I love baseball.
Tonight the Colorado Rockies and the Boston Red Sox will play game one of Major League Baseball's World Series. I am psyched.
What's great about baseball is the strategy. Baseball is a series of one-on-one confrontations, pitcher vs. batter, catcher vs. runner, fielder vs. ball. Each play is different from the next. There are so many decision to make. What should the pitcher throw? What should the batter expect? Do you try to steal? Do you put in a pinch hitter? Every second of it is great. Many people whine about the length of the game. But, lets be honest, there's nothing more anti-climactic than watching a football game end with the quarterback taking a knee four times to run out the clock. I hate basketball games where the last 45 seconds on the play-clock are stretched out to twenty-five minutes in real-time because the players are just fouling each other in the (usually vain) hope that they can combine enough three-pointers on their side with enough missed free throws on the other side. This passiveness just doesn't exist in baseball. In baseball you have to actively end the game. Every World Series has been won by making the final out or by scoring the winning run.-
One of life's great pleasures is having a beer and watching the game. I didn't find this out until well into my college years. My grade and high school Rebbeim used to say (and I'm paraphrasing) "Sports are good. (pause) They give the goyim something to do so they don't kill Jews." This was said without a trace of irony. Vey iz mir. We used to argue that TV should be allowed if you're watching a game. Unlike other programs which had immoral values, we argued, the ballgame was "just sports." Our Rebbe would usually come over the top with "Sports are worse than other TV programs because at every commercial break they show the half-naked cheerleaders!" Combine this anti-sports message with the message that people who go to bars are nothing but lowlifes and it's no surprise it took me a while to combine the two. Watching the game and having a cold one is just so simple, yet so satisfying.
Tonight I'll be kicking back, opening a brew, and enjoying America's past time.
8 comments:
I have a chareidi friend in israel who moved from the US several years ago. He said that in the US, at least the chareidim play some organized sports and are able to get some of their out.
apparently, in the chareidi neighborhoods in Israel, it is viewed as complete bittul torah to have organized sports for the kids. he said what ends up happening is that the boys become very destructive because they have no outlet for their energy.
I understand how rebbeim would view sports as a waste of time if one becomes totally obsessed with watching it at every moment. Like all other outlets for relaxation, they should be taken in moderation and not compultion.
You must be running out of things to talk about. If all you can do is talk about ball games. You started off good Instead of continuing with some good topics you are going into to ballgames, who cares about ball games?
> who cares about ball games?
Clearly I do. :)
Anonymous,
"Who cares about ball games?"
Hey, everybody needs an outlet. Really, go ahead and watch a game.
I am with ya' Lubab...can't say I will have a beer. that stuff stinks. GO Rockies!!!!
"Lubab No More said...
> who cares about ball games?
Clearly I do. :)"
No but his point is you turned the topic you started with into a dead end. You chose to. You haven't addressed some challenges that are just hanging like loose threads on your site.
Lubab, how about cocaine? It's better than beer.
Baseball is sweetest when the Mets don't take a nosedive. But, y'know, you gotta believe. :-) There's always next season.
Anon 1:31,
Just because you don't see a point to it doesn't mean there isn't any.
Personally, I can't stand to watch baseball--all the closeups and shots of the players from the shoulders up, make me cringe. But a good baseball book, well that's something else entirely.
Ichabod Chrain
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