Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Go Phillies, But . . .

For the first time in 15 years the Phillies are in the World Series. It's great. It's well-deserved. It's thrilling.
And even though the Tampa Bay Rays are clearly this year's Cinderella team, I'd love to see the Phillies win it all. But no matter how it turns out, one thing will remain true: Baseball is an insufferably boring pastime.
Except for the pitcher, catcher and hitter, all the players simply stand around waiting for something to happen. Huge amounts of time drift by aimlessly.
Players have to work hard to stay awake. So they chew gum or tobacco, spit, grab their crotches, shift their feet, adjust their caps, brush themselves off and gaze about hoping they'll actually have something to do. . . .

To read my entire column from this morning's Philadelphia Daily News, click here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dan,

I read your column and vehemently disagreed with it. My response:

http://crashburnalley.com/?p=231

Sean Schafer said...

Well you've done it. Now not only do democrats dislike you the entire sporting blogroll dislikes you. While I disagree with the article, (in fact i find it to be more anti-American than "spreading the wealth") I am utterly disturbed at the reaction of so many people so quickly. Here in America sporting news is obviously more important to us than national politics and security, at least if your judging by response material. You can argue that the media is already filled with so many articles regarding politics that it no longer garners much attention and I wouldn't disagree, but this amount of attention is border-line crazy. One guy went as far as to compare you to Mitch Williams after the '93 series. HAHA Insane. On the other hand, it is great publicity for the your site.

Radu Gherman said...

I'm almost glad to see that some people would call your column "anti-american" for writing about the American passtime. It a twisted way, it shows me that that kind of rhetoric isn't automatic and exclusively aimed at liberals.
That said, I have to agree. Baseball is boring. But so are most sports. I've looked at some responses. Maybe you should amke it clear that you don;t really like all pro sports, because most people peg you as a football fan. As for me, I enjoy the only sport that's not been corrupted by stop-play ads: the real football.

Sean Schafer said...

Writing about baseball isn't anti-American at all, I did write that inaccurately. I was merely claiming that calling baseball boring is "anti-American." Even if it's premise is correct. As you stated, it is America's Passtime.

But to make you feel better I'm going to jump to some "automatic rhetoric exclusively aimed at liberals" and call your support for "the real football" anti-American.

Just to make things feel right around here. haha

Dan Cirucci said...

I always knew that sentiments about sports ran deep.
And I always knew that these sentiments trumped politics and perhaps even religion.
I expected the reaction.
And I remain respectful of everyone's views.

Radu Gherman said...

Every student of history knows that sports matter. They aren't games on the grand scale; they are expressions of our human nature and our aggression, as well as our thrist for competition. Whether it's the sports complex in Philly, or the Colosseum, every politician in history knows that the masses must have a way to channel their aggression, lest they turn those feelings toward the things that matter. Pro sports are a veil over our eyes, psychologically speaking. That said, I'm glad they're around.