donuts. The other league would permit steroids, performance enhancing drugs, crack, brain surgery, muscle grafts and bionic limbs. When it becomes available, genetic engineering and nanotechnology would all be kosher.

He'll, they should do that for the olympics, too, and keep two record books for all sports.