It’s late October. The dog days of summer are fuzzy memories, but at my age, what’s not fuzzy? Leaves are falling and covering armadillo excavations. The night air is crisp and clear, allowing the sounds of a high school football game to make their way to the Crow’s Nest. Autumn is officially here and football is back! The Dallas Cowboys are alive and well, and the BCS is dead and buried. Thanks to satellite television, fans can watch football near ’bout every night. But, I ponder while watching Ole Miss, does anyone still watch baseball during football season?
The World Series is going on as I write this, but should be over soon. I know October is the month for baseball’s playoffs, but in my bloodshot eyes, Mr. October is Peyton Manning. The football season is fresh, and baseball season is stale as week-old buttercrust. Starting in April and ending in October, baseball is played for seven months out of the year. That’s longer than your average Kardashian marriage.
The regular season of Major League Baseball consists of 162 games, and each game normally lasts 3 hours. Allow me to grab a calculator to do the math since my cipherin’ ain’t what it used to be. OK, if an avid Rangers fan watched every Texas game this season, he spent 486 hours seeing them get beat like a dusty rug on a clothesline. That’s over 20 full days spent watching baseball. Hey, my days are numbered. I refuse to waste them in front of a TV watching grown men scratch themselves and spit in the dirt.
The NBA season lasts even longer. The 2014-15 season begins Oct. 28 and will drag on for nine months. Teams must play 62 games before we know which teams will be in the playoffs. I’m no mathematician, but I bet after 30 games, we’ll have a pretty good idea which teams are good and which teams stink like that carton of milk you left in the trunk last week.
I enjoy watching basketball, but I certainly don’t watch 62 games a year. I will watch the NBA playoffs and NCAA March Madness, but I refuse to watch any basketball or baseball during football season. Between September and February, I watch football. I listen to football on the radio if I’m in my truck. I listen to high school football while sitting around my fire pit on a Friday night. In Sunday’s newspaper, I flip through the baseball news to check out college football game results. During the summer months, I don’t even bother looking at the sports page. I read the comics and then start on the crossword puzzle.
Now don’t get me wrong! I don’t dislike baseball. It’s a great game, but I won’t spend my summer watching it. I like basketball but would prefer to watch “Duck Dynasty” than an early-season Spurs game. But if there’s a football game on, it’s Katie, bar the door! I won’t answer the phone or nature’s call. By the two-minute warning, my bladder is the size of the Goodyear blimp, but I’m not about to miss a big play. Football is all about big plays, and unlike baseball, they occur frequently. There’s no standing around in a batter’s box, scratching and tugging. There’s action on every play. That’s what keeps my attention. If a sport doesn’t keep me glued to my recliner, you’ll soon see my butt on my tractor seat.
I believe baseball season should end in August. There should be little or no overlap of sport seasons. Like the four seasons, one ends and the next one begins. So, the next time an ump yells, “Play ball”, he should add, “And, hurry up! I wanna see the Cowboys game tonight.”
Clint Younts used to play football – the American kind – with his cousins out on the ranch. Being the oldest, he schooled the younger boys, or so he says.
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