6 ms·

That's because baseball is terribly boring, especially compared to football or basketball. Who wants to spend 90% of the time standing around?

brandonmenc 11y ago
> Who wants to spend 90% of the time standing around? If you've never managed to throw a nice curveball, or hit a homer, or make a great diving catch, you'll never understand. You do something like that once, and you can easily get hooked on standing in line for another chance to replicate it. It's kind of like golf, but it sounds like you probably don't like that game either.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- jlgaddis 11y ago
  You're probably right. Like w1ntermute, I find baseball incredibly boring (even though I did play baseball for a few years when I was younger and quite enjoyed it). Golf? Even worse. Probably related, I am an incredibly impatient person. I absolutely cannot stand to be sitting around "idle" or doing something I perceive to be a waste of time. It even bothers me to be having a conversation with people who take forever to tell a story ("just get to the damn point already, I don't need to hear every little detail!"). Baseball and golf fall into that same category for me. Why would I want to spend three hours watching a game when I could be doing something productive? On the other hand, I ride my Harley every chance I get (to the tune of almost 10,000 miles this past summer). Many days I don't even have a destination when I leave home. I jump on and just ride. I have many friends I ride with and occasionally we'll ride a few hours together just to have lunch somewhere and turn around and come back. Really, I should consider this just as much of a waste of time but, for whatever reason, I don't see it that way. People who haven't ever rode a bike can't/don't understand the allure of it or why I enjoy it so much. Different strokes for different folks.
  - astrange 11y ago
    Taking long drives to nowhere needs constant short term attention, so you're engaged even though in the end it was an hour you could've done something better in. By the way, if you find yourself unable to do anything without a constant reward or threat of death if you stop paying attention, you have ADHD and should see a doctor.
- PhantomGremlin 11y ago
  If you've never managed to throw a nice curveball, or hit a homer, or make a great diving catch, you'll never understand. I grew up watching baseball on TV. But it was only after watching my daughter play competitive softball for a number of years did I really begin to understand how much was happening. On every single pitch of every at bat. It's totally different than "standing around".
firebones 11y ago
That sounds like American football too. 3.25 hours of clock time, 60 minutes of a game, and 11 minutes of actual action (or closer to 96% of the time standing around.) http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64441086/nfl-statistical-analysis-average-nfl-game http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64441086/nfl-statistica... Good quote: It's curious that few complain about NFL game lengths, considering they take 13 minutes longer, more time than the 11 total minutes of actual game play during an NFL game. In other words, you could fit all the action of an average NFL game into the spare time after an average baseball game ends.
- budde 11y ago
  Setting aside personal preference and the vast differences in play between the two sports, you also need to consider the number of games played in a season. An NFL team plays 16 games in the regular season. An MLB team plays 162. While a baseball game and a football game may be similar in duration and proportion of action to dead time, a football game carries much more weight and I think this contributes to the relative popularity of the sport over baseball.
- pcl 11y ago
  I started to enjoy watching football a lot more once a friend explained that it's really more like chess than soccer. Really, the game is between two coaches, who have an array of players, practiced plays and assistant coaches at hand. Viewed that way, the 60-minute game time is comprised of a series of moves, with the coaches responding to each other and the time remaining on the clock. There's still a bunch of time lost to unnecessary commercial breaks and the halftime rigmarole, though.
- w1ntermute 11y ago
  That's if you're watching professional sports on TV. The article is about children playing the sport themselves, so I was referring to playing baseball vs. football or basketball, not watching endless beer/car/fantasy sports commercials interspersed with occasional gameplay.

brandonmenc 11y ago

> Who wants to spend 90% of the time standing around? If you've never managed to throw a nice curveball, or hit a homer, or make a great diving catch, you'll never understand. You do something like that once, and you can easily get hooked on standing in line for another chance to replicate it. It's kind of like golf, but it sounds like you probably don't like that game either.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
jlgaddis 11y ago
You're probably right. Like w1ntermute, I find baseball incredibly boring (even though I did play baseball for a few years when I was younger and quite enjoyed it). Golf? Even worse. Probably related, I am an incredibly impatient person. I absolutely cannot stand to be sitting around "idle" or doing something I perceive to be a waste of time. It even bothers me to be having a conversation with people who take forever to tell a story ("just get to the damn point already, I don't need to hear every little detail!"). Baseball and golf fall into that same category for me. Why would I want to spend three hours watching a game when I could be doing something productive? On the other hand, I ride my Harley every chance I get (to the tune of almost 10,000 miles this past summer). Many days I don't even have a destination when I leave home. I jump on and just ride. I have many friends I ride with and occasionally we'll ride a few hours together just to have lunch somewhere and turn around and come back. Really, I should consider this just as much of a waste of time but, for whatever reason, I don't see it that way. People who haven't ever rode a bike can't/don't understand the allure of it or why I enjoy it so much. Different strokes for different folks.
- astrange 11y ago
  Taking long drives to nowhere needs constant short term attention, so you're engaged even though in the end it was an hour you could've done something better in. By the way, if you find yourself unable to do anything without a constant reward or threat of death if you stop paying attention, you have ADHD and should see a doctor.
PhantomGremlin 11y ago
If you've never managed to throw a nice curveball, or hit a homer, or make a great diving catch, you'll never understand. I grew up watching baseball on TV. But it was only after watching my daughter play competitive softball for a number of years did I really begin to understand how much was happening. On every single pitch of every at bat. It's totally different than "standing around".

firebones 11y ago

That sounds like American football too. 3.25 hours of clock time, 60 minutes of a game, and 11 minutes of actual action (or closer to 96% of the time standing around.) http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64441086/nfl-statistical-analysis-average-nfl-game http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/64441086/nfl-statistica... Good quote: It's curious that few complain about NFL game lengths, considering they take 13 minutes longer, more time than the 11 total minutes of actual game play during an NFL game. In other words, you could fit all the action of an average NFL game into the spare time after an average baseball game ends.

budde 11y ago
Setting aside personal preference and the vast differences in play between the two sports, you also need to consider the number of games played in a season. An NFL team plays 16 games in the regular season. An MLB team plays 162. While a baseball game and a football game may be similar in duration and proportion of action to dead time, a football game carries much more weight and I think this contributes to the relative popularity of the sport over baseball.
pcl 11y ago
I started to enjoy watching football a lot more once a friend explained that it's really more like chess than soccer. Really, the game is between two coaches, who have an array of players, practiced plays and assistant coaches at hand. Viewed that way, the 60-minute game time is comprised of a series of moves, with the coaches responding to each other and the time remaining on the clock. There's still a bunch of time lost to unnecessary commercial breaks and the halftime rigmarole, though.
w1ntermute 11y ago
That's if you're watching professional sports on TV. The article is about children playing the sport themselves, so I was referring to playing baseball vs. football or basketball, not watching endless beer/car/fantasy sports commercials interspersed with occasional gameplay.