I’ll just be honest – I think I’ve given up on wanting to like baseball. It’s almost shocking for me to even say this because growing up in Wisconsin produced sports culture 101 and going to Brewers games was a normal occurrence when I was a kid. I think the times have caught up to me and I find the sport to be boring. The true test is if “my team” was in the World Series, problem is, is that I don’t really have a team anymore. I root for the Brewers due to hometown pride, the Cubs due to parental nostalgic pride, and now the Dodgers due to… shit… close proximity?

Whichever team I end up rooting for, or not rooting for, the bottom line is that baseball needs to inject itself with steroids again. I tried to watch a bit of game 4 last night and nearly fell asleep. Also, I’ve never really noticed until recently but it’s fucking annoying with all the chewing and spitting that’s happening with 90% of the players. I feel like an old man (or woman) saying that but it’s true.

Baseball needs to speed things up otherwise they’re going to fade away into the world of irrelevance.

Prediction: In lieu of NBC recently winning the rights to the Premiere League, I think soccer… ahem… futbol… will take over the ratings from baseball in the future. This is going to piss a lot of people off.

By the way, casual Sunday night NFL beat the World Series in ratings last night.

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Speaking of NFL…

My Green Bay Packers. This season has been killing me. Almost watching them lose to Blaine Gabbert yesterday only helped the production of grey hairs on my head.

I had a conversation via text with my friend who said he thinks the coaching staff needs to be realigned and Mike McCarthy needs to get the boot. I think I may agree to a certain extent. Watching the Packers week in and week out just tells me that Aaron Rodgers is amazing and he bails out the poor coaching and lack of discipline from the team.

Topic transition!!!

Speaking of movies…

Okay not speaking of movies, but I think I should note that I saw Taken 2 and Paranormal Activity 4 this weekend. I’m not exactly sure how another sequel can be produced for either franchise from here on out but my god I’m curious. I’m absolutely aware that these films may not be as great as the original but I love when sequels come out and they do well. My thought is… If people are going to see it… do it. That may not be the popular opinion but it only makes sense and dives deeper into the human psychology for specific entertainment and comfort in what we know.

Topic transition!!!

One more thing about the Packers – They’re taking form of the 2010 Packers when they played pissed off come from behind football and won the Superbowl. The only things that scare me are injuries and Eli Manning.

Onward.

It’s the eve of the historic midterm election and I think I’m asking the question that everyone is thinking: What happened to baseball? Did anyone even know the World Series was on tonight? The Giants VS The Rangers. I was more focused on watching Monday Night Football than I was the final game of the World Series where the Giants finally won for the first time in 50 plus years.

But seriously, what happened to baseball? Maybe what happened is the wrong question. We all know that baseball is a slow sport, if you hit the ball more than 30 percent of the time you’re considered great. That leaves us with 70 percent of boring strike outs and a handful of pitches that don’t seem too impressive from a TV point of view. Boredom, that’s what happened. Let’s break this down for a second.

When I grew up in the 80’s baseball was king. What kid didn’t look at the back of a baseball card to check the stats of their favorite player? In the 80’s it seemed that the aura of baseball still lived on, even sort of in the 90’s. Late 90’s early 2000’s we got the steroid induced years that re-energized baseball and somehow now it’s faded - it seems.

So what happened? Well, it’s pretty simple: the sport is too slow. When did it happen? Sometime in the last 20 years. How did it happen? I think it starts with the Internet. It starts with the way we need our information now: GO GO GO GO. Basball isn’t that – Football is, Basketball is, and even Soccer is. Baseball is an “old man’s” sport, it’s for the guy who wants to keep stats at the game, and it’s for the nostalgic guy who says “back in my day.”

It’s unfortunate to some degree. I foresee baseball making a major change over the next 10 years. Unless 3-D TV can somehow pump life back into the deflated ball there are going to be some major changes. Our record books of baseball are going to be dated like B.C. and A.D. and we’ll one day talk about how things were so different, there may even be a time limit on games one day.

However as this change happens I think it’s important to note that there is no experience like going to a baseball game. I’m the new old man who has nostalgia when I think of ballparks, and because of that I hope 3 things never change in the game of baseball. I give you the 3 prerequisites of a live ballgame:

1) It is mandatory to bring a glove to the ballpark if you’re under the age of 15.
2) It is mandatory to order peanuts.
3) It is mandatory to order a beer if you bring your child to a game…or if you’re over the age of 21.

In the world of ratings baseball has no choice but to adapt. But my God I hope the 3 nostalgic prerequisites never falter.

(Congrats Giants)