Baseball is America

It's couple days before the Super Bowl XLI. It's time. All the Super Bowl hype and predicating on who is going to win the big game. My friend Eric posted an entry on what to get for his Super Bowl party. Boy I am excited.

Unfortunately I am not writing about football but rather I am writing about America's favorite sport (atleast in the dog days of summer) . I am writing about baseball. As an immigrant, I never full understood the game of baseball. I thought it was sport of grown men trying to hit a ball with a "fat" stick and they got paid "beaucoup" bucks. I thought it was probably the most boring sport in the whole wide world. Believe it or not, I became an avid baseball fan after the Strike of 1994. During this time, people talked about how they missed the tradition of taking their kids to the ballgame, or what it means to be a baseball fan. It made me realize that to understand America you have to understand baseball. Baseball like America can be stereotyped as being proud, cocky and plain ignorant. However when someone studies the game of baseball, you realize that baseball like America is simply wonderful. There are a few points
  • Baseball like America is accepting and it is willing to have best players play the game and it is not based on color, race, height, weight, or any other physical feature. Baseball players have to be the best at their position and if they are not then they are replaced. This is true about America. American society wants everyone to do their best. If you try to do your best then you are respected among your peers.
  • Homeruns hitters are well loved for their power but a hard working player is well respected. It is so true about America. We admire the rich and the powerful but we respect our peers who work hard to make a living.
  • Flame throwers are flamboyant but don't have long careers and finesse pitchers have long careers since they use their mind to trick the batters. This is true in America. Sports stars get the glory but their career can last from four years to twenty years. An engineer usually puts around forty years and he uses his mind to futher his career.
  • People, who take chances, make a living out of it or they are simply burnt. They are just like the base stealers.
  • Baseball teaches it is better to sacrifice and let your teammate score a run since it is better for the team. America teaches that sometimes it's better to sacrifice for the good of the country.
  • Baseball players are taught to respect their leader the manager just like American where we are taught to respect the President even if we don't agree with them.
  • Baseball players respect our National Anthem and so should we.
  • Baseball was segregated and so was America
  • Now baseball is integrated and so is America.

Note to non-americans: To understand America, please understand baseball.

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