Today (20180429) was sports Sunday here in Cleveland. The Cavaliers played the Pacers in Game 7 of their playoff series, and the Indians played the Mariners in Game 4 of their 4-game series. The Cavaliers pulled a win - taking the series, and the Indians pulled a loss - losing their series 1-4 (good thing it’s only April baseball!)
Recently, much has come from the MLB concerning the speed of the game. Apparently, some think baseball is too slow, and the MLB wants to try different things to speed it up. I’ve written a few times about this already (here and here, for example), so I won’t spend too much time on it in this post. I do want to expand a bit on a Twitter post I wrote recently (follow me at @nocturnecsh):
“00:30 left on the Cavs/Pacers clock. Went to the bathroom. Came back to 00:21. & a clock will speed up #baseball? Who are you kidding @MLB?”
I went to the BATHROOM and only NINE seconds had lapsed on the clock. That’s basketball for you.
Apparently a clock does little to speed the game.
I’m an all-things time related junkie. Favorite time related movie? “Memento”. Favorite time related book? That’s a toss up between H.G. Well’s “The Time Machine” and the Bible. Favorite time related album? Alan Parsons "The Time Machine". Favorite time related sport? That’s easy: BASEBALL! And not because it is “slow”.
When you put yourself in a position to focus solely on the game in front of you, time slows down - and not in a negative way. When the pitcher is on the mound and is looking to his catcher for the best pitch to befuddle the batter, who is watching the pitcher to see what pitch he will throw to try and befuddle him, time ssslllooowwwwsss down. The tension is palpable. Nothing else matters in that moment.
Sure, in football there are all of these guys running around the field when the ball is snapped. In basketball nobody ever STOPS running (except for the clock: which never seems to run at all). But in baseball, the moments before the action are just as important as the moments after the pitch/swing. And you can’t rush that.
Maybe the problem isn’t the pace of the game. It’s us.
It’s amazing to me that people today drive with one hand on the wheel, one holding their smartphone, and both eyes looking anywhere but through the windshield, and yet they drive so close to the car in front of them they think that they have all the time in the world to hit the breaks and come to a stop if needed.
I’m not sure about the state you live in, but here in Ohio we have a little thing called “assured clear distance”. If you ever rear end someone, you’ve been cited for it. It is the failure to maintain an appropriate distance between your vehicle and the one in front of you. “Back in my day” (that’s old man speak) that would be one car length for every TEN miles an hour - on dry pavement with clear visibility. The distance is to be greater on wet pavement, more for snow-covered pavement, and at night. This is to allow sufficient time for the person behind to come to a complete stop and not hit the car in front. And yet, people drive right on your bumper like that will allow them to get to their destination that much faster.
So, maybe it’s WE that need to slow down, rather than rush the game of baseball. Because as far as a sport is concerned, baseball is pretty much perfect as is.
© Emittravel 2018
