M
MentalDisabldLst
Guest
The doom-and-gloom attitude about the decline of baseball is just plain bunk, and there are lots of good articles around the internet showing that baseball's following, and its prognosis, have never been better. It suffers only when compared to the NFL - but so does everything else. There's no shame in being 2nd to that Juggernaut.
these changes are being made, I would assume, without regard for what would theoretically spark otherwise-disinterested people to start following baseball. If I were Manfred and were asking the question of how to improve my on-field product to make it more enjoyable to watch, these are exactly the kinds of changes I would be making. Reduce the time during which nothing is happening, and concentrate the action chronologically. Do so without changing how the game is played when the ball is live - and ideally without reducing the time available for commercials.
viewed through that lens, these changes - to stop coddling players' OCD natures and get them playing ball rather than performing mindless rituals - meets all the criteria. It speeds up the game, which is a good thing *all else being equal*, and it pretty much leaves all else equal except for neurotic and annoying behavior. How "purists" could oppose this Is beyond my understanding, and I imagine it's mostly fueled by overactive nostalgia rather than a rational evaluation of what's being changed.
these changes are being made, I would assume, without regard for what would theoretically spark otherwise-disinterested people to start following baseball. If I were Manfred and were asking the question of how to improve my on-field product to make it more enjoyable to watch, these are exactly the kinds of changes I would be making. Reduce the time during which nothing is happening, and concentrate the action chronologically. Do so without changing how the game is played when the ball is live - and ideally without reducing the time available for commercials.
viewed through that lens, these changes - to stop coddling players' OCD natures and get them playing ball rather than performing mindless rituals - meets all the criteria. It speeds up the game, which is a good thing *all else being equal*, and it pretty much leaves all else equal except for neurotic and annoying behavior. How "purists" could oppose this Is beyond my understanding, and I imagine it's mostly fueled by overactive nostalgia rather than a rational evaluation of what's being changed.