Sunday, October 27, 2019

Pacing in Sports

Baseball is the most conservative sport.  While the world around it has sped up, it stays the same slow sport it's always been.  I find it incredible that there aren't any time limits on pitches.  In the modern era, a time limit would speed up the game dramatically, making it much more watchable for all the fast-paced millennials. 

I'm also surprised by the game's lack of two-way players.  Surely there are players in high school and college that are loaded with talent at hitting, pitching, and fielding.  Babe Ruth was one of the top pitchers and hitters in baseball during his time.  I don't know of any other player in history who did both the way he could.  The talent is there, baseball just forces players to choose. 

Basketball has seen many phenomenal two-way players.  Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Kevin Garnett, and Michael Jordan come to mind, among many others.  Football hasn't, but I can understand why, because their games are so grueling that it would be too exhausting to play every possession on offense and defense.  Baseball is slow enough that a premier pitcher should be given the chance to be a premier hitter on his days off.  It's reasonable to expect they would have the energy, even if they do play every day for three hours.   

In basketball you can't give it 100% effort all the time; you have to pick your spots to exert maximum energy.  Football and baseball are designed so you can, at least on the professional level.  The problem is that philosophy eliminates any potential for complete greatness in a sport.  If the rules favor specialists at each position, you are less likely to see a complete player on the field.  That's why the NBA is more fun to watch than the NFL and MLB- you get to see every player's full display of talent. 

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