Kalen Web.jpg

Why I don’t like baseball

Being a sports writer and not liking baseball is something people won’t let you live down.

However, it’s true: baseball is my least favorite sport to watch.

I don’t mind playing the game every once in a while. Throwing a ball around with a few friends is fine as well. I also respect the athletes and am impressed with how fast they throw and how hard they hit. The thing that gets me is a 162-game season that seems to never end.

The length of the season is just too much for me to handle — 162 games. That’s roughly the same number of times I will eat ramen noodles in the next 365 days, but I don’t record it and fill eight of the 10 spots on Sportcenter’s Top-10 Plays. Why? Because if you can do something 162 times, it isn’t worth watching in slow motion.

The never-ending season mixed with the baseball terms, which, despite being a sports fanatic my whole life, I don’t understand, make baseball season a time of the year I don’t like.

I tried to follow baseball once but got totally lost about two weeks into the season. Then I never recovered. When there is an opportunity to watch something else, I’ll take it every time.

My favorite thing to watch is football, professional or college — it doesn’t matter. In the NFL, teams play a 17-week schedule with one game a week and one bye week. After that it’s off to the playoffs and then the Super Bowl. College football is another great example of a short season. Teams play in 12-15 games, depending on conference affiliations and bowl selections.

College basketball is something else on the list that’s more exciting than baseball. Almost nothing beats the craziness on the court in March. It’s a win-and-advance tournament with all teams hoping for a chance at winning a title.

Hockey and basketball at the professional level begin to cross into the really-long-season category again. Both follow an 82-game schedule with a best-of-seven playoff series to determine winners. Even then, it’s only half the length of baseball season.

A few months back I met ESPN baseball writer Buster Olney. He’s a great guy with great stories who loves the sport, but even that wasn’t enough to switch me over. I have nothing but respect for those that that play it or like it, but it’s not for me.

If the season were shorter and I lived somewhere with a professional team, maybe, maybe I would give it a shot. Until that time comes, I’m a poor college kid from Utah. I can’t afford MLB T.V. and I don’t have enough time to watch 162 games. Plus some of the terminology confuses me.

I’ll stick with what I know and leave baseball to the die hards. So, hopefully now the die-hard fans will stick to baseball and stop getting on my case for not liking it.

— Kalen Taylor is a sophomore double-majoring in journalism and Spanish. He’s all about football, basketball, tennis, hockey and anything to do with sports … except for baseball; that’s just not his thing. Watch for him living the dream on ESPN one day. Contact him at kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com or on Twitter @kalen_taylor.