Baseball? More Like Basebore to Me

Spring training is underway and the start of the Major League Baseball season is only days away.
Let me start by saying I love baseball. It is such an awesome game. The chess match that goes on during the game is very exciting. The hit and runs, the squeeze play, the suicide squeeze, double steals, it all makes for a very exciting game. I used to love watching baseball. It didn’t matter who was playing, if the game was on TV and it was close, I could get into it. Not anymore. When I was a kid, playing baseball in little league I dreamed of making it to the pros. I would always hustle, even in practice. I would lay out for balls all the time. There was no greater feeling in the world then running full speed, diving headfirst, and making the grab. In little league, in the outfield I would even climb the fence to rob a homerun if I could reach it and get my spikes in-between the wooden billboards that hung off the fence. I played with stiches in my lip and in the back of my head as well. Yeah, I was always getting stiches as a kid. Hell, I even broke my hip playing Babe Ruth League baseball. I cracked it first and finished out the season running with a huge limp. I even played baseball in high school before giving it up so I could work to help my parents pay for my car insurance. I played all out like Pete Rose did. I believed, and still do, that’s the way you play sports.

I always have people asking me, who my favorite Major League Team is. Well, when I was a kid it was the Mets because everyone in my family were Mets fans. Then, as I got older, living in P.A. I became a Phillies fan. But all that changed after the last strike. I thought to myself. You overpaid, spoiled brats. Go out and get a real job and you’ll see what it means to work for a living. I saw players getting paid 20 plus million a year and most of these players play soft and safe. They run in for fly balls, stop a stride short and play it on a hop, really? You are getting paid to catch that ball if you can. Dive for it. Or when they get close to the warning track they stop because they don’t want to run into the wall. They are afraid they are going to get hurt. I don’t like seeing anyone get hurt. But, you are getting paid to catch that ball so you should do anything you can to do it. If you get hurt, that’s part of the game. Another thing that turns me off from baseball is when a player hits a ground ball and basically gives himself up as he walks to first. Run you lazy piece of crap. That’s why you are getting paid. What if they bobble the ball? What if there is a wild throw. Hustle, like Pete Rose did.

Watching baseball on TV is so boring to me. There must be ten pitching changes in one game. The commercial breaks in-between innings seem to last forever. I understand that they need to run those commercials to pay for the rights to air the game which in turn pays the players salary. Hence the problem.

I still like going to see the Binghamton Mets, or now the Rumble Ponies. At least these guys try because they are trying to get to the big leagues. And there is nothing like enjoying a cold beer at NYSEG stadium on a warm summer night while rooting for the home team.

All in all I would rather go watch a little league game instead of a Major League Baseball game. At least the kids try.