Why are kids tuning out baseball?

Discussion in 'Sports' started by volfanjo, Apr 19, 2012.

  1. volfanjo

    volfanjo Chieftain

  2. NYY

    NYY Super Moderator

    Two big reasons, IMO, JMO, IYAM.

    1. We have morphed into a glory seeking society. Baseball is a game of failure. The better players deal with that failure better. I don't think I need to mention that we don't handle failure very well as a society.

    2. The game is difficult. The hardest thing in sports still is to hit a round ball with a round object squarely. Couple the difficulty with the standing around in dull moments and failure, and you have a group of kids that want to play a more action-packed sport.
     
  3. droski

    droski Traffic Criminal

    Game is too slow and lasts too long. When i was a kid i watched or listened to every dodger game every year (mostly because i was bored for entertainment) now i'm lucky if i want to watch a dozen a year. why they haven't implimented a pitch clock is beyond me.
     
  4. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Will repeat the "too slow" comments. When I was little, I watched every sport. And I still appreciate the strategy and nuance of baseball. But it just takes so long for everything to happen. I stopped playing in 10th grade and stopped watching at about the same time. I probably would've kept playing if I hadn't been stuck in the outfield, which is a game of standing around interspersed with short periods of chasing a ball and throwing it to someone.

    On TV, football and basketball just have more action, and they televise quite well. Hockey and soccer don't televise particularly well, but I'm already pretty attached from going to lots of games and (in the case of soccer) playing through college, so I still enjoy watching when I can. Baseball I can watch if I'm doing something else at the same time and care about the team playing. Otherwise. . .
     
  5. Snakeonia

    Snakeonia Active Member

    what's more exciting? watching a team get a double play, or watching blake griffin posterize someone? case closed.
     
  6. kptvol

    kptvol Super Moderator

    Yup. Attention spans continue to diminish as more entertainment is made more easily available. No need to sit around and wait for something entertaining to happen when you can find something immediately on 100 other channels or 1 million websites.
     
  7. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    Because we would rather get kicked right square in the [penis].
     
  8. Kids can excell with rawer fundamentals in other sports.
     
  9. Snakeonia

    Snakeonia Active Member

    or maybe baseball is just way to slow of a game for most kids
     
  10. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    I don't know about all these "easier to get started" or "easier to dominate without fundamentals" arguments. For soccer, sure. It takes just as much to play soccer at a high level as any other sport, but when you're little, the biggest and fastest kid can just tear through everybody. But, say, basketball? When I was little, I found it way easier to hit a baseball than to put a basketball in the hoop (unless the hoop was lowered). In the same vein, I found it way easier to field/throw a baseball than dribble a basketball.
     
  11. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    I agree.

    I have never heard this "easier to dominate without fundamentals" argument before today. Methinks it meritless.
     
  12. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    Too

    Pet peeve of mine.
     
  13. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    The best athlete usually is the best player on the team, regardless of sport.

    That's not necessarily true in baseball.
     
  14. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    Then you're essentially limiting your definition of "athlete" to all the stuff that the legs do for the body. The best player on the team in baseball will probably be the most hand-eye coordinated.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2012
  15. volfanjo

    volfanjo Chieftain

    You ever heard of the knuckle-ball pitcher?
     
  16. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    That's what I was getting at.

    The kid with a twelve to six curve and 90 mph fastball isn't necessarily a great athlete nor does he have exceptional hand eye coordination
     
  17. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    I should have specifically excluded pitching from what I was saying. I don't disagree that the ability to throw a virtually unhittable pitch is pretty much a skill unto itself.
     
  18. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    pace of game and fathers not teaching the game to their kids imo.
     
  19. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    Why would the latter occur?

    My dad taught me how to play baseball. And I played the game, and generally liked the game, until I was 14 or 15. But then one summer afternoon on a baseball field in some podunk West Virginia town -- probably while either in the outfield or playing 2nd base -- it occurred to me that this game was not any fun, and that I would rather be at the pool trying to get in the pantalones of newly pubescent females*. That was the last season I ever played baseball. I don't believe I've put on a glove since then (I never had any desire to play softball). I will go to the batting cage. The batting cage is fun.

    __________________
    *Who would have been wearing bathing suits, not pantalones, to be clear.
     
  20. volfanjo

    volfanjo Chieftain

    I've enjoyed reading your comments.

    Full disclosure I played baseball for quite a while and then got fairly burnt out on it all. I hated rain delays. I hated playing in cold weather. I also hated home games... the field prep, excessive bp, excessive throwing drills. I just wanted to get on the field and play and had little use for all the surrounding hoopla. I still love to just throw, or field grounders. There's something very relaxing about playing catch even today.

    NYY hit on something about baseball that is crucial and that is failure. Baseball is a really cruel game. Anyone who has ever played baseball knows how painful it is to go through a hitting slump. Baseball has seriously depressing moments that I never found playing football, basketball, soccer, tennis or any other sport (other than maybe golf).

    I think also sports like football and basketball give signals early on whether you can be successful. Without a huge growth spurt your junior year your odds of being a power forward or defensive end are pretty obvious. And so when you have to quit you can accept it a little better, at least I could. Baseball sort of teases you because as we've discussed it isn't always about being the biggest or fastest, though those things help. So you stick it out waiting for glory that never comes.
     

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