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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   5430 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 11, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Baseball is a weird sport for me. It's painfully boring to watch on TV, I'd rather do almost anything else. But going to a baseball game in person? I'm there. It's just so much more fun to watch a game in person than on TV. It's weird cause it's still the same sport, but the atmosphere is different somehow.

Baseball is better on the radio while you're doing something else. Baseball announcers tend to be better at having a good conversation between play and radio doesn't normally need your full attention, anyway.

The trick to televised baseball is finding announcers you like to listen to, most teams have very different announcers and during the pauses you aren't going to have a very good time if you don't like listening to them. Some can be an acquired taste, too.

I feel like that's every sport.

Definitely not. Formula One is unwatchable in person. So is association football if you're not a fan. Multiple cameras, action replay and live commentary make both sports at least ten times better.

Not to start WWIII here in the comments, but I think it's debatable whether racing is even a sport at all. I'll grant you soccer though (that's what association football is, right?).

Are you one of those people who see athleticism as a fundamental part of sportsmanship? I don't really have a dog in this fight, but what would you call racing (and i assume you mean car racing, rather than all racing) instead? A game? A competition?

Yeah. This is 100% just my curmudgeonly opinion here, based off of nothing, but I define sports as being all of:

  1. A game (defined rules, etc.)

  2. A direct competition (you're competing directly, rather than essentially competing against each other's scores)

  3. Athleticism

Just having

a) 1 and 2 defines chess as a sport. Also racing.

b) Just 2 and 3 defines a drunken brawl as a sport. Also war.

c) Just 1 and 3 defines ballroom dance as a sport. Also bowling and golf.

I feel like we as a culture ascribe a lot of value to the word "sport", which to me should apply only to central examples like football, soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee, etc.. Sports with teams and tactics and athleticism.

https://external-preview.redd.it/uce3ZttW7MLkTpBov60SFwNmLVJSjQui9uCu3MMA4wc.png?auto=webp&s=4fffcf069daf79147575fdf07eddc1cd55001cc4

In other words I'm a total purist in the above chart. I'd just call car racing a competition, yeah.

For me it's baseball in particular. The other sports I've seen in person are hockey and football, and those I found to be about the same enjoyment as on TV. Even in person I still don't enjoy hockey, and in person I don't enjoy football any more than on TV. But baseball just hits different, IDK why.

I think, for baseball in particular, it's really just an excuse to hang out with your friends and chat while occasionally sports happens. It might be one of the worst sports in terms of actual play per hour - virtually all of a baseball game is waiting for the next thing to happen - but that's absolutely perfect if you just want to get a beer and "watch the game".

Yes, baseball is very much a "hang-out" sport. I love playing baseball, love going to a game, hate to watch it on TV.

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