Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he's out; sometimes unintentionally, he's out.
Also, in football, basketball, soccer, volleyball and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball, and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring.
In most sports the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach wear the same clothing the players do. If you'd ever seen John Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform,you'd know the reason for this custom.
Now, I've mentioned football. Baseball and football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And, as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values.
I enjoy comparing baseball and football.
Baseball is a 19th-century pastoral game.
Football is a 20th-century technological struggle.
Baseball is played on a
diamond, in a
park. The baseball park!
Football is played on a
gridiron, in a
stadium, sometimes called
Soldier Field or
War Memorial Stadium.Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying.
In football, you wear a
helmet.In baseball, you wear a
cap.Football is concerned with downs — "What down is it?"
Baseball is concerned with ups — "Who's up?"
In football, you receive a
penalty.In baseball, you make an
error.In football, the specialist comes in to
kick.In baseball, the specialist comes in to
relieve somebody.Football has
hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and
unnecessary roughness.Baseball has the
sacrifice.Football is played in any kind of weather — rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog...
In baseball, if it rains, we don't go out to play.
Baseball has the
seventh-inning stretch.Football has the
two-minute warning.Baseball has no time limit. We don't know
when it's gonna end! We might have
extra innings!Football is
rigidly timed, and it will end even if we've got to go to
sudden death.In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you're capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.
And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:
In football, the object is for the quarterback, also known as the
field general, to be
on target with his
aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with
deadly accuracy in spite of the
blitz, even if he has to use the
shotgun. With
short bullet passes and
long bombs, he
marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this
aerial assault with a
sustained ground attack that
punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.In baseball the object is to
go home! And to be
safe! "I hope I'll be safe at home!"
Listen:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/carlin.ram
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