NATIONAL SPORT
You, too?
Have you been seeing some nosy surveys asking you to name our national sport? They seem to assume that bas ball no longer holds that place of honor among re-blooded Americans.. I hope you are with me in disagreeing with that premise,
It may well be true that, at the moment, the hold baseball has on the American people may appear to be less than it has been in the past, That does not mean it has been supplanted as the nation's favorite sport.. Sports, as with most things we do, are often led around by the nose by faddists - people who want to ry something different, and who, for a while, find some temporary satisfaction in doing something other than playing, watching or reading about baseball. It can be secondary in the off-season part of the year ,but now that it has started again for this year, we can expect a strong upturn in interest.
Baseball is competitive, these days,and vies with many well-financed sports activities.. Baseball demands, however, more individual and team skill than most of the others and they will fade as baseball ball is restored to its usual place.
Those who think baseball has ceased to be our national sport, are not secure in their understanding of why baseball has been the favorite for;so long. The number of hours a sport demands from a fan's day influences some, perhaps, and let;s face it; some who be disenchanted with sports in general because of excessive wages paid to players and ballyhooed excessively by a sometimes over-eager media.. The grassroots sentiment seems to be:“They aom't no man wuth 'at much!” That fan sees such cost as the reason for higher cost on tickets at the gate.. You can't judge a game by its gate. This is the same thing that has hurt the movie industry so severely. .Movie quality has steadily declined even as b ox office prices nave advanced to new peaks. Officials hold that they can determine the :best picture by a system which holds that the picture that brings in the most money is best.. Fewer people see movies today but they pay many times more than the admission prices set years ago when ”the best” film was selected by the number of people who came to see it....not how much they overspent tp do so. Sports is suffering the same agony of misjudging what the public accepts as “best”.
The biggest single factor for all sports today is television. It cannot be ignored. Radio is in there, as well. as an important ingredient. Radio engenders new, expanded interest in the competitive individuals and and among sports fans by constant talk
cencerning the competition's of individual and team actions which is laudable, including what we can only call “idol gossip”.It may often smell but it will sell well. Ring Lardner ,the sport writer of yesteryear, proved that amply enough.
What sport would appear to you as the main contender to vie with baseball to be our national game?
Football? Pro - or collegiate?. . NASCAR racing?? Stock Car, or Formula?
That's based the sheer number of people who turn out for such events. In what order do you place them? Basketball, Volley Ball, Golf.,Tennis,. Boxing. Soccarr, Wrestling, Field events and Gyumastics - add your own -.others and also-rans. Remember too there are some purists out there who do not consider car racing and pro-wrestling be sports at all..
In a wide sense, let's hope they all do well. Good exercise is a health and happiness builder for. all. Because it is has more sports meaning and demands more skill among players, teams of players, coaches and management staff members. Fans, too, have more in which they can become involved when baseball is their choice.
A..L.M.. March 31, 2004 [c652wds]
