For the past month and a half I have been looking forward to this day. The Braves, my favorite team, are playing last year’s World Champion Phillies tonight. The first official day of spring may be March 20 every year but for me it is really the first day of regular season play in baseball.
Most may say that football is America’s current favorite sport, but for me baseball will always be number one. It was the original American game, has the longest history of organized play, and is far more strategic than football. A ball and a strike are the same as they were back in the 1870′s, as were the length between bases, and distance between the mound and home plate. I don’t know who came up with 90 feet for the length between bases but it is perfect. If it were 80 then every man could make it to first on a ground ball, if it were 100 then nobody would. As it is you get just the right amount getting on base and you have close calls on most every ground ball to give the game that much more suspense. And my favorite statistic of all, only in baseball can you fail 70% of the time and still be considered worthy of the Hall of Fame.
To prepare for the season I have been watching Ken Burn’s documentary on the game and in one of the last episodes they inserted a bit from George Carlin comparing baseball and football.
I don’t think Carlin takes sides in this bit, but I would like to think that he favors baseball. Either way I hope you enjoy it and all that there is left to say can be summed by GO BRAVES!
