Suboptimist

People May Actually Care About This.

I like baseball.  I think baseball is fun.  I don’t consider myself a sports fan, but I still take the time to follow baseball standings and watch an occasional game.  However, I have become disappointed with the direction of baseball announcing.

Baseball is different than other American ball sports in its subtlety.  I have always liked to compare it to opera, in that it is marked by sheer tedium until something really cool happens.  I will concede that the subtle nature of baseball has eroded with the advent of steroids and homerun derbies, but it hasn’t degenerated to the extent that basketball has.  Anyway, the announcing for televised games isn’t helping the problem.  It neglects the action on the field in favor of making a flashy display on screen.  My parents recall old baseball broadcasts where there would be several minutes of no speech or action on the television or radio, but only the sound of the cheering crowd.  Maybe this is why I don’t watch baseball on TV as much as I used to.

In other news, I should mention two things about my WoW guild: we just started using Teamspeak, and there have been several personal disputes among some members.  On the first point, it is really, really weird to hear my guildmates’ voices and be expected to respond with my voice.  On the second point: I intend to make a list of possible reasons why there have been so many problems among members.  It may make for an interesting social commentary.