Boring Baseball

As I was preparing to head out last Friday night, I checked Facebook one last time before making my way out the door. A post from one of my friends had come up on my newsfeed saying, “I can’t believe it’s this close… go Tigers!!” I had heard our team was close to clinching the AL Central so I flipped over to Fox Sports Detroit and watched the last inning with my roommates.

Over the fifteen minutes that followed, my buddies and I found that we weren’t really watching the game, but waiting for it to end–waiting for some hits, a fight, the Tigers to blow their 3-1 lead, Miguel Cabrera to pull out a flask– anything that would have made it more exciting. All we saw, though, was one pitch after other, until the Tigers finally celebrated their hard-earned accomplishment.

I am delighted for the Tigers, don’t get me wrong, but the fact is baseball is boring to watch. Even at the games, the Marketing and Promotions department are the ones providing the entertainment, not the players. Fans are engaged in sausage races, singing “Sweet Caroline,” and 80’s nights. Every once in a while the home team will hit a home run; half of the crowd will stand and cheer until the player is done running the bases, before sitting back down to keep eating, sleeping, or to leave.

Baseball is not an in-your-face action-packed game like football and basketball, which is why it is losing it’s appeal to the public. Theodore Sprencer explains why:

“Baseball is a cerebral sport in which tiny variations make all the difference. Many fans are not willing to give the attention to detail that the game requires. This is not to say that other sports, like basketball and football, do not entail a great deal of strategy and nuance; those sports, however, provide fast-moving, big play excitement that appeals to a much broader audience. Chess-like in pace and style of play, baseball just isn’t suitable for the action-hungry, short-attention-span consumers of recent generations.”

There may not be a way for Major League Baseball to gain as much viewing popularity in today’s fast paced, instant gratification society.  The game will most likely continue to grow more distant from the National Football League and other programs because it is a game of patience and concentration, something a lot of Americans have lost.

As the Detroit Tigers take on the World Series this year, I encourage you fans to cheer them on, whether from the stands or from the couch. My roommates and I will be sure to stay up and watch, much unlike the night they clinched the the division.

(Stock photo courtesy of sxc.hu)