Jens Deju
Daily Egyptian
For as long as I can remember, baseball has been the national pastime.
Now, between the possibility of yet another strike, the lack of parity and the whole steroids debacle, baseball seemingly has shot itself in the head and is reloading the gun for another try.
Baseball's just sitting back and thinking, "Ah, sweet release."
Bam!! Bam!!
Game over.
Season over.
Standing as the national pastime over.
As quickly as a Sammy Sosa homerun leaves Wrigley Field, baseball has gone from being a sport most people love to a sport most people can't stand.
In the early '90s, baseball was on top of the world.
Then the strike of '94 came along and nearly killed off the sport.
Once the strike was over and teams came back to the diamond, the fans, still bitter over losing the World Series, were slow in rejoining the players.
In the end, it came down to a St. Louis Cardinal and a Chicago Cub teaming up to save their sport.
If it hadn't been for Mark McGwire's and Sammy Sosa's pursuit of the homerun record in 1998, baseball still might not have made a comeback.
Now, at a time when fans are fed up with steroids accusations and teams like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who can barely make payroll, are forced to trade away all their good players while teams like the New York Yankees are closing in on $200 million payrolls and buying everyone they want, the players union is on the verge of striking once more.
I've had several people tell me they can't stand baseball anymore and if the players do indeed go on strike, they will never watch another game.
Who can really blame them?
With as much love as little children play the game with on street corners is how much indifference professionals seem to play it with in gigantic ballparks.
This made me wonder what should be our new national pastime.
Then it hit me.
Football is the answer.
If any sport has as loyal a following as baseball used to, it's football.
On any given Sunday, millions of Americans sit in front of their television sets and surround themselves with snacks to watch football games.
They watch commentators such as John Madden draw circles on the screen and say "Boom!" like they're contractually obligated to say it 60 times a minute.
In short, Sunday is the American Sabbath, but not because of church.
It's because of football.
And unlike the other major sports, football is pretty much only America's game.
Yeah, there are leagues in Canada and Europe, but for the most part, the teams are completely composed of Americans.
Football is America's sport.
Some people say it is too brutal, but that is most of the attraction.
Just like during the stay of the Roman Empire, when people were drawn to the brutality of the gladiators, Americans are drawn to football.
Players are modern-day Gladiators, except they fight to take yards away from the opponent, not blood.
Any blood that's taken away is merely a bonus.
Another positive about football is the parity in the sport.
In baseball, you always know it's going to come down to the Yankees. In basketball, it's the Los Angeles Lakers and in hockey, it's either the Colorado Avalanche or the Detroit Red Wings.
In football, however, there is always the chance that your team can win the next Super Bowl.
Before the St. Louis Rams won it in 2000, they were God-awful.
Then the Baltimore Ravens came out of nowhere to take it the following year.
Last season, it was the New England Patriots who came out and shocked the world.
That lack of a truly dominant team leads to added excitement that sports such as baseball and basketball just don't have anymore.
Every team starts out on equal ground and has to earn whatever they get. They're not handed anything.
That's the way life is for most Americans. Why shouldn't their sport be the same way?
All these reasons are why I now consider football to be the national pastime.
As for baseball, I hope you don't pull that trigger yet again, but if you do, it was nice knowing you.
Reporter Jens Deju can be reached at jdeju@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
