Why most europeans don't get baseball

1: We’re not very good at it. Let’s be honest, everyone loves a successful team in any sport. 10 years ago,

Chelsea

would be doing well to get 20000 fans into

Stamford

 

Bridge

, now every game is a sell out.

Baseball is played over here in

Europe

, but because the standard is low, it’s played for fun more then anything else

2: We don’t see enough of it. It tends to be only shown in the small hours of the morning on cable television, thank God for NASN because at least they do show it. Trouble is, because of time differences, if they show a game during the day, it’s a repeat from a night or 2 previously, and most true fans know the result

I have stayed up the odd Friday night to watch a game, but it is difficult to stay away and watch the Pirates at

2am

. (Actually it’s probably difficult to watch the Pirates any time, but that’s another story). Having said that, the joys of a 9 month old daughter (Hello little Maire), means I have seen a few more games this year then I would have liked!!!

3: We have no local superstars. Is there anyone from

Europe

playing MLB?. NHL Hockey is big in parts of Europe due to the Scandinavian influence, likewise the NBA with the likes of Tony Parker, but is there anyone local playing baseball?

4: Too many games. More then one person over here has said to me, how can you take a game seriously when it has 162 games to decide who goes through to the knock out stages?. In fairness, it is a bit of a valid point, compare that with the Premier league in soccer(36 games) or the 6 Nations

Rugby

, (5 games!!!). Sometimes I look at a baseball game, especially if it is at the end of a long road trip for one of the teams, and the same intensity isn’t there. I suppose we should be glad however that it is not like hockey or basketball, with 162 games to eliminate only half the teams

5: Does anyone watch the game? Again, a fair question..  Any baseball game you go to, probability is that at least 10% of the crowd are wandering around buying food, drink and tee shirts. I was at the Phillies in July , and I watched a group of guys on the concourse behind me spend most of the game chatting and shooting the breeze, probably cost them $40 to get in, not to mention what the spent, they could have saved the admission money and sat in a bar and known as much.

In fairness, this is not unique to baseball; it’s an American thing where the game is often secondary to the occasion. I’ve never been to a playoff game in the

US

, perhaps that is closer to what we in

Europe

 experience at our sports. Only time I have ever come near to that in

North America

 was in

Canada

 for a Habs V Leafs season opener in

Montreal

If you want a 2nd opinion on this, have one from a player and read the Rangers CJ Wilson’s splendid blog on his trips through

Europe

http://cjwilson.mlblogs.com/

6: Clubs come, clubs go. Again a very American phenomenon. How can you get passionate about a club that could up sticks and leave next season, how can you be passionate about a club that has been in the neighbourhood for a few seasons. The reason the Packers, Yankees, Red Sox or Maple Leafs have that bit of extra intensity at the grounds is because history backs them up and they’d be a riot if they ever tried to move to the other side of the country. But how many clubs can you say that for?

7: Steroids

Like it or not, the whole steroid issue and the failure of baseball to tackle it has made the game the laughing stock of the world. Indeed,

America

at international sporting level is now regarded over here in much the same way as

East Germany

 was in the 70s.  I know any American reading this will think, who cares what the pinko liberal wimpy Europeans think.? Here’s why, we’re your friends and a true friend tells you when you are wrong, so in the same we give you a hard time over your inane dangerous President, we’re going to give you a hard time over drugs in sport. We’re your friends and that is what true friends do

So why do I love baseball? Am I a European freak? Who knows, but I do and that’s a story for another day

Slan

Jerry

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