COLUMN: Fans pass on baseball as favorite pastime
By Katie Higgins
Staff Writer
You can take me out to the ball game as long as you’re paying and we get to leave no later than the fifth inning.
Baseball no longer holds true as America’s favorite pastime, in fact, people couldn’t care less about baseball in this day in age.
Major League Baseball players are too obsessed with an extra million dollars in their pocket and striking to get their way than actually playing their game for the benefit of the fans.
Baseball players should be focused on the cap on their head rather than the cap they do not have – the salary cap, which provides them with their unnecessary millions.
According to USA Today, baseball still has the most affordable ticket prices out of the four major sports, however, I still would not want to waste my money on something I do not even enjoy watching anymore.
With the money I would spend on a baseball ticket I could buy the movies, “For Love of the Game” and “The Rookie,” which remind me of a time when players actually cared about the game. And watching a baseball movie is much shorter than a nine-inning game that drags on forever.
However, since we refuse to pay outstanding ticket prices, the owners have devised a new way to rob us – bigger and better stadiums. Communities are being held hostage by owners who want bigger stadiums and more luxury seating.
With apologies to my husband’s grandpa (who might read this via the Internet), the only good thing about the World Series this year is the Yankees are not in it, although I’m still not going to watch it, and I resent FOX for canceling better shows.
As a side note, the World Series is heading for the lowest ratings ever, according to The Associated Press. In fact, hardly anyone from the East Coast seems to watch.
Baseball players have lost interest in their fans, and we should not stand by and wait for things to change; it is time to pass America’s favorite pastime to something else.
My vote for America’s new favorite pastime is football. I think many would agree watching the pigskin fly through the air is worth the cost of higher ticket prices.
One of the main reasons ticket prices for football have to be higher is because they only have 16 games instead of baseball’s 162.
Football is on the rise. The World Series does not compare to the Super Bowl. Let’s face it, what could be more exciting than a bunch of guys creating strategic plays, tackling opponents to the ground, punting the ball 50 yards and watching a return man run a kick back into the end zone for a touchdown?
Football players keep the game alive and new. They also love their fans, which is why they have incorporated them into the Hall of Fame. The inaugural induction, which took place in January 1999, included “Boss Hogette” of the Washington Redskins, “The Packalope” from the Green Bay Packers, “Barrelman” of the Denver Broncos and “Big Dawg” from the Cleveland Brown’s dawg pound.
Americans would much rather attend a football game and be a football fan. In fact, at this point, Americans would much rather watch anything else, besides baseball, to pass their time.
Katie Higgins is a junior majoring in speech communication. Comments can be sent to klm@cc.usu.edu