Baseball

I was sitting at home the other night with a little downtime (not time to be down), and I thought I'd play some Xbox. Normally, I'd read (nah, been reading too much Thompson ), or play guitar (nah, fingers too sore), or work out (nah, fists still hurt from the heavy bag yesterday - and too lazy). Or work on my screenplay (nah, too brain-fried).

So, I check my Xbox shelf. Lots of goodies there, and I just picked up Half Life 2 . There's always Madden 06, but I haven't played in a while and the game can be a cruel bitch to the unpractised. NBA Live 06 - I still haven't mastered it, and my Celtics are weak, so who do I play? Do I lose with my C's or play Atlanta or take another team? Too many decisions. Pass.

And there it was, on the far side of the NBA, next to Halo 2: MLB 2K5. Baseball! And it flashed in my mind that Manny had reported to camp recently. They're in Spring training! Pitchers and catchers have already reported!

So I popped it in, unexpectedly excited to be excited. I had just a tiny corner of W.P. Kinsella's "thrill of the grass." I had started a season with the Red Sox when I got the game last year (the Red Sox!). And I had to play the Yankees in New York. And I won!

Is it possible that I will rediscover my long lost love of baseball this year? It would be good timing, as my hometown Jays are supposed to be good this year (somehow better than Boston, but I don't see how that's possible). Baseball tickets are cheap and plentiful.

I was a faithful citizen of "Red Sox Nation" as a kid. I was, unfortunately, 11 when they lost the Series to the Reds. Sure, we all remember Pudge's homer, but I also remember the let-down of losing to the Big Red Machine (I still hate those guys and Pete Rose can sit on the Hall of Fame doorstep until Doomsday). 11 is a bad age for that sort of let-down, because what the hell else is there when you're 11?

So, somewhere between 1975 and 1978 I became a die-hard Patriots fan. They were actually good then, and were robbed by referee Ben Dreith of their hard-earned trip to the Super Bowl in 76. In 78 they set the all-time record (which still stands) for rushing yards by a team (even though they didn't have a 1,000 yard rusher). By the time the 86 World Series cane around, I was a Larry Bird/Andre Tippett guy to the bone.

Which didn't stop me from vomiting up my beating heart when the Sox lost to the Mets.

Anyway, it's been a long time since baseball meant anything to me. After watching the violent ballet of football and the crashing timbers of the NBA for a couple of decades, it's hard to slow down to baseball speed. Not that there aren't sharp moments of violence and flash in baseball, it's just that there is a pitch-wait-pitch-wait rhythm to the game which can be hard to adjust to.

Baseball is a game of straight lines. The ball is thrown pitcher-catch in a line. It's hit in a line, and runners must run the baselines. First-second-third-home is four straight sprints. You will never see a spin-move or a juke in baseball. Feats of strength occur at the plate, but hitting seems to have a quality closer to golf than to football. Any size of player can hit the ball any length, though the big guys seem more capable of the crowd-pleasing homer.

The game centers around the duel between pitcher and hitter - so if you're not into the pitches (power curve? slider?) or the batter strategies, it can be kind of challenging to watch.

And the season is a marathon. 162 games? Are you kidding? And playoff series after that? Yikes. That means hundreds of at-bats, thousands of pitches. The season is not made or broken on a single game (until the playoffs). And over time, teams with poorer markets (baseball's money system is killing the sport) can't compete, drop 30+ games out of contention, and play out the second half (or last three quarters) of the season for the fans (and the contracts).

Players make unbelievable money - A-Rod actually signed a $250 million contract once. $250 million! And it's all guaranteed.

But for all that, baseball does seem to have a place. Baseball is a conversational sport - even for the die-hards. Don't try to talk to me during a football game. Or a hoops game - I'm too far into it. But you can have a long, deep, meaningful conversation during a baseball game and not miss a thing. It gives you a steady level of entertainment, punctuated with moments of amazing excitement.

And baseball is Summer. When you see baseball game highlights on TV, it's hot out. You've lived to see another sunny day, and that's pretty cool.

So maybe, just maybe, I'll get sucked into baseball again. Hell, I already bough the Street & Smith's baseball annual.