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.
And Steroids Are Back…
…stronger than ever. The beginning of the end is here folks. The 2003 list is slowly leaking as we all assumed it eventually would. Great.
Here we go … Lawyers with “knowledge of the results” of MLB’s 2003 steroid tests says that both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are among the players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
What’s there to say anymore? It’s not like it’s surprising I guess. In all seriousness, I don’t really care. It doesn’t affect me, but it still sucks to see our ideas actually come true. Great.
The Ultimate “We Love Sports” List
Sorry to our 8 loyal visitors for not being around yesterday. I do have a job and the co-creator of the site, *coughDANcough* doesn’t do shit around here anymore so it was an off day. I’m sure you guys were devasted refreshing your RSS feeds all day! But, I’m back. Hopefully we will have a new Inner Ramblings today from Austin, which should cheer everyone up.
In other news, a new feature will be starting soon, but we could use your help. The site is called “LinkedOnSports” so it felt appropriate to start explaining why. So, each week, 3-5 of the days a sport will be featured with a post about one of reasons why we love that sport. It will be an ongoing list that will last FOR-E-VER. Where do you come in? Well, just comment, email, text, twitter, facebook us with reasons why you love a specific sport. Pretty simple. It will all start next week. Our first featured sport will be in honor of summer being a brutal time of year for sports because we are stuck with just BASEBALL!!
Send us your reasons why you love baseball and you may just see it as one of the first five ever recorded on LOS! Now, get back to work.
Oh, and fuck you Brett Favre.
Perspective: Fans Helped Steroid Era
With the home run derby taking place last night, it got me thinking about the appeal of such an event. It is one of the only events in sports where the ultimate goal is to hit something as far as possible. (I know the olympics have these types of events but I’m saying in the four major sports) Hockey has the hardest shot, which is similar, but the hardest shot doesn’t have the same appeal to fans as do home runs. Furthermore, the home run is an actual measure in baseball unlike the speed of a slap shot.
What’s my point?
We Loved The Long Ball No Matter What
My main point is that everyone hates on the players who took steroids, but, while it is mostly their fault, the fans were the ones who made it seem like it was more important to hit a home run than be a solid ball player. Hitting the long ball is one of the only ways to be widely popular. Think about it, a player who hits 50 home runs is going to get a heck of a lot more attention than a player who hits 15 no matter what the other stats say. So, I understand that we can blame the players for taking whatever it is they took, but it is us who made it seem like it was the way to become popular.
How else can you compete with that power?
When I look at the home run derby, I see exactly why baseball players started using what they used. For most players, it was the only way to compete with someone like a Prince Fielder, and, hey, if you weren’t hitting it far, it didn’t really matter. People can try to debunk this theory by claiming that players are always appreciated by the little things they do outside of home runs. My counter would be that that belief is true in the hometown. Outside of the local fans though, the only real way to become a popular ball player is to hit the long ball. By doing that, you get on SportsCenter, people write articles about you, and you slowly gain the following from outside of the hometown.
I think things have somewhat changed, but back in the late nineties, I remember the only real thing you would hear about was the home run leaders of the time. Obviously, the fans didn’t cause any of the doping to ocurr, but, let’s be honest with ourselves, we didn’t help prevent it.
Manny Goes Hitless, Can See The Ball
Manny played his first game in the minors last night for the Isotopes! I missed out, but this story comes from SI.com:
He played four innings and was hitless in two at-bats.
Uh-oh, that’s not very good.
“He looked good,” Isotopes manager Tim Wallach said. “Talking to him after, he said he saw the ball well. He felt good. Those are the two important things.”
Wait, what? If those are the two important things, he utterly failed at one of them! Manny may feel good, but you may want to get a hit before you say that you are seeing the ball well.
Manny Ramirez goes hitless but draw cheers from big crowd in Albuquerque [SI.com]
The First Home Run Replay Casualty is Here
It was bound to happen eventually, and I’m glad it did. The first replay reversal that took a home run away occured last night, and there is nothing wrong with that. I love that we are finally using the technology that the league is capable of. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. The “human element” of the game is only cool when it doesn’t ultimately and directly affect the outcome of the game. In this case, that supposed home run could have been huge. Read more
ESPN Banning Selena Roberts
According to the NYPost, author of “A. Rod” has been banned by ESPN. This isn’t very surprising, and it really wouldn’t be news if it wasn’t for the the fact that it is ESPN strutting it’s power around. As I look at it, ESPN seems to be a crying teenage girl who was jealous that Roberts talked to other sources before ESPN. And we should feel bad for them. On to the quotes! Read more
