Why Baseball?

Baseball is, hands down, my favorite sport.  However, a lot of people think that baseball is becoming quickly outdated and irrelevant.  Yes, there are some problems with baseball - they could use a salary cap to bring back a competitive edge to the game, the number of people making over $20 million a year is ridiculous, and so on.  

Little league baseball is slowly getting edged out by soccer leagues.  But I have to ask, "Why?"  Why America?  Baseball at one point was the national pasttime of this great country.  It's no surprise that as America continues to fall into disrepair that baseball is getting sullied.  Americans have turned to a radical liberalism and thus have turned away from this beloved sport.  This once great country is circling the drain and falls further and further away from setting the moral standard for the world to follow.

Here are some of the common complaints about baseball:

*interesting side note: I typed in "common complaints about baseball" in Google, and one of the articles that came up was titled "Common Complaints and Discomfort - Pregnancy."  Huh?

1) The game moves too slow.  FALSE!  The average baseball game in 2004 lasted 2:48.  That's less than 3 hours.  Sure the NFL has four 15-minute quarters, so technically, the games should last only an hour; however, we all know that's not true.  I had enough schedule recordings of The Unit missed all because the CBS games went longer than the scheduled 1-4pm or 4-7pm time slot to know better than that.  Even if the game does fit into the time frame, it is still in the 2:40-2:50 minute mark, which places it squarely in the average baseball time frame.  

AND... there's always the chance that the baseball game will finish earlier than that 2:48 average time.  It's not unusual to see a game time of less than 2 hours.  

AND... baseball manages to fit 9 innings (and sometimes more) into that timeframe.  Football can only manage 4 measely quarters.  That's 125% more action in a baseball game.  So stick that in your stopwatch and smoke it.

2) The players are overpaid.  I agree.  That's the burden of all the major professional sports.  However, they are also getting what teams are willing to pay.  The league minimum for a major league baseball player in 2009 is $400,000.  That's no small chunk of change.  The NFL has a minimum salary of $460,000 for somebody with one year of experience.  They have a scale that accelerates to a minimum of $1.1 million for somebody with 10 years of experience.  And they don't even have to play a lot of the time!  Jim Sorgi, the backup for the Colts' Peyton Manning had a base salary of $605,000 for 2008.  He took, what, 3 snaps last season?  

AND... let's not forget about the disparity in the number of games played.  Alex Rodriguez, the top-paid player in baseball for 2008, made $28 million last season.  He played in 138 games last year; an average of $202,898/game.  Ben Roethlisberger was the NFL's highest paid player in 2008 (really???) with a salary of $27.7 million.  He only played in 16 regular season games; an average of $1.7 million/game.

3) Everyone is on steriods.  What?  Are you surprised that it's only #3 on my list?  First off, FALSE!  Not everybody is one steriods in baseball.  There is testing that takes place, and there is certainly an eagerness to let the public know who is using, especially if it's a high-profile player.  The vast majority of the players that have been busted for testing positive for PED's (performance enhancing drugs) have been no-name players that most of us still haven't heard of.  Yes, there have been the occasional big-namers (the aforementioned Mr. Rodriguez), but they have been few and far between.

AND... let's not forget that steriods rampaged through the NFL at one point.  What?  You want to look the other way just because it's the NFL?  If a baseball player gets caught, it's all over the papers and people are calling the entire game corrupt.  If a football player gets caught, he serves a 4 game suspension and ends up third in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting (*cough* Shawne Merriman *cough*).

AND... there are several players on the '70's Steelers teams that were suspected of using PED's, but they still manage to get into the Hall of Fame.  In baseball, if someone is suspected of using, he is kept out, and it's demanded that he "come clean" about the situation.

4) The players are whiners.  Oh please, it's professional sports.  All the players are whiners.  Have you ever watched a Colts game when they aren't clicking?  Peyton whines more than my 6 month old niece.  The NBA?  Don't get me started.

5) The games are too expensive.  Agreed.  It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to see a major league baseball game.  However, have you seen the ticket prices for NFL and NBA games?  It's not much better.  In fact, they are a whole lot worse.

Well, what did I miss?  Let me know what your other complaints are, and I'll shoot those down as well.  America needs to turn away from rampant liberalism and the decline of our society.  Baseball needs to be king once again!!!  PLAYBALL!!!!