Fat asses in pajamas that run around in a square. Not saying it’s an easy sport. Hitting a baseball is hard asf. But it’s a boring ass mother fucking sport. Compared to basketball, football, soccer, hockey. Real men sports right there. Change my mind pussies.
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Personally I see baseball more like an activity than an actual sport. A bit like darts or cheerleading or things like that. All activities that require a lot of skill to get good at, but not really sports, even if I understand it’s completely subjective.
LOL “cheerleading”
Non-target here. Baseball sucks gazelle balls. But going to baseball games and getting shitfaced is S tier
I am English and work in NYC so this is a different take. All American sports except for hockey pretty much suck. They don’t have anywhere near the levels of passion, excitement of sports like (actual) football and cricket. The stadium atmosphere pales in comparison to sports around the world. I have gone to a super bowl with my gf and if that is supposed to be the peak of stadium atmosphere in the US, damn the sports are boring because you get that exact atmosphere in a regular league football match in Europe.
I feel like American sports are way to focused on physical stature as well (this comes from someone who is 6’4” and 230 lbs in muscle and was a heavyweight rower in college). All these sports require you to be either big or tall and even the ones that don’t like baseball, the average height is like 6’1. Football is great because you have guys like Messi who are 5 7 and Ronaldo who is 6 2 both being insane. Likewise in cricket, you got guys like Sachin Tendulkar who was 5 5 competing with guys like Ambrose who was 6 8.
Soccer player here. Agree with your take on football. Idk about cricket lmfao
go to an India vs Pakistan cricket match. I grew up in Liverpool and that is very clearly in my opinion the best rivalry in sports.
Also because you called it soccer, you are very clearly American so would bot expect you to understand cricket
tottaly agree with you , football or soccer for my american friends is the best sport however hockey is pretty decent too
too bad we can't get stuff like this in the US, although it's probably for the better because they sometimes get out of hand:
I like futbol ok. I really liked the college girls games. I appreciate the sport and I see it growing rapidly here in the U.S. What I don't get is how hardcore people can be about the game and their team across such large populations. It's really bizarre. It's almost like the game itself is secondary to the fandom and even anti-climactic. Futbol itself is a really boring game to watch (though actually fairly fun to play). I'm thinking that in the U.S. we have so many different major sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, NASCAR) and at so many different levels (youth, high school, college, pros) that it must diffuse the fan energy. I'm thinking in Europe all of the masculine energy that goes into sports goes into soccer with few other sport outlets.
The reason is that our "peak of stadium atmosphere" games happen too often. The Super Bowl is every year. The World Cup happens every 4 years. Same thing with international cricket. It's a lot easier to get excited when you have to wait so long.
I was not referring the World Cup. The weekly premier league games between teams like Norwich and Newcastle have such a better atmosphere and there is so much more passion in it than the super bowl. Snap even the lower leagues down to league one have much better enthusiasm and atmosphere than a nba game 7 or the super bowl.
I was referring more towards basketball and American football with that. Cool altuve is 5’6”. Give me the best team of guys shorter than 5 9 and another with the best team taller than that.
European soccer is the most predictable sport and the supporters are the first people to agree on this. It’s a sport of super teams backed by global mega billionaires. You basically know who will win before the season starts. England has the most competitive league by far and even then you still know it will be one of 2 or 3 teams. Leicester city happening one time doesn’t change this.
There are also far too many 0-0 or 1-0 “Park the bus” games. Again diehard supporters are the first to admit this.
Top tier games are great but those are the exception not the rule. Most games are in a 20k person stadium between two mediocre sides.
The super bowl doesn’t have the best atmosphere in American sports lol. Everyone who follows football knows this. It is a neutral site game with tens if thousands of neutral / corporate tickets sold. This is like saying the CL final in some random third party location has a better atmosphere than the home leg of the semi final at Anfield. Just not comparable.
This. The real passion in American football is at the college level. Go to an SEC/Big Ten football game. Massive stadiums, real tailgate and rivalry culture, 100K+ crazed fans. That's the actual comparison to football/futbol.
You are a dunce for thinking the Super Bowl - which is reserved almost entirely for corporate boosters and old farts - is the 'peak experience'.
Go to a Alabama/Auburn football game and you will see peak experience. Miles of tailgating hours before the game, hot broads in sun dresses walking around, live bands and cheerleaders on the field, military flyovers, more fans than a world cup match.
Absolutely shits on your cricket or soccer - who's atmosphere are developing country degens not knowing how to behave. Woo fun.
Yeah, that's the thing about SEC football. The most mind-numbingly hot girls on planet Earth dressed for hot weather. Of course, the southern white girls peak at 21, but hell, when they're 21...!
As someone who went to a major SEC school and traveled for games like Alabama/Clemson, I am sorry but soccer takes the take. Went to a Dortmund/Bayern game and it was absolutely nuts. The city was raging there were people and massive rallies with 1000s of people all over the place. The game itself was so damn intense and the stadium was so much louder and crazier than any football game I went too.
That because you haven't experienced college sports. Major college sports--American football and basketball--is the top tier atmosphere. For example, Ohio State football or Duke basketball.
I went to college in the states mate. I know March madness and sec are big. I still stand by my statement that these games don’t come anywhere near the atmosphere in league matches in Europe or around the world. Madrid and Barcelona legit shut down when el clasico happens. And if people claim college sports are where you need to go if you want to get a good game atmosphere than American pro sports suck.
This is U.S. college sports. Atmosphere is way better than professional sports in the U.S.
I don't think you have been to a college football game, not that shit you eurotrash call football. But real mans football.
We call that pussy rugby.
MLB Baseball players look like the same as the gen pop to me, def some smaller players and fat dudes who look like they hang out at Buffalo Wild Wings (except make 20 mil a year plus)
Also - the shittier the economy of a country the more hardcore they are about sports it seems
American football is based on rugby, and baseball is based on cricket. Americans, mostly yankees, played baseball as a "gentlemen's game". American football is more like a bloodsport for the working man, and baseball is honestly not that bad and pretty popular. Honestly a lot of Americans look at the world of soccer and see a lot of effeminate men faking injuries and flaunting their haircuts.
Hockey is hardcore though, and I figure it plays the same role as American football way up North where it's cold as balls.
This is literally the greatest football player ever
It’s definitely not for everyone, and I can see why many people find it boring. But it does have some unique aspects to it:
1) the defense initiates everything. The pitcher has to throw the ball for anything to happen, the offense is not in control.
2) every stadium is different. Pretty much every other sport has standard dimensions, but each ballpark has its own unique quirks and it can change your strategy
3) you cannot run out the clock. There are a defined number of outs, so some incredible comebacks can happen because you can’t just eat up time
4) it is arguably the most analytically advanced sport. The amount of stats and data that goes into each play is fascinating, and baseball has revolutionized the use of advanced analytics that has since made its way into other sports
5) it embraces its history. There is so much history to the game, and it is neat that there are always ways to compare players and teams more than a century apart
6) you already mentioned it, but it is extremely difficult. There are some great videos out there that analyze how a batter has just a fraction of a second to make a decision to swing, let alone make clean contact. If you plucked someone off the street and asked them to hit a major league pitch, they would literally have a 0% chance. Obviously every pro sport is challenging in its own right, but baseball is certainly harder than most give it credit for.
In general, the games are very long and can be boring, but it has a lot going for those that have the patience for it.
It's definitely a game that rewards the patient. And one of the things I love is every pitch and at-bat has a different strategy based on what just happened. Pitching to someone with guys on first and third is totally different from empty bases or someone just on first. Throwing two outside balls impacts where the pitcher is aiming for next, two strikes mean two totally different things if the batter was hacking at balls or if the pitcher just cut the top inner corner. (I think this is why Cricket is also exciting, each bowl offers something different, though the bases have a more reduced role). I find a good baseball game far more interesting and exciting than a basketball game where just have guys bringing the ball down and chucking up threes or waiting til they can charge for a layup.
Totally agree. Does anyone under 45 watch baseball?
It's gotten way worse because the game has slowed way down. Look at box scores from 1950. It used to take like an hour less to play nine innings. Now there are a million pitching changes and the pitchers and batters both move in slow motion compared to the way they used to.
I also think the stats revolution has had a uniquely bad effect on baseball relative to other sports. Nerds crunched the numbers and realized that a lot of tactics like stealing bases, bunting, and hitting for contact were suboptimal. It turns out that you should just take a lot of pitches to get walks (boring) in order to drive up the pitch count and force a pitching change (boring). Try to hit home runs every time and strike out a lot in the process. Not so fun to watch as a guy who swings at the first pitch and then tries to steal a base.
I'm not a huge baseball fan, but there is something special about watching a homerun.
I think baseball should institute a pitcher switch cap like substitutions in soccer. It would force pitchers to reduce the intensity to maintain longevity and increase scoring.
I think everything except for combat sports and weightlifting is boring and I only eat ass on Sundays. Shruganubnub three bugs in a rug different strokes for different folks
Weightlifting is super boring though.
If you're not the one lifting, you're just standing there watching a bar slowly moving while some 360lb chode grunts out the song of his people.
It's impressive, don't get me wrong, but it ain't exactly a popcorn affair.
I agree with you on the combat sports, though. Watching some poor soul punch his one-way headkick ticket to the Shadowzone is absolute kino.
I think you're confusing weightlifting with powerlifting. I'm a fan of both though.
MMA unfortunately also gets boring now: fighters are just trying to land strikes without any intention to finish the fight, just to get ahead on scorecards - a lot of times it's just leg kicks and light jabs. And a lot of wrestlers just spend the majority of the fight keeping their opponent on the ground and gaining "time in top position" on scorecards.
Terrible take. UFC is the most entertaining it has been in years
They should make it so only one pitcher can be there the whole game. That way he gets tired at the end and there's crazy action during the last innings. If I'm not mistaken that's how it used to be
This is borderline an ethical problem. Have a pitcher throw out their arm in 5-6 hour game.
You are mistaken. Guys used to throw more but if their performance went to garbage they were still pulled.
I did not know you like sports. I agree with you on the broad concept in that having 7 pitchers in a game is an unfortunate change. For the most part, complete games are a thing of the past.
Lets be honest op.
A lot of kids play little league. You probably did too.
Many kids simply can't hack it (have weak noodle arms when throwing and zero hand eye coordination to hit). They remember a coach yelling at them after striking out or making an error in the field and the embarrassment that followed.
They then whine how baseball is boring and sucks later in life. Big surprise there when you could barely reach the cut off man from left field.
Varsity baseball in high school is pretty exclusive and full of Chad's. Girls love baseball players. If you could have been a certified varsity baseball star.....you damn well would have taken the chance.
If you play(ed) baseball, it's even worse. Even if you genuinely enjoy playing the game, It's like porn; you really only want to watch it if you don't get to do enough of it yourself.
Just go out for xyz company's softball league and enjoy it without having to sit through 4 hours of dudes with mullets striking out. Hell, you can go to a bar and watch that happen for free.
Baseball has always been a microcosm of America. A reflection of our times.
The history. The tragedies (Gehrig). The post war boom years. The bad years (God, I would have killed to see Josh Gibson play in MLB). It is a timeline. A crackling AM radio on a summer night by the lake. Playing hooky from school to sneak into the bleachers for a day game in May. A double header in summer, drinking beers in the bleachers. Bobby Thompson. Flipping baseball cards and getting a Mickey Mantle. Scoring a game. The smell of bubble gum in the pack. A SIMPLER TIME.
Now? Its all gone. Replaced by Tweets, Tik Tok, Wifi and 300 different sports channels showing UFC barbarism.
As the NBA and NFL rose, baseball swooned. As the demographics of America changed so did the growth of MLS. Watching an Islanders / Rangers game became more of an event. The world sped up with technology and the instant gratification, adderall riddled, swipe left generations subsequently followed.
And because of all this, baseball died and will never come back...just like the society we now are forced to live in.
I wonder if Ohtani can fill that superstar role
hot take: watching any sport is shit. go do sports yourself instead of watching other grown men play with a ball.
Yea this is a good take. I enjoy watching occasional games but feel gross if I sit on the couch for an entire football game.
Accomplishments you have > what pro athletes who have zero connection to you do.
Exactly what I was going to post.
Is there anything more beta than drinking booze and eating garbage in front of a tv set whilst a bunch of absolute mercenaries with most likely 0 connection to you / your town play a game and get paid millions whilst you wear a shirt with their name on it, paying for the privilege of being a walking advertising billboard
Don't get me wrong I admire how USA has turned sports into a big business but 100% either play the sport with your friends or your kids or go to the gym and work on yourself
Stop getting distracted by the literal bread and circus which the heads of society have used to distract plebs for thousands of years
facts
Rugby, motorsports, and hunting are what a real sportsman partakes in.
Saying baseball sucks is like saying chocolate sucks because you do not like it. It sounds like op sucked at baseball. Maybe op was picked last for pick up games or never made the cut for any teams. At least the op admits it is hard to be good at it.
I played a lot of baseball growing up and loved it and still love it. You don’t get to be good at baseball unless you practice a lot. You need to spend hours in batting cages and on the field.
I do not play now, other than having an occasional catch in the back yard but I watch it and enjoy looking at statistics. I like most team sports.
MLB is not the same from what it use to be.
I use to be a die hard Yankees fan and I could tell you (and still) the entire starting lineup for the early 2000s Red Sox or Angels team without a blink of the eye then, who was leading in every statistical category, etc. Now? I barely know who the best player is at each position, if at all. The game is no longer on a national level. No one cares outside of their teams region. The World Series use to be so prestigious and amazing no matter who was in it. To add, MLB also has by far the worst Marketing strategy in all of professional sports.
Edit: The game of baseball is awesome..just the MLB fucking sucks.
The best thing about college baseball at a major university is how a bunch of hot college girls like to go to games to watch the guys.
Went to a jays vs Yankees game once with work. I saw the Yankees pitcher was fat as fuck and never made an effort to catch the ball when it was hit near him. Pitching is a skill not a sport, the rest is just filler.
Also 2 beers were $20.50 so you couldn’t get 2 for a 20, the game was super long and slow - I ditched after two hours
For the thinking man, aka fellow finance types. BASEBALL is THE game. Every play is an isolated event that is quantifiable. Someone who never played baseball doesn't see the small things. I was a catcher in college, here are some examples.
The pitcher/batter battle. What pitch should I throw in what count? What is my pitcher throwing the best today, what are the hitter's tendencies? Hitters have a much higher batting average when they are ahead in the count, what pitch to start the batter off with so I can turn the probabilities in my favor. Does the hitter pull the ball? Let's throw him low and outside. Was he behind on the first pitch? Alright come in inside with a fastball and try to jam him. Got two strikes, lets do a fake shake of the head or two so he thinks a curveball is coming and jam him with a fastball high and tight. My favorite was throwing two curveballs in a row and following with a change up, they roll over because they are expecting you to come back fastball.
How about batting. What are the pitcher's tendencies? What are his go-to pitches and when does he throw them? Junkballer who throws off-speed 70% of the time, better take advantage of the fastball when you get it. Does he have a tendency to throw certain pitches in certain situations? Yes well you have the informational advantage. I know that I am a 400 hitter when I get a fastball waist high and down the middle to in so I better jump when I see it. The low and away curveball .250 batting average, better avoid until I have to.
Defense. This batter pulls the ball to right field 78% of the time, let's shift the fielders.
Then add in the mental factor of the fact that it is a game of failure. A hit 3/10 times is a success, which is a good frame of mind for investing where you need to have a batting average above 50% to win but you will also lose alot.
Oh boo hoo is someone offended that their sport is for bitches
Nope just pointing out what isn't obvious to many people, but why I love the sport.
"Someone who never played baseball doesn't see the small things". That's precisely the problem. In basketball/football/soccer, a casual fan can still 'see' and appreciate advanced skills at a very high frequency. Then baseball's puritanical culture compounds the problem. There are so many unwritten rules. Don't disrespect your opponent (i.e. don't celebrate after hitting a HR), don't wear white cleats (at least back in my days), no names on jerseys + no facial hair (I actually kinda like the Yankees' no-name rule tbh), the list goes on...
Now compare this to basketball... you can humiliate your opponents by dunking on them and breaking their ankles, you have complete freedom wrt fashion, a few roster moves can completely derail or revitalize a team (very superstar-driven), many players have close relationships with musicians and hollywood stars, etc. It has all the elements that would be palatable to the average person.
I play softball casually with some of my friends. It’s pretty fun, but I don’t think I could sit through an actual game.
I always considered baseball to be the most masculine sport (I'm biased as it is my most favorite). It combines some of the gentlemen culture from a sport like golf (hanging in the dugout or bullpen with your boys), with the manly culture from a sport like football or hockey (hitting the ball the farthest, throwing the ball the hardest, etc). Obviously it is not the most manly, as it is not too physical, but I think it has a good balance of gentlemen culture and manliness, hence making it a true masculine sport. But that is just my biased take lol.
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