Why People May Or May Not Love Baseball

It is safe to say COVID-19 threw a wrench into a lot of sports fans' and teams' plans this year which is why the Detroit Tigers are just now having their home opener tonight!

Usually, Detroit's home opener is in April but as sports attempt to make their way back to "normal" things were a bit delayed.

With no fans in the stands, spitting banned and other safety and social distancing measures, the baseball many of us know and some of us love looks a lot different in 2020.

I say "many of us know and some of us love" because I, personally, just am not the biggest baseball fan and I'm finding I'm not alone in that opinion.

Sure, I'm definitely in the minority there, but still...not alone.

I can get behind the excitement of a first pitch, and absolutely loved the atmosphere whenever I was lucky enough to make it to a Lansing Lugnuts game as a kid. However, the game is just a bit longer than my attention span.

If it was, typically, kept to only three to four innings that would be great. That's why I love hockey. It's three periods of pure action and then by the end you have a winner, everyone celebrates, sings "Sweet Caroline" and you have a wonderful memory at the end.

Memories of baseball games, though, are one of the biggest reasons people love baseball.

We asked our listeners if they liked baseball and why or why not and here were some of their responses:

• "Football fields are for Band Practice! Basketball stadiums are for Jazz Band Practice! All other sports are not and of no interest to me except Fishing. Yeah, I'm weird. So be it " - Allen Morgan

• "Baseball doesn’t keep my attention..." - David Jenkins

• "Baseball yes, players and owners no. It's millionaires b****ing about billionaires and vice versa. Lost interest years ago when the players went on strike. As Metallica would say, sad but true!!" - Dave Wilcox
• "No golf has more action" - Tom Harkins

• "Don't mind playing it... if you bring a cooler full of beer. Hate watching it. Too slow and boring. Give me hockey with its constant action and speed!" - John Kirincich

Of course, there are more people who love baseball so here we let the "why's" have it!

• "I love going to games. It’s much funner than watching it on tv. Love the environment and you definitely get your money’s worth compared to other sports! Go Tigers!!!" - Tiffany Ann Clark

• "Baseball was always on in our house growing up. My mom would listen to it on the radio like her grandmother used to. I love the announcer's voices. The excitement of the crowd. Hearing the vendors yell out. It's also the only team sport I fully understand.
  
  When I was a kid my mother took us to an event where we met Darryl Evans, Tom Brookens and other Tigers. Years later Brookens was coaching the White Caps and playing the Lugnuts. We showed him the picture from the 80s and boy did he get a good laugh. Many great baseball related memories. Go Tigers!" - Jennifer Collins Truman

• "I do because it reminds me of my Dad who recently passed. He loved his Tigers, hope he’s watching in heaven!" - Diana Lynn Beck

• "I like baseball cause I was 14 in 1968....." - David Wood

Whatever your reasons are for either liking or not liking baseball, we can all agree the sport being back is an exciting step in what has been a pretty bleak year.