Seventh Inning Stretch
Baseball can be considered really exciting or extremely boring. It all depends on who you talk to. Personally, I find that, in general, the sport is pretty boring. That doesn’t mean that it is a bad sport though. You just have to be careful to take baseball for what it is. There is nothing in sports that better illustrates what it is than the seventh inning stretch.
Think about it for a second. What happens in the middle of the seventh inning? The fans all stand up and sing a classic song. They stretch. The fans. It seems to me that this was started because people were falling asleep in the middle of games, and the home team wanted to give the fans a reason to cheer. Well, let’s see what the real origin is from the always correct Wikipedia:
The origin of the seventh inning stretch is said to be in the story of Brother Jasper of Mary, F.S.C., the man credited with bringing baseball to Manhattan College in the late 1800s. Being the Prefect of Discipline as well as the coach of the team, it fell to Brother Jasper to supervise the student fans at every home game. On one particularly hot and muggy day in 1882, during the seventh inning against a semi-pro team called the Metropolitans, the Prefect noticed his charges becoming restless. To break the tension, he called a time-out in the game and instructed everyone in the bleachers to stand up and unwind. It worked so well he began calling for a seventh-inning rest period at every game. The Manhattan College custom spread to the major leagues after the New York Giants were charmed by it at an exhibition game, and the rest is history.
Now that we know what is considered to be the truth, we can dissect the amazing song. If there was only one thing that baseball should be known for, it is the completely horrible songs that teams and the league come up with. Just go to Chicago and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m not sure which song is more cheesy and brutal. I think I would have to go with the Go Sox Go song. In any case, my point isn’t to bash these songs, it is actually to praise them. For, what other chants/songs are there that can bring grown, drunk adults to the feet to sing. There are probably three outside of baseball, “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and “Sweet Caroline.” The song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is such a classic that you are abused if you don’t sing along. That is what is so amazing about this whole tradition. Fans at the game are forced to stand up and sing. Other than a few cults I know about, there aren’t many public places that can bring people together like this.
P.S. That picture comes from chalifours.com as a gift bouquet. What an awesome gift!
We Love Baseball – Baseball Caps
You may say that a baseball cap has nothing to do with the actual sport. That may be a valid point, but with this first edition of why we are linked on sports (haha, get it?!), I figured I would go out on a limb. Listen, I understand there are hats for just about everything. Baseball brings out that different type of fan though, and that fan is discovered through the use of baseball caps.
More than any other sport, you are allowed to wear these caps for absolutely no reason. Seriously. If you wear a Titelist hat, well, you are playing golf, and you most likely think that you are way better than you really are. Hats from baseball, however, are used for anything, and anyone can wear any team they desire. It has become more of a fashion statement, which is pretty weird.
Let me give you an example. I see a lot of New York Yankees hats around. I’m sure there are a lot of Yankees fans around, but I’m also pretty sure that a lot of these people wearing the hats don’t give a shit about the actual team. This would all be good and dandy if the point of this type of merchandise wasn’t to show your true colors. You don’t see people in Chicago walking around with New York Jets hats (unless they are from Wisconsin and they had adopted the Brett Favre Jets). Baseball teams are just different though. For some reason it is not considered weird to wear a hat of a team you have absolutely no affiliation with.
It’s an interesting phenomenon to me mostly because it is only baseball that it seems to be true of. Do you wear baseball caps just for the hell of it? Are you like me and want to rip off the Yankees hats off of people’s heads when you know they don’t care about the Yankees?
So, you may ask why this makes the list of why we are linked on sports (it never gets old). It seems to me that this trend is occurring because baseball has had such an impact on society. It’s not like the hat is a new concept. Baseball has just transformed their logos into something more than supporting the teams. It is actually just supporting the MLB brand.
