I've played soccer in a league once, and had a blast.

Watching the World Cup, I spent 80% of the time yawning.

I suppose it's more about perspective.

Being good at baseball, I suppose it changes my outlook on it, as opposed to merely playing it. I understand all the small facets of the game, all the psychology (a lot), etc. If you're not into that, it certainly can be boring. Take away a lot of the mental planning and strategy of baseball, and it is, I suppose, just some knucklehead throwing a ball at a guy with a bat, who ultimately just wants to hit his ball. Then there are some guys who catch it and throw it.

7/11/2010 11:21:31 PM

I could say the exact same thing about soccer. So I suppose you have your answer.

I found almost all of the games exciting.

7/11/2010 11:22:25 PM

I got hype when there was a breakaway, or some kinda one-on-one thing goin in the immediate direction of the goal. Other than that, it's dudes tryna take the ball from another dude.

7/11/2010 11:23:56 PM

Like you said, you need to "understand all the small facets of the game, all the psychology (a lot), etc. If you're not into that, it certainly can be boring."

7/11/2010 11:26:53 PM

you right

but i've chatted soccer with in-the-know folks

I get it

I mean, there's A LOT of physical strategy, and fucking mind-blowing athleticism

but I don't see, and haven't been conveyed much mental gaming.

and it's fine

I'm just making the case for baseball here.

7/11/2010 11:28:19 PM

mental gaming is a huge part of it, the most successful players are the ones who know where to be and can predict the way a play will pan out. and they don't get to stand around and think about it and listen to organ music.

7/11/2010 11:31:10 PM

yeah, you're right. but I think that's also just a function of knowing how to outsmart your immediate opponent, being really fucking fast, and having a very strong core of teammates who understand the same dynamics. I mean, it's almost like Ultimate Frisbee in that regard.

I do understand why it's deemed more boring than other sports. I went to a Bulls game Thursday night, and there were 3 people to our left who clearly went there to get out of the house and talk about their lives. It's certainly not the exciting, enthralling sport that soccer is, or even football. It IS slower-paced. But the draw for me has always been the play-by-play, deliberate forethought that goes into every single thing that goes on. There's a new thought process for every pitch, for the most part. There are 5,000 scenarios that change strategy down to the minute detail. I suppose it's also a matter of what kinds of people enjoy that sort of sport.

I like watching golf sometimes, but I totally get why people can't stand watching it. My only offer to those people, and the ones who find baseball boring is that it isn't simply throwing a ball and hitting a ball (which, by the way, are 2 very difficult things when you factor in the precision demanded for each).

[Edited on July 11, 2010 at 11:39 PM. Reason : asdfa8932222FART!]

7/11/2010 11:34:30 PM

Eh, I can see why you could get into a sport for the individual focus... trying to get into what the player is thinking and such.

I prefer to watch a sport which I can analyze on a wider scale. For example, in football, I don't really care much what anyone is thinking, besides the coach and sometimes the quarterback. There might be people that do care, but I'd rather look at it more in the sense of a chess board. What this move is going to be, what the counter-moves could potentially be, what the next move could be based on those things, risk-reward systems, etc...

What I don't want to watch is a sport with only two or three major actors at a time. There's less possibilities and less depth, to me (likely also because I know less about the sport). Baseball has it on some level with the pitcher-hitter interaction (what sort of pitch, where to hit it to if hit, whether it will be a ball, that sort of thing), but beyond that it seems like it loses a lot of depth. If it gets hit to X location in play, there's no more choices going on, the appropriate player (sometimes two players) HAS to go get it, and if he fails somehow, it's an error. The base runner HAS to go from point A to point B in a mostly straight path, and if he fails, it's an out. I guess that choice comes back in again with stealing bases and which base to throw it to when there are two runners, but that sort of thing just doesn't happen often enough for my taste, and you usually don't see the base-stealing threat happening if you're watching on TV. In football, you've got that stuff happening on every single play, even if it ends up being a one yard run... there's even a sort of choice-based system going on with regards to how much of the clock is used between plays. I can see why you'd like baseball if you're constantly looking at the psych game that goes on every pitch, even if it ends up being a foul or a ball.

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 12:09 AM. Reason : .]

7/12/2010 12:03:22 AM

match for 3rd place was far better.

i've seen submarines dive less

7/12/2010 12:05:21 AM