Why It's The Greatest Game

First of all I will offer this disclaimer, I have not researched or given detailed thought to the parallels of baseball’s beauty with that of football, basketball or the now relevant (thanks to the Hawks) hockey. This is a discourse on why baseball is awesome as a sport and as a thread in the fabric of our life.

On paper it would seem that a team with superstars (i.e. the Cardinals with Pujols, Carpenter and Wainright, not to mention LaRussa in the dugout) should be the run away winners for the Central if not the National League. Yet the best team in the National League is the San Diego Padres with basically one recognizable name – Adrian Gonzalez. Baseball has always demanded excellence as a team.

You can have a conversation with your children or parents about baseball even if you can’t communicate about anything else. Talking about today’s game allows the parent to comment on the game when they were a child. Baseball is one of the few sports that transcends the generations. Someone who saw Ted Williams play can talk to someone who sees Albert Pujols play about essentially the same game. A clutch homerun or a perfect game is meaningful whether it happened in 1940 or 2010.

It reminds you of simpler times. Going to Wrigley and paying $1.50 to get in the bleachers and sit where you want, like in leftfield, fourth row near the catwalk.

You can take a summer or a lifetime to visit every major league ballpark in the country with your kids.

It’s the immediate icebreaker. You can share with complete strangers details of memorable games from your past and they with you.

It provides for an even deeper rivalry if, say, you like the Cubs and your sibling likes the White Sox.

There is always a chance for a team to win no matter how far behind they may be. There’s no clock that can get run out, if you win it means you put down the other team 27 times. During the game the pace allows you to observe and appreciate the game; the positioning of the fielders; the batter standing in the box.

Once the ball is in play you can choose to watch the ball or you can watch the fielders as they position themselves for a relay throw or you can watch the baserunners as they cut the bases perfectly to get ninety feet further.

There is nothing like and no feeling like Opening Day. No other sport is even close. Turning the page from winter to spring with the rebirth of the greatest game in the world.

During the harsh, cold, boring winter, baseball provides a plethora of incredible books to ingest while we wait for pitchers and catchers to report.

And if you’re really lucky, maybe just maybe you can meet a girl while watching the Cubs; then go to a handful of games at Wrigley Field; get engaged while flying over Wrigley during a doubleheader; have children named after Cubs legends and baseball shrines and then wait ever so patiently to share the joy with your family when the Cubs finally get to the World Series.