i don’t where you are trying to watch baseball, but on fridays here, you can get 4 tickets (mezzanine, not nose bleed, actual decent seats), 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, and 2 hats for $75. its affordable, and the atmosphere is much more fun than soccer games, yes mls. sorry

here in houston, even on weeknight games end of season games when we are near last place, about 32,000 astros fans are in minute maid park, now think about everyone else watching on tv, and then multiply that times 30 (teams). America (as a whole) LOVES baseball. no questions asked.

TAKE YOUR BALL AND GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tells me what? That we are original? That we don’t need to play the same sport that everyone else plays? And how many countries play baseball? Remember the article is about the US not playing everyone else, not everyone else not playing at all. And there are players from all over the world in the MLB. It is an American sport that invites the world to try out and play on American teams, hence World Series. PS, ever heard of World Baseball Classic? 16 teams worldwide, not just US, Canada, and Japan.

And yes, exorbitant amounts of money being thrown around does signify stature. The more money they make relates proportionality to popularity and spectatorship. You don’t spend millions on something that doesn’t work (look at TV commercials).

Baseball champions are chosen by some random playoff wins/losses? I guess it shows that High School is as far as you got in the sport, and obviously don’t follow it anymore.

And yes, video gamers should be professionals. That doesn’t mean athletes. Anyone who competes in something and is better than everyone else at it is a professional and a champion, so the statement you made to rebuttal me there holds no weight.

Of course if you throw a baseball player on a soccer field they aren’t going to be great. They are professional BASEBALL players. Throw a soccer player at the plate and toss him a 95mph fastball and see what he does. Once again comparing apples to oranges.

I never said that soccer players are great athletes, I was merely defending Baseball’s validity. I’m sorry, but 1 guy running with ball while 9 watch and 1 sits at a goal doesn’t interest me.

@Nick: Just because someone gets paid exorbitant amounts doesn’t mean diddly. That just means a company has too damn much money to waste.

Baseball is particularly bad, and all it’s done is make the cost of a ticket and incidentals go up high enough that I can’t take my wife and two kids to a game (of any pro or even semi-pro team) without dropping $400 if we want to sit somewhere other than the nosebleeds and have to watch with binoculars. That being said, all team sports are like this, football (all three kinds!), hockey, and basketball as well.

Also, your comment about World Series not being second grade… Uh… Maybe you didn’t get out of second grade, but name the number of countries that play baseball. US (and its territories), Canada, and Japan… Anywhere else? Who else plays in this “World Series” other than US and Canadian teams? Hmmm. Can’t think of one. The World Cup, on the other hand… Teams from all nations compete, and while the final is a single game and not a series, the lead-up is based on points awarded by wins, ties and losses, not by some random playoff win/loss.

Lastly, your comment about baseball testing many facets… Sure. It does. 95% percent of the facets are reflex, not strength. By your definition, video games and their players should be professional as well. However, I guarantee you that if you threw a baseball player on a soccer field, he’d be out of breath within the first two minutes. Having played both soccer and baseball in high school, I know. Most of my baseball team mates thought I was crazy for playing soccer, probably because they were lazy. A run around the bases is a whopping 360 feet, not a whole lot more than the length of a soccer field. An average soccer player does about 5.5 miles of movement in an average game, while in particularly competitive games that number has gone up to around 8. That takes place in 90 minutes. How long does a baseball game last? And how much does a player REALLY do in that 90 minutes?

The simple fact that the entire world plays soccer, while only a country of fat lazy-asses like ourselves plays baseball should tell you something about the sport.

2007- NFL player: Dwight Freeney’s contract is for 6 years and $72 million, or an average of $12 million per year. He received over $30 million of that in 2007, and the other $42 million spread (unevenly) over the other 5 years.

2007- MLS player: David Beckham earns $28,000,000.

2007- MLB player: Alex Rodriguez signs 10yr contract w/ Yankees for $275,000,000. Thats $27mil per year.

Which would you rather have? David Beckham earned $1mil more than Rodriguez in 2007, and David’s sport is “worldwide”. Yeah. Now with that said, David Beckham just signed a contract that will pay him $250,000,000 over a 5yr period. Save yourself the research, I have done it for you. And at the age of 33, A-Rod’s lifetime earnings are at $170.4mil. This still conveys my point. To say that Baseball isn’t a sport is childish.

And, World Series is 2nd grade? What about World Cup? What’s the difference? At least Baseball forces competitors to challenge one another more than just one match. The team that can consistently perform the best wins. Anyways, Football (I don’t care what continent you live on, just pick one) sucks.

Baseball tests many facets of athleticism, ie., fielding, hitting, catching, running. What all is involved in Soccer?

Another real problem is the networks make it very difficult to watch the olympics on television in the US. Apparently if its an athletic competition, and not something pretty like rhythmic dancing (not a sport, see paragraph 1), or another feel good story, we don’t get to see it.