Minor things that annoy you-sports edition

[SP Cook]

People that think baseball needs changes, don't like baseball.  They need to find something else to watch.

Unfortunately, somehow one of these people is now the commissioner.

[tchafe1978]

Visits to the mound by the manager or pitching coach are already limited. I believe there is one visit to the mound allowed with each pitcher before a change must be made. And the call to the bullpen has already been made by the time the manager leaves the dugout, but sometimes the manager takes his time to give the reliever more time to warm up. And during last year's pandemic shortened season, they put in new rules saying that a relief pitcher must record at least three outs, unless that pitcher closes out the inning or needs to be removed due to injury. So there shouldn't be any more changing pitchers after every batter. Baseball has a lot of traditions, that no matter how many rule changes are implemented to speed up the game, it's always going to have a certain pace to it. Baseball isn't meant to be a sprint, it's a mararthon.

[tchafe1978]

I can remember when being called the "goat" used to mean you're the one that cost your team the game, like Steve Bartman for the Cubs, or Bill Buckner for the Red Sox. But now "GOAT" means Greatest of All Time, all because of Tom Brady. Yup, it's Brady's fault.

[kurumi]

I can remember when being called the "goat" used to mean you're the one that cost your team the game, like Steve Bartman for the Cubs, or Bill Buckner for the Red Sox. But now "GOAT" means Greatest of All Time, all because of Tom Brady. Yup, it's Brady's fault.

True, it used to be the Hero vs. the Goat. But now "HERO" means "He Eventually Ruins the Outcome", like Steve Bartman for the Cubs, or Bill Buckner for the Red Sox. Language is a funny thing :-)

[Big John]

Baseball managers who trudge to the mound at a pace that makes a snail embarrassed, BS with the obviously departing pitcher for two minutes, then only signal for the new pitcher when the home plate umpire arrives to break it up.

There should just be a time clock much like the play clock.  If everyone is not ready in place by the time the clock hits zero, the next batter draws an intentional walk.

They do have a clock, but it is not enforced.

Baseball is a sport that badly needs clocks. Plus walks to the mound should be limited like timeouts are.  Give them 3 per game.

They are now limited to 5 mound visits in 9 innings, and that includes catcher visits to the mound, but not for pitcher changes.

[thspfc]

I find all the baseball old-timers to be annoying. Yes, I'm calling out some of you in this thread.

Baseball is declining.

Baseball is a victim of two developments of American sports culture, and American culture in general:

1. Significantly better athletic training has helped most sports, but it has hurt baseball, because there's no such thing as small ball anymore. The most important things are directly related to the quality of muscular training a player has. Fielding doesn't really matter, as long as it's not atrocious. Strategy doesn't really matter, as long as it's not atrocious. Two things matter: pitching and smashing the ball over the fence. A team that can do both those things will squash any team that can't.

2. Speed. Everything is instant. Smartphones, the internet, email, texting, air travel, everything can be done quickly. This has carried over to sports. Basketball and hockey have become more popular because they are fast. Lacrosse has burst onto the scene for young people, though it's still in its infancy in comparison to the major sports. Baseball and football are relatively slow, but there are a few reasons why football has held steady, if not grown, while baseball has declined almost as quickly as Detroit in the 80s.
   a. The NFL, like the NBA and NHL, is simply a better product. You can love baseball all you want, but you can't look at the two sports side by side and say with a straight face that baseball is a better television product. As a result, many people like me who have played little to no organized football have come to follow the league closely, while avid baseball fans are mostly those who played the sport often throughout their early childhood and into high school and beyond.
   b. Similarly, football translates better to television than baseball does. Almost all sports have benefited a lot, lot more than baseball has from the growth of televised sports. Most sports require just one main camera that catches all the action. Baseball needs multiple cameras - one zooming in behind the pitcher, and the other behind the batter. When the ball is hit, the display needs to switch. That makes it choppy to watch on TV. But perhaps the most telling thing about this is that baseball is the sport that offers the most incentive to be watched in person rather than on TV. I will happily go to Brewers games pretty much every season, but I never watch on TV. This is because watching baseball on TV is just not a high quality experience for someone who doesn't love the sport.
   c. The NFL has made changes to the game to keep it exciting, while baseball has not. Modified rules have made passing easier over the last couple decades. Passing is exciting. Case in point: the Chiefs vs the Ravens. Both very good teams, with very good coaches and very good quarterbacks. The difference? The Chiefs throw the ball while the Ravens run the ball. As a result, the Chiefs are usually on national television in the afternoon or evening while the Ravens play on local TV at noon.

And that brings me to the main point: you can say that baseball doesn't need to change, and you are perfectly entitled to that opinion. So have fun watching the sport run itself into the ground over the next few decades. Decreased viewership will lead to less lucrative TV contracts, leading to decreased budgets and decreased salaries. Another thing to consider is that the current generation of young parents (age 35-45ish) was the last generation that largely grew up playing baseball. Because they grew up playing baseball, they get their kids involved with baseball. But today's kids aren't very interested (if you don't believe me then google it). Today's kids will not get their kids involved with baseball. Without a sizable number of young players, there won't be as much $$$ in youth baseball, and when you lose $$$ you lose a lot of things, I don't think I have to explain it because it should be obvious.

Basically, in 30 years there will not be enough talent to support MLB as a "major" American sports league. In 2051 MLB will not be a top 10 sports league in popularity in the US.

[Alps]

Basically, in 30 years there will not be enough talent to support MLB as a "major" American sports league. In 2051 MLB will not be a top 10 sports league in popularity in the US.

I will bet you $10,000 that that does not happen. Come at me in 2051.

[Roadgeekteen]

I find all the baseball old-timers to be annoying. Yes, I'm calling out some of you in this thread.

Baseball is declining.

Baseball is a victim of two developments of American sports culture, and American culture in general:

1. Significantly better athletic training has helped most sports, but it has hurt baseball, because there's no such thing as small ball anymore. The most important things are directly related to the quality of muscular training a player has. Fielding doesn't really matter, as long as it's not atrocious. Strategy doesn't really matter, as long as it's not atrocious. Two things matter: pitching and smashing the ball over the fence. A team that can do both those things will squash any team that can't.

2. Speed. Everything is instant. Smartphones, the internet, email, texting, air travel, everything can be done quickly. This has carried over to sports. Basketball and hockey have become more popular because they are fast. Lacrosse has burst onto the scene for young people, though it's still in its infancy in comparison to the major sports. Baseball and football are relatively slow, but there are a few reasons why football has held steady, if not grown, while baseball has declined almost as quickly as Detroit in the 80s.
   a. The NFL, like the NBA and NHL, is simply a better product. You can love baseball all you want, but you can't look at the two sports side by side and say with a straight face that baseball is a better television product. As a result, many people like me who have played little to no organized football have come to follow the league closely, while avid baseball fans are mostly those who played the sport often throughout their early childhood and into high school and beyond.
   b. Similarly, football translates better to television than baseball does. Almost all sports have benefited a lot, lot more than baseball has from the growth of televised sports. Most sports require just one main camera that catches all the action. Baseball needs multiple cameras - one zooming in behind the pitcher, and the other behind the batter. When the ball is hit, the display needs to switch. That makes it choppy to watch on TV. But perhaps the most telling thing about this is that baseball is the sport that offers the most incentive to be watched in person rather than on TV. I will happily go to Brewers games pretty much every season, but I never watch on TV. This is because watching baseball on TV is just not a high quality experience for someone who doesn't love the sport.
   c. The NFL has made changes to the game to keep it exciting, while baseball has not. Modified rules have made passing easier over the last couple decades. Passing is exciting. Case in point: the Chiefs vs the Ravens. Both very good teams, with very good coaches and very good quarterbacks. The difference? The Chiefs throw the ball while the Ravens run the ball. As a result, the Chiefs are usually on national television in the afternoon or evening while the Ravens play on local TV at noon.

And that brings me to the main point: you can say that baseball doesn't need to change, and you are perfectly entitled to that opinion. So have fun watching the sport run itself into the ground over the next few decades. Decreased viewership will lead to less lucrative TV contracts, leading to decreased budgets and decreased salaries. Another thing to consider is that the current generation of young parents (age 35-45ish) was the last generation that largely grew up playing baseball. Because they grew up playing baseball, they get their kids involved with baseball. But today's kids aren't very interested (if you don't believe me then google it). Today's kids will not get their kids involved with baseball. Without a sizable number of young players, there won't be as much $$$ in youth baseball, and when you lose $$$ you lose a lot of things, I don't think I have to explain it because it should be obvious.

Basically, in 30 years there will not be enough talent to support MLB as a "major" American sports league. In 2051 MLB will not be a top 10 sports league in popularity in the US.

I still know plenty of kids that play baseball.

[mgk920]

Also, the rise of Fútbol in the youth levels in the USA over the past few decades - it is the ideal kids' sport.  They are running constantly, blowing off LOTS and LOTS of innate energy, the rules are ridiculously simple - the official FIFA rulebook is something like a 16 page pamphlet, complete with diagrams and decisions, allowing the players tremendous latitude in developing their own talents and styles (contrast that with the Laws of Baseball and the NFL rulebook), and EVERYBODY on the field/pitch has oodles of opportunities to meaningfully handle the ball.

As time passes, more and more of them will develop a lifelong love of the game, more and more local club federations will emerge and the level of play and overall public interest in the sport will greatly improve.

Mike

[texaskdog]

and RUGBY!

[mgk920]

A few days ago I drove past a local apartment complex here in the Appleton, WI area that is known for having a fairly high concentration of Asian Indians among its residents and noticed a pickup cricket game going on in its courtyard area.  When I drove by it again going the other way a few minutes later, it almost looked to me like it was in reality a coached team practice.

Thinking about it further, with the number of immigrants that the USA has from cricket-obsessed parts of the world such as India, Pakistan, various Caribbean islands, South Africa and perhaps even Australia, the fact that the USA does not currently field a highly competitive national cricket 'test' team is a bit of a head scratcher (yes, I am aware of the previously popular sport dying out in North America in the middle to later part of the 19th century due to a refusal by the people in charge of the sport here to embrace professionalism while the rest of the cricket-playing world was all in on it).

Mike

[texaskdog]

Forgive me if we covered this before but people who say "we" for the local team they didn't play for. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Forgive me if we covered this before but people who say "we" for the local team they didn't play for. 

Similarly, people who get on a high horse about this when someone says "we" as a fan.

However, "we" fans should be consistent - I remember a comedy bit once joking that a lot of fans will talk gushingly about how "we" won the game, but then bitch about how "they" lost the game the next time out.

[texaskdog]

Forgive me if we covered this before but people who say "we" for the local team they didn't play for. 

Similarly, people who get on a high horse about this when someone says "we" as a fan.

However, "we" fans should be consistent - I remember a comedy bit once joking that a lot of fans will talk gushingly about how "we" won the game, but then bitch about how "they" lost the game the next time out.

I am a Cowboys fan but since they don't win I also like the Bucs.  What if I watch a game between two other teams and side with one?  Where does "we" end?  I went to the University of Minnesota but never played on the team and don't ever feel comfortable saying "we" for the Gophers.

[Big John]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

[texaskdog]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

I do that stupid dance at UT softball games just to get on camera

[OCGuy81]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

That's as bad as the kiss cams.

[SectorZ]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

Or when every baseball stadium does the "Clap, clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, let's go!"

In every stadium but Fenway that is, which is ironic given it's a song by the Cars, a Boston-based band. One of the nice things about Fenway, it's the opposite of Tropicana Field or Dodgers Stadium in terms of nuisance noise.

[texaskdog]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

That's as bad as the kiss cams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9-ueJhTLa0

[OCGuy81]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

Or when every baseball stadium does the "Clap, clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, let's go!"

In every stadium but Fenway that is, which is ironic given it's a song by the Cars, a Boston-based band. One of the nice things about Fenway, it's the opposite of Tropicana Field or Dodgers Stadium in terms of nuisance noise.

"The Wave" is pretty awful too.

Oh! And if it hasn't been mentioned already? D-FENCE!!

[texaskdog]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

Or when every baseball stadium does the "Clap, clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, let's go!"

In every stadium but Fenway that is, which is ironic given it's a song by the Cars, a Boston-based band. One of the nice things about Fenway, it's the opposite of Tropicana Field or Dodgers Stadium in terms of nuisance noise.

"The Wave" is pretty awful too.

Oh! And if it hasn't been mentioned already? D-FENCE!!

funny at first, wore out its welcome quickly, like Chris Berman's names or people walking slow in movies.

[OCGuy81]

When they play "Everybody clap your hands" at sports stadiums.

Or when every baseball stadium does the "Clap, clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap, let's go!"

In every stadium but Fenway that is, which is ironic given it's a song by the Cars, a Boston-based band. One of the nice things about Fenway, it's the opposite of Tropicana Field or Dodgers Stadium in terms of nuisance noise.

"The Wave" is pretty awful too.

Oh! And if it hasn't been mentioned already? D-FENCE!!

funny at first, wore out its welcome quickly, like Chris Berman's names or people walking slow in movies.

People walking slow in movies.  Yeah! That's a good one!

This could probably be a separate thread, all about movie cliches that you can't stand.  I'd certainly add "people in movies slowly walking away from an explosion, seemingly unphased by it".

[Bruce]

If you're annoyed with boring and sterile chants that are led by the stadium's PA system, then soccer is a good option.

It takes a dedicated supporters group to have creative chants:

Or to design and paint giant banners (tifo) to honor their players

[thspfc]

Thought of another one today - Americans who root for Canadian hockey teams to do well because they Canadian and they're "original". Have some pride. I always root for American teams to beat Canadian teams. Their national team always beats ours anyways.

[Roadgeekteen]

Thought of another one today - Americans who root for Canadian hockey teams to do well because they Canadian and they're "original". Have some pride. I always root for American teams to beat Canadian teams. Their national team always beats ours anyways.

What if you live in North Dakota? Or Northern Vermont?