Baseball: Still American's pasttime

Before I begin this blog (on a rare Saturday night), I have a few things to get off my chest. First, I'm blogging tonight instead of Sunday due to the fact that I'm resting up for the final night of my weekend long birthday celebration. Therefore, I didn't want to be blogging on my birthday night. Second, I appreciate and welcome you guy's feedbacks. Keep it coming as it makes me a better blogger. I welcome the positive as well as the negative comments. I want to continue my overall writing skills and believe it or not, you guys are a major part of that.

With that said, on with the blog, which begins with an age-old song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-gsdLSSQ0

Remember when this was one of the many anthems of the summer? Going out to the ball park? Enjoying cotton candy, franks, and getting those huge pointy-fingers! Wearing your caps and visors to ward off sunburn? That's all part of the game of baseball, America's past-time.

Lately in the sporting world, baseball has taken a backseat. It has for years in the rural, inner-city, and urban communities, where the focus is football, basketball, and not many other sports. After the NBA Finals and NBA Draft, the dog days of summer are considered just a hiatus until training camp begins for the NFL and college football. Right now in sports, the main storylines have been Lebron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to attempt to win his first championship with the Miami Heat and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Even with the Homerun Derby and the MLB All-Star Game upcoming this week, the "boys of summer" aren't getting much respect lately.

Baseball is considered by some to be a game with "not enough action" and where there isn't many athletes anymore. Back in yesteryear, many pro baseball players except for some like the famed Babe Ruth were in excellent shape, played pretty much every game in the regular season and playoffs, and could run the bases well. Now you have as many CC Sabbathia's as you do Chone Figgins and Ichiro's. It seems the major headliners in the MLB lately are anybody from the defending champion New York Yankees, their rival Boston Red Sox, and Stephen Strasburg, the newest minor-league pitching sensation (whom my beloved Atlanta Braves took it to on June 29). Beyond that, baseball hasn't received much attention lately, although it is still considered the third-most popular sport in America.

Many Americans no longer play major league baseball anymore also. Many Latinos and East Asian players fill MLB rosters. And very few black athletes (outside of guys like the retired and controversial Barry Bonds and Torri Hunter) play as well. Therefore, you lose a broad fan-base as well. I won't even go into how summer vacation can hurt attendance at ball games.

Another deterrant in the MLB quandry is the LOOONG regular season. Each team plays 169 regular season games between April and September, with the playoffs being in October. If you're a pro baseball player, you basically have a game at least 5 games out of each week during each month. Those can get taxing to even watch, let alone play.

However, here are some of the positives of pro baseball. One is the thrill of seeing a homerun go across the park. Guys such as Barry Bonds (the current record holder) A-Rod, Ryan Howard, and Prince Fielder are extremely exciting because they bang lots of homeruns each season. However, the sport received a black eye when Jose Canseco of the famed "Bash Brothers" of the late 1980s wrote his best-selling book "Juiced". He exposed several baseball players, himself included, for using steroids such as HGH. This eventually led to a widespread investigation and stricter testing of the entire MLB. They have since found steroids of some form in A-Rod and Manny Rodriquez's systems. But none of this cases are more popular than Barry Bonds. Although it has yet to be confirmed whether or not the current leader for most homers in a career was juicing, there is much suspicion. However, until he is proven guilty, he should be left alone, let the record stand, and let the homers continue.

Also, the famed no-hitter gets plenty of attention during a MLB game. It is considered a "jinx" if one talks about the pitcher possibly earning a no-hitter about the 3rd inning. Not many no-hitters occur during a 169-game season, so when one is about to take place, EVERYONE is paying attention. Furthermore, everyone except the opposing team and fans wants to see it occur.

The game of baseball is an extremely stat and record-driven sport. I honestly had stopped watching a lot of baseball, especially since my Braves had started a downward spiral. That is, until I started playing fantasy baseball in 2008. I was then forced to pay attention to every game, statistic, and player, even on the minor leagues. It made the sport more exciting and I was a true fan again (at least of every team but the Yankees, although I've owned at least one Yankee player since I began).

Baseball, like many things in life, is what you make of it. It, also like many sports, is much better in person. I attended the Braves game in June 2001 with two of my friends when Cal Ripken Jr. was making his farewell tour. It was an exciting one, especially when EVERY camera in the stands at Turner Field were flashing whenever Cal got up to bat. I only wish there was an MLB franchise closer than Atlanta. I've been to a Charlotte Knights minor-league game. While it was fun, I would rather see my Braves, or any other MLB team (the Yanks included) play.

So I encourage you to give the sport another look if you're not already doing so. Watch some Baseball Tonight on ESPN. Read the baseball section of the sports page. Tune into the MLB channel if you have DirecTV. And finally, try watching a complete 9-inning game. There can be more than meets the eye!

Now don't get me wrong here, football and basketball are still my favorite sports, and I look forward to watching some action on the gridiron. However, until (and when) football starts, baseball will do, as it is my third-love in the sporting world. After all, it is summertime, and baseball is still American's past-time.

It's now time to go set my lineups for tomorrow in my MLB fantasy leagues. But remember that the MLB players are dubbed "the boys of summer" for a reason. Hard to beat that with a Louisville slugger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqYBGcv41M8