Whatever happened to the excitement with the opening day of the national pastime? They played the "opening game" in Japan and it wasnt' even televised. Heck they were playing an official MLB game and teams are still in spring training games in the US. That just seems..... well... .weird. I remember not too long ago when the opening day was a pretty cool thing to tune into, to see all the games going on. Kind of like the first round of march madness.
Baseball is a very fun sport to play, and attend live, but you honest to god would have to pay me $10-12/hr to sit through an entire game on TV.
What good does it do to put Ichiro in front of a few million fans when a hundred million don't even know the game happened.
Mlb is just trying to tap into a broader market and the only way to get the game in over there is a week before the "official" start if the season. Once they start here there won't be time.
I agree 100%. It completely takes away from the build up of what is opening day. Money talks though, and MLB is making plenty of it for 2 playing games. We might as well get used to it. There is talk of expanding games to Germany and other countries with a loyal baseball following.
Well just think about it.. Its the As and Mariners. They don't even get on their local tv network. That being said baseball has declined because football is becoming bigger every year. But baseball has stood the test of time and will continue to do so. Thats why its such a great sport. Nothing will beat going to a ballpark in the summer, even if your team sucks. Go Os!!!!! Hitting .500 for first time in awhile!!
Because sports have become year around for many kids. The top athletes are more or less pushed to pursue one sport. Football is year around with practice, games, QB camps, WR camps, 5-on-5 camps, etc. Basketball is year around with AAU ball and camps. Many of the top young athletes don't play baseball anymore. Its unfortunate because it is a fun sport to play at a young age. Baseball isn't as big to kids these days as it used to be. It is slowly dying with each generation. When I was a kid growing up in the Detroit area, they used to bring TVs in the classrooms to show the Tiger's opening day game. I don't think that happens anymore.
Another Orioles fan? Awesome! Gotta love Baltimore and Camden Yards even if they can't put a winning streak together.
Baltimore still has a major league team? Next thing you will try to tell me is Kansas City still does, too.
What?? Maybe in Michigan that is how you do things, but when I played, I can promise you that I had the opportunity to play more baseball than I did high school football. One spring/summer I played 109 games. That was not counting camps and or practices. I'm with you NYB. My graduating friends and I are 31 now. It has been a tradition since our junior year of high school that we all get together and grill, drink a few beers and watch as much baseball in one day as we can. The last few years of the the party holder having Direct TV extra innings has helped tremendously. We can now watch up to 6 games at once on the 72". I will be flying in to Indy on opening day to be part of our tradition once again, but I appreciate baseball a little more than some.
Did you read my whole post? It focused how things are different NOW. A lot of the top HS athletes are much more geared towards one sport now, than "when I played".
Where I come from if you don't play baseball something is wrong with you. We breed baseball players. One of our most recents, Buster Posey. We were on the same team all through the little leagues.
I was talking more about fan viewing than playing. Football really doesn't conflict with the televised baseball season (especially opening day).
