Tich’s Take

Baseball was my favorite sport growing up. I ate up anything related to baseball. I read anything related to baseball. I went out in the yard to throw whenever I could. As a 9-year-old, there might not have been anything I loved more.

Now, as a 22-year-old, baseball, specifically Major League Baseball, has taken a backseat for me.

Maybe I am part of a generation that does not appreciate the nuances of America’s pastime. Or maybe I have better things to do than sit through three hours of baseball.

According to USA Today, average game length has increased by 17 minutes since 2004, despite run totals dipping to their lowest point since 1981. Pitchers hold the ball long enough for insomniacs to doze off to sleep. Maybe the reason baseball has the highest median viewer age of any of the big four sports in the U.S. (the median age to watch the 2012 World Series was 53.4 years old) is because it presents a great opportunity for a late-afternoon nap. Recliners were made for watching baseball.

Even during this past World Series, which went seven games and came down to the last out, five of the seven games were blowouts. As exciting as a dominating pitching performance can be to a baseball junkee, the casual fan is not going to watch if the score is lopsided.

Baseball is so boring that while other sports have a halftime, mainly so the players can rest up to finish the game with somewhat fresh legs, baseball has the seventh-inning stretch — aptly named so that fans can get up and stretch their legs after sitting for so long. The food vendors at baseball ballparks work up more of a sweat than the players do during games.

Not only can games be boring, but baseball players are some of the most boring and least marketable athletes out there. Can the casual baseball fan name two facts about Mike Trout regarding his off-the-field life? I cannot remember the last time I saw a baseball player in a commercial. Conversely, I cannot turn the TV on without seeing Peyton Manning’s oversized forehead about 40,000 times.
The cheesiness of baseball has been a turnoff to me as a fan over the years as well. I am all for having fun and celebrating victory, but is a champagne bath really necessary for advancing past every playoff round? Teams even spray the bubbly when they win their division to merely get into the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Clippers won their NBA division last year and refused to even put their Pacific Division Champions banner up in their arena because they knew that was not their ultimate goal. Maybe I am over-competitive, but I like that mindset more than the bottle-popping ideology of baseball.

There are still plenty of things I love about baseball. It is an experience to go to the ballpark and watch a game live. For a normal regular-season game, there probably is not a better event to attend than an MLB game. The sights, the smells and the sounds cannot be beaten.

Plus, it is relatively cheap compared to other sports. This summer, I visited four MLB parks and paid less than $30 for good seats. For $30 NFL or NBA tickets, I might need an oxygen mask because my seats at that price would be so high above the action. I will always happily go to a baseball game.

But to watch faithfully on TV, I need my recliner, some bifocals and some prune juice.

TICHENOR is the sports editor.