Guest Post by The Zman
I had the chance to attend a sportsball game last night in the city of Baltimore. My Red Sox were in town to play the Orioles, so I got a chance to see the Olde Town Team in person. I don’t attend many live sporting events these days. It was a nice change of pace, even if it meant the hassle of getting into the downtown area at rush hour. Baltimore has a reputation for being gangland, but people still do work in the city and that means traffic at the predictable times. The downtown area that caters to tourists, both local and foreign is easy to navigate so it is not too bad.
Many on the alt-right are encouraging normies to boycott sportsball and I get why they say it. It used to be that a normal man could get a few hours away from the preaching of the loons by watching a baseball game or football game. That’s no longer the case in football, as they have filled the broadcasts and the games with proselytizing for the New Religion. The players protesting the anthem may be at the heart of why the NFL is suddenly having a TV ratings problem. It would be nice if that were true, but we’ll never know as the media will cover it up.
Baseball has so far been immune to the efforts of the loons to turn it into an instrument of the New Religion. The reason for that, according to one of the players, is that baseball is the white man’s game. That’s true in many respects. The players are mostly white and Latin. Just 8% of MLB players are Afro’d Americans. The NFL is 70% black and the NBA banned the pale face years ago. Further, baseball is a turn based, rules game that does not favor running and jumping. There are few opportunities for attention getting antics during the games, so it tends to appeal to honkies.
Still, the Cult of Modern Liberalism is trying hard to ruin baseball for the white man. ESPN has destroyed their Sunday night broadcast by having a screeching powerskirt as part of the announcing team. She pretends to have played the game and have the same depth of knowledge as a former player, but does so in a way that reminds every man of his first ex-wife. A TV series has been created featuring a female baseball player making it to the majors. Of course, she’s black, because, well magic. Taken together, it is a warning that the crazies are coming for honky-ball.
Then again, the Cult has been at war with baseball for a long time. When I was a kid, they tried to make us play soccer, instead of baseball. That flopped as bad as the metric system. Soccer became the sport for effeminate white kids, who lacked the athletic ability to do anything else. Then they tried to force boys and girls to play together, but girls, and their parents, liked softball much more and that effort failed. Finally, the last two decades have seen a PR campaign to tell us that baseball is dying and basketball is the future, despite the the facts on the ground.
Even so, baseball has held up pretty well. In the 70’s, when the culture war began, even the most popular clubs struggled to attract fans to games. Today, even bad teams can get 15,000 to a weeknight game. Some clubs do better than others, but overall, baseball remains well attended compared to the past. A lot of it has to do with the excellent ballparks and the family friendly atmosphere at the games. A bigger reason, I suspect, is the ballpark is one of the last places where old weird America still exists.
The players look like us, the crowd looks like us and the customs are the same as they were when we were kids. The game starts with everyone standing for the anthem. There is the seventh inning stretch. The players embrace the customs and unwritten rules that have defined the game for generations. I walked in the park and I remembered my dad taking me to my first game. I could remember my grandfather, as if it were yesterday. That’s not something that happens at football or the human flea circus that is the NBA.
One example last night was the response to a rookie the Orioles just brought up from the minors. The crowd was mostly Oriole fans, naturally, but there were many Red Sox fans too. Everyone cheered loudly, knowing that the kid was getting his first at-bat as a major leaguer. When he hit a home-run in his second at bat, the whole place stood until he came out to tip his cap to the crowd. Even the Sox fans stood as that is the way it is done. The cycle of life has always been a part of the game, so you cheer the rookies and honor the veterans, as they pass out of the game.
If you want to understand what went wrong in America, walk around Baltimore, where you see what it is, what it should be and why it is not what it could be. It is a city where the people that know better are vastly outnumbered by those largely incapable of maintaining modernity. There are pockets of beauty and excellence, but they exist in a sea of degradation. Baltimore is what is happening in South Africa. Civilization has retreated into pockets the tourists see, hoping to hold out until the world comes to its senses.
But, the Olde Town Team carried the day, with the legendary Big Papi hitting a three run blast to seal the game. The Red Sox are headed for the post-season for the first time in a few years, and they have a good shot of winning another title. I get why the alt-right kids reject sportsball, but for old guys like me, who still remember when normal people had hope that this craziness would pass, it is a nice reminder of how things used to be. Perhaps the kids sitting there with their fathers and grandfathers will carry with them the seeds to restore the world long after I’m gone.
I for one am not watching a sport where spoiled millionaires sit through my national anthem. I just wish the anthem was ” I’m a good old rebel”, which my favorite local band plays 2 to 3 times a night. As for sportsball, I prefer mine at the high school level. A kids game, played by kids, for free, and just as entertaining when you are rooting for the home team.
Go watch a little league game or pee wee hockey. I take pride in saying that I’ve never watched a full baseball or basketball game. Although I was in the room during two entire NFL superbowl games, I can’t say I watched either of them.
Junior ice hockey (age 16-21) is fun to watch and the players are good young men. They depend on local families to sponsor their room and board in their homes to be able to play. They come from all over the world too but mostly Canada, northern Europe and Russia.
I travelled 4 hours to attend a MLB game with my son and two grandsons this summer. The park was updated but the much like it was in the 70’s. I tried to keep score, teaching my grandson how, and he kept it up for maybe half the game. The lady next to me was reminiscing to me about how she used to come to this park with her grandfather and he taught her how to keep score also. Still good times to be had, I’ll take them when I can.
I’ve always loved the game of baseball. You need good strategy and the ability to think to win consistently.
Zman made me laugh several times in this article. Good writing.
Zan–good article however I’d caution against one thing, The “stats” on the number of blacks in baseball is intentionally misleading.
David Ortiz, Chapman, Ventura, Schoop, Pineda etc x 100 are not considered “black” when they are trying to skew opinion. Only 35% of players are Caucasian/non-Hispanic–almost equal to negroid players when blacks from central America are actually called black.
They mislead by using nationality for one stat “African American”…and then compare to race on the other side, “whites”….don’t be suckered in by a false narrative.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ- Man
We take Mom to baseball games, which she adores.
She watches or listens to all baseball games. What
a hoot. Especially since Mom is almost 91!
Except for drunk people, baseball is still safe.
which is a better watching on tv, golf or baseball.
same sport, different rules, watch folks hit a ball with a special stick.
What I least enjoy is the stupid graphics they overlay in golf, at least they have not applied the graphic overlay to baseball, yet.
maybe the real problem is attention, both these games involve some strategy, which takes time away from the action.
(oh boy, he hit that ball hard)
it would be much cooler if every time they hit one out of the park, it explodes, for baseball.
for golf, it it explodes when the hit it the first time, that would be cool too.
Zman, as always, a very well written script.
As a lifelong Cubs fan from Chicago, I’ve avoided paying much attention to baseball since my team always sucks. But not this year.
Go Cubbies!
Zman,
For a long time I’ve tried to put my finger on why enjoy baseball. I played football and basketball. Other than a few pickup games of baseball I ignored the game for years. First I quit watching basketball as it became a dunk contest with no defense. Next the NFL and college ball as I couldn’t enjoy a game where defensive players held huge celebrations for a sack, while losing by 30 points. Ditto for ignorant offensive players.
Baseball has held on to its values for the most part. The DH was damaging and these stupid efforts to “speed up the game” may transform it’s strategy (the true beauty of the game). But for now it’s traditions hold and it still commands respect from the players.
Trapped, tip of my cap to the Cubs.
DaBirds. 😉