James Joyner at Outside the Beltway comments on my previous post. He thinks the game is boring:

Major League Baseball is essentially the same game as it was in 1848. The only major change of which I'm aware is that balls that bounce off the outfield grass into the stands aren't home runs anymore; otherwise the changes have been tiny--some minor variation in the height of the pitching mound and the composition of the strike zone. The game was ideal for the age of radio but is now very slow. And the refusal of MLB officials to speed it up in obvious ways (enforcing the rulebook strike zone, limiting the ability of batters to step out of the box during their at-bats, limiting visits to the mound, etc.) has made the average game nearly three hours. That's not so bad for an event sport like football, but it's insane for a sport with a 162-game regular season. The bottom line is that baseball is a pastime and football is a sport. Most people have very little need for pastimes right now; they are quite busy.

I also have to disagree with the last line; I think the busier people are, the more they need pastimes. He's right about the action in football and basketball being enticing. On the other hand, I find the unpredictability of baseball much more interesting. How often does the 12th man on the bench in basketball make the game winning shot? Never. Not 1 in 100, not 1 in 1000. Never. Yet Luis Sojo is a World Series hero. How many action sports would give David Eckstein a chance to be a star? Where else can the suspense build for minutes while a hitter fouls off pitch after pitch?

In football, if a team is down 16 points with a quarter to go, they are going to pass. The other team is going to run. Joe Montana is going to throw to Jerry Rice. Lawrence Taylor is going to make a great tackle. The third string safety isn't going to make the big interception. The fourth string running back isn't going to break one for 50 yards. But the equivalent happens in baseball every day.

It's an interesting game. Yes, it takes time to watch and listen and appreciate. But people like both Spiderman and Amilee; they can like both football and baseball.

One place where James and I are in total agreement is that idiots run MLB. They have to start pointing out the differences between MLB and the action sports, and how those differences are a positive, not a negative.

Correction: James does not think the game is boring, he thinks most people feel the game is boring. His response to my response is here.