Baseball is certainly the sport we think of as America's favorite pastime, but the reality is that baseball lost that title in truth if not in name years ago. While baseball will always have an important place in our national character and be enjoyed by children at play, the sport is no longer the important form of entertainment it once was. In this regard, baseball has lost its place to other sports and other types of entertainment.
One of the things that made baseball the American pastime was that it translated so easily into our culture of the past. It was a bunch of young men, boys even, who played a sport in a field or open street by their house. All you needed was a ball and a bat, or even a rock and a stick to learn how to play.
The game had a casual, easy going pace for a society which was much more casual itself. Each pitch is separated by a pause, each moment of intensity is broken up by a break. It matched our society which, without the internet or even television, had a much longer attention span.
The game was a perfect fit for the medium of radio. Baseball's slower pace could translate to radio with the work of gifted broadcasters who could describe the action as it happened; if you've ever listened to baseball on the radio, you already understand how well the medium pairs with the game. When television came along, baseball came to the small screen, but the rhythms of baseball are not a natural fit for television. Football however proved to be an excellent fit for the new medium and came to overshadow baseball's popularity in a few short decades.
The speed and the raw physicality of football seem tailor made for the medium of television. Watching a football game on television, you can see every play and admire the speed and skill of the players and almost feel the force of players colliding on the field yourself. Compared to football, baseball seemed to be a little lacking as a televised sport. Football had been held back before since it didn't translate well to radio while baseball ruled the roost. Now, the roles had been reversed.
Football isn't the only reason baseball has ceased to be America's national pastime. Other sports came into vogue and cable television became available, offering television audiences more than a handful of channels to choose from. With the arrival of home video gaming systems in the late 1970s followed soon after by personal computers, baseball lost the attention of young people, traditionally the core of its fan base. The sport is now more important to the citizens of other nations than it is in the country where it was first played and teams from Latin America and Asia regularly trounce US teams in international games. It's a reminder that while baseball's status as our favorite pastime may be very much in doubt, the sport itself is very much alive and well.
Meanwhile, baseball shot itself in the foot by allowing the World Series to be cancelled during a strike in the 90s. It then mishandled the steroid situation and did not take any responsibility for it. Conversely, football also suffered from a steroid problem but confronted it face on and solved it once and for all.
What this all comes down to is that baseball is no longer America's favorite pastime. The sport will always have a place in our culture and remains an iconic symbol of the country, but the days when it was America's national pastime are for better or worse, in the past.
One of the things that made baseball the American pastime was that it translated so easily into our culture of the past. It was a bunch of young men, boys even, who played a sport in a field or open street by their house. All you needed was a ball and a bat, or even a rock and a stick to learn how to play.
The game had a casual, easy going pace for a society which was much more casual itself. Each pitch is separated by a pause, each moment of intensity is broken up by a break. It matched our society which, without the internet or even television, had a much longer attention span.
The game was a perfect fit for the medium of radio. Baseball's slower pace could translate to radio with the work of gifted broadcasters who could describe the action as it happened; if you've ever listened to baseball on the radio, you already understand how well the medium pairs with the game. When television came along, baseball came to the small screen, but the rhythms of baseball are not a natural fit for television. Football however proved to be an excellent fit for the new medium and came to overshadow baseball's popularity in a few short decades.
The speed and the raw physicality of football seem tailor made for the medium of television. Watching a football game on television, you can see every play and admire the speed and skill of the players and almost feel the force of players colliding on the field yourself. Compared to football, baseball seemed to be a little lacking as a televised sport. Football had been held back before since it didn't translate well to radio while baseball ruled the roost. Now, the roles had been reversed.
Football isn't the only reason baseball has ceased to be America's national pastime. Other sports came into vogue and cable television became available, offering television audiences more than a handful of channels to choose from. With the arrival of home video gaming systems in the late 1970s followed soon after by personal computers, baseball lost the attention of young people, traditionally the core of its fan base. The sport is now more important to the citizens of other nations than it is in the country where it was first played and teams from Latin America and Asia regularly trounce US teams in international games. It's a reminder that while baseball's status as our favorite pastime may be very much in doubt, the sport itself is very much alive and well.
Meanwhile, baseball shot itself in the foot by allowing the World Series to be cancelled during a strike in the 90s. It then mishandled the steroid situation and did not take any responsibility for it. Conversely, football also suffered from a steroid problem but confronted it face on and solved it once and for all.
What this all comes down to is that baseball is no longer America's favorite pastime. The sport will always have a place in our culture and remains an iconic symbol of the country, but the days when it was America's national pastime are for better or worse, in the past.
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