| Not Entirely Blurstball

I used to watch games all the time.  Still remember Ron Cey gettin' beaned in the head and grabbing his batting helmet in a fetal position on home plate.  Weird.  Anyway, given that I am turning into a fairly data/metrics driven person at work, one would think that baseball would appeal to me more these days, and it might if we hadn't 'cut the cable' 4 years ago and ditched cable/satellite TV.  There isn't anyway to just leisurely watch a game, I actually have to actively steal it on the internet or go somewhere to watch one.

I love the idea of stats (I'm sort of getting into the Corsi stuff with hockey, but I digress).  I love the idea of analyzing minutia about players, but what I think misses the mark for me is that it's a sort of an 'if/then' sport where most of the time an action will elicit a fairly standard response due to the static configuration of players and the playing field which leaves little (in my mind) space for creativity.  For example, runner on first, batter hits the ball to a) the shortstop, he then throws the runner out at 2nd and tries the double play at first, or b) the firstbasemen, who tags first and then tries to turn the double at 2nd, or c) fly ball to the outfield where the runner holds to see if it is caught, then runs if there is time before the throw comes in to 2nd, etc.  NOT THAT ITS A BAD THING.  If I wanted something different from baseball I would be asking for tennis to have 3 players - it's not what the sport is.

Yes there are exciting moment and exciting plays, but much of that seems to stem from raw athleticism vs. creativity.  The throw to home from left field, the diving catch, the stolen base, etc.  It's not like throwing a ball really far, really fast and accurately gives you a lot of options on how to do it, you either possess the talent to do it, or you don't, creativity plays no part.  You can't pick a different route to run the bases, you go in the direction the rules tell you, as fast as you can.  On the other hand, pitching is an artform, but it's not enough to keep me engaged, likely because I don't know enough about it, but even if I did I'm not sure it would capture my imagination (though I did see some dude pitch a weird sinker that didn't rotate AT ALL mid-flight, which was pretty cool).

I am getting desperate for sport and some mates to share sportz with, so I might actually start attending the weekly football watching events across the street just to be involved with something that has to do with sweaty men and balls or sticks.

Also, to hell with Prima Donna players across all sports.  It's just a little bit more difficult to sympathize with a baseball playing man who has a boo boo and needs to sit on IR for two weeks when hockey players regularly lose teeth and get massive facial stitches from errant pucks and aluminum sticks (and knuckles) and then return to the game without missing a shift.  Broken jaw?  Put on a cage and get back on the ice with your team.

It's just different.  I get it.  I LOVE playing baseball boardgames, though!  And if I had some AT'ers around to watch games with, I'd be there!

/ramble