"Who says...................?"

Greetings once again all those of the blogosphere.  Any of you who've been reading along or who have read through my past postings should know I'm a big baseball fan.  For me Pitchers and Catchers reporting can't come soon enough.  While admittedly I've been reduced to more of a casual fan status since the end of the regular season, well partially since just after the All-Star break when the M's went on their historical 19 game losing streak, but mostly since the playoffs started. When that happened I didn't really have a horse in the race anymore.  So while I payed attention, it was no longer "must see" TV for me.  

I have been paying attention more closely since the World Series began.  Again still no horse in the race, but Texas is at least in the M's division so I continue to root against them.  For those of you who don't understand the appeal of baseball, and think it's boring you don't know what you're missing.  All it would take is watching Game 6 of this series even if only from the 6th inning on and you'd be hooked.  

It had everything that most Primetime TV shows haven't had since the mid-late 90's and the advent of "reality" TV.  It had strategy, it had intrigue, it had the unexpected.  It had Texas Manager Ron Washington using 2 pitchers in an inning............TO HIT.  It had the pain of defeat and the joy that can only come from getting to play for one more day.  Once you started watching it sucked you in and there was no way you could turn it off.  

Now while it's true the TV ratings for this series have been down, this game quite simply had something for everyone.  Someone once said you watch enough baseball you see things you've never seen before and this game definitely had that.  It had errors being made by big leaguers you normally only see made by little leaguers. Though when the little leaguers make them, it's way cuter.  Plus win or lose they usually get to hit Dairy Queen either way.  It had mammoth home runs that seemed to travel into a different area code.  It had a team seemingly down and out twice, battling back to survive. 

In the book "Ball Four" pitcher/author Jim Bouton wrote "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out it was the other way around all the time." Never is that more true than in games like that. The drama is palpable and as you watch you can feel your heartbeat increase.  That kind of an experience isn't one that comes along with just anything.  Certainly doesn't happen during an episode of "Jersey Shore". Any feelings during that are more along the lines of needing a shower or having dinner make a return trip.  

So if you've said baseball is boring in the past. Maybe it's time to give it another chance. It may just give you the roller coaster ride of your life in the process.