5 Reasons why Baseball is better than Football

[C-Mag]

I cannot argue with any of this.

I might become a baseball fan.
The problem for me is, baseball is played during a time of year when I'm not watching much TV. Can you fix that for me ?

TV is overrated. Listen to your team's broadcast on radio while you're out working in the shop, or doing stuff outside in the evening.

Yeah, radio is superior in a lot of ways.
Maybe I just need to download a bunch of Old School Art Bell

[Speaker to Animals]

Old time radio is where it's at. Dimension X. X Minus One.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Radio games would be 10x better without the constant, unending, staticky crowd noise in the background. I have no idea why they freakin' do that. It's annoying as hell.

[LVH2]

+1 to radio. On that note, another reason (was) Vin Skully.

18 inning games are good.

Here's the main reason. We pretend otherwise, but watching football is dumb chaos. You might memorize a list of good nose tackles and free safeties, but for the most part, you have no idea what they are doing or what makes them good and you are just watching the ball.

It really is possible to appreciate most of what is happening in a baseball game. A great defensive CF or a reliable middle reliever. It helps, and can be fun to delve into the super nerdery of BABIP and spin rates and exit velocity. But you don't need to.

All the machinery of a baseball team is observable and comprehensible to the fan.

[SuburbanFarmer]

+1 to radio. On that note, another reason (was) Vin Skully.

18 inning games are good.

Here's the main reason. We pretend otherwise, but watching football is dumb chaos. You might memorize a list of good nose tackles and free safeties, but for the most part, you have no idea what they are doing or what makes them good and you are just watching the ball.

It really is possible to appreciate most of what is happening in a baseball game. A great defensive CF or a reliable middle reliever. It helps, and can be fun to delve into the super nerdery of BABIP and spin rates and exit velocity. But you don't need to.

All the machinery of a baseball team is observable and comprehensible to the fan.

....

For most football fans, I agree. However, for the discerning fan, tv is frustrating because of the amount of detail that's not visible in the little viewing area. There's no shortage of play and formation strategy, personnel decisions, clock management... Football is like a very fast game of chess with the added bonus of smashing bodies together.

Baseball has some of those elements, but it's not nearly as complex. 90% of the strategic 'game' is happening on the pitcher's mound, and the simple decision for the batter whether to swing or not. Baseball is losing ground as our 'pastime' because of its simplicity.

But godDAMN it was fun watching the Cubbies win a Game 7 in extra innings... One of the all-time sports highlights.

[skankhunt42]

1. Baseball championship games do not stop for 30+ minutes for shitty pop-tarts to pretend to sing their own songs.

2. Baseball games do not attract the element of society that watches something because they like the commercials.

3. Baseball players do not, in general, start break-dancing or pretending that they are King Kong, after completing a routine defensive play.

4. Baseball games, on television, very rarely show Jerry Jones' face.

5. Baseball does not pretend that it is better than other sports because of some kind of parity that does not exist.

As someone who played both at a high level, football is better if you're an alpha male mother fucker who likes violence... Which you don't... Which is fine. Also, I feel like you got this off a Facebook feed or something, it feels like it was written by some beta.

[LVH2]

+1 to radio. On that note, another reason (was) Vin Skully.

18 inning games are good.

Here's the main reason. We pretend otherwise, but watching football is dumb chaos. You might memorize a list of good nose tackles and free safeties, but for the most part, you have no idea what they are doing or what makes them good and you are just watching the ball.

It really is possible to appreciate most of what is happening in a baseball game. A great defensive CF or a reliable middle reliever. It helps, and can be fun to delve into the super nerdery of BABIP and spin rates and exit velocity. But you don't need to.

All the machinery of a baseball team is observable and comprehensible to the fan.

....

For most football fans, I agree. However, for the discerning fan, tv is frustrating because of the amount of detail that's not visible in the little viewing area. There's no shortage of play and formation strategy, personnel decisions, clock management... Football is like a very fast game of chess with the added bonus of smashing bodies together.

Baseball has some of those elements, but it's not nearly as complex. 90% of the strategic 'game' is happening on the pitcher's mound, and the simple decision for the batter whether to swing or not. Baseball is losing ground as our 'pastime' because of its simplicity.

But godDAMN it was fun watching the Cubbies win a Game 7 in extra innings... One of the all-time sports highlights.

Well, my point is just that. I realize Bill B. is a strategic genius and am fascinated by it. Like how he has that aspy conciliary who lived with his mom, Ernie Fox or whatever. I read a lot about the endgame in the Seattle/NE super bowel.

But, watching the game, I don't think you can perceive much of that. It's dozens of things happening simultaneously in 5 second bursts. Maybe a coach or a high level and smart former player can see 25%.

I think most fans who claim to know are full of it. It can be picked apart to some degree, after the fact. But, for example, if you watched a game played by two teams from Mars, with no commentary, I doubt you'd be able to say who most of the good players were, outside the skill positions.

Baseball, you really can learn and observe it. Maybe it's more like poker than chess. It seems simpler, but there's still a lot of discussion on stuff, like how bad strikeouts are. And trying to figure out if a player is bad or unlucky, or why someone who does lots of good things is bad (Michael Pineda).

I also like the fact that baseball is open to guys of almost any shape and size. While most BB players are unbelievable athletes, they are also fantastically skilled. The pool doesn't start with guys who are six six and can run a 4.5. It starts with pretty much everybody.

[LVH2]

One thing that is fascinating about both sports is that at the ultra-elite level, coaches and teams continue to make what are thought to be clear cut strategic errors.

Someone on the radio made a good point. If you are an NFL coach, why would you just copy everything the Pats do? Like kicking off to the 1 for example.

[SuburbanFarmer]

+1 to radio. On that note, another reason (was) Vin Skully.

18 inning games are good.

Here's the main reason. We pretend otherwise, but watching football is dumb chaos. You might memorize a list of good nose tackles and free safeties, but for the most part, you have no idea what they are doing or what makes them good and you are just watching the ball.

It really is possible to appreciate most of what is happening in a baseball game. A great defensive CF or a reliable middle reliever. It helps, and can be fun to delve into the super nerdery of BABIP and spin rates and exit velocity. But you don't need to.

All the machinery of a baseball team is observable and comprehensible to the fan.

....

For most football fans, I agree. However, for the discerning fan, tv is frustrating because of the amount of detail that's not visible in the little viewing area. There's no shortage of play and formation strategy, personnel decisions, clock management... Football is like a very fast game of chess with the added bonus of smashing bodies together.

Baseball has some of those elements, but it's not nearly as complex. 90% of the strategic 'game' is happening on the pitcher's mound, and the simple decision for the batter whether to swing or not. Baseball is losing ground as our 'pastime' because of its simplicity.

But godDAMN it was fun watching the Cubbies win a Game 7 in extra innings... One of the all-time sports highlights.

Well, my point is just that. I realize Bill B. is a strategic genius and am fascinated by it. Like how he has that aspy conciliary who lived with his mom, Ernie Fox or whatever. I read a lot about the endgame in the Seattle/NE super bowel.

But, watching the game, I don't think you can perceive much of that. It's dozens of things happening simultaneously in 5 second bursts. Maybe a coach or a high level and smart former player can see 25%.

I think most fans who claim to know are full of it. It can be picked apart to some degree, after the fact. But, for example, if you watched a game played by two teams from Mars, with no commentary, I doubt you'd be able to say who most of the good players were, outside the skill positions.

Baseball, you really can learn and observe it. Maybe it's more like poker than chess. It seems simpler, but there's still a lot of discussion on stuff, like how bad strikeouts are. And trying to figure out if a player is bad or unlucky, or why someone who does lots of good things is bad (Michael Pineda).

I also like the fact that baseball is open to guys of almost any shape and size. While most BB players are unbelievable athletes, they are also fantastically skilled. The pool doesn't start with guys who are six six and can run a 4.5. It starts with pretty much everybody.

Funny, I take the exact opposite view. I can actually spot great football players within a drive or two. You'll very rarely spot a great baseball player in a single game, unless he's having a hot streak at the plate, or happens to make a great fielding throw.

Given 2 teams from Mars, I'm pretty confident that I'd know who the top 2-3 best players are from each team, by halftime. I'd have no clue who's a good baseball player, unless they happened to do something particularly flashy in that game.

Take a sport that I know next to nothing about - soccer or rugby - I can't figure out for the life of me what they're supposed to be doing in the first place, let alone who's doing it well. It's a matter of what kind of knowledge you bring to the game.

[LVH2]

Anyway.

If Trout merely maintains until he is 31, then declines at a normal rate, GOAT?