Baseball is Dead, Long Live Football

Baseball is beyond salvation, at this point, in this era, and possibly, in this century. The time has finally come to strip it of its American Past-Time status. American Football is the new sport of choice for most Americans, and the television ratings prove it beyond any reasonable doubt. If you were to look at the Top 10 Primetime Television Broadcasts since 2000, you will see that the first eight are all Super Bowls; the Friends series finale along with the season 1 finale of Survivor round out the list. Some could argue, "Well, that's because baseball is boring to watch on television." And that is very true, no argument here. Baseball is a hellacious television experience. It is up there with golf and bowling. In general, baseball is a boring sport to watch and nothing good can come of it unless you are one of the few fortunate souls to witness a back-and-forth battle or some horrid blooper turned into a game saving/winning play. But that excitement is few and far between in the world of baseball. The only real excitement is when your team wins, but that is a joy not limited to baseball.

American football is a sport that still has replay value. Football highlights, unlike baseball, are not repeats of plays that have happened one thousand times over. Sure, we've seen the seventy-yard touchdown run or catch numerous times, but based on the way in which football is played, we have not seen it all-the same cannot be said about baseball. Baseball season must be hard times for ESPN video editors. Compiling the Top Ten plays is certainly a harrowing and mind-scattering ordeal for whatever video editor is assigned to do it. Jumping catch, diving catch, homerun, double play, GRAND SLAM! "Woo Hoo!" says the video editor right before he incoherently rambles to himself and then runs head first into a wall. Ah yes, baseball season is a doomed period of time for video editors. The only national-news-worthy, baseball-related stories are Bonds inevitable breaking of the homerun record and steroids. Both of which are connected in perverse ways.

Even the NFL's off-season has been more exciting than the MLB's regular season. Granted, a good portion of it is due to criminal behavior, but there is also the addition of more talent to a league that surprised even its most diehard fans last season. Sleepers awoke with unrivaled voracity, upsetting teams that should have beaten them like the malnourished and polio-ridden clowns they are. And this season will be no different. It is a gambler's worst nightmare. The possibility that even the Colts are vulnerable to defeat at the hands of sad wrecks like the Houston Texans is something that will haunt the dreams of many people with money at risk. There are no sure bets in football, at least anymore. The NFL has begun its ascent while baseball continues to tumble down the mountain of American sports glory. Shortening the baseball season would help, but it would only help football fans that can't stand the forced and craptacular coverage of a sport that was destined to fail. Steroids were inevitable, as all performance enhancing drugs are to all sports.

There comes a point in every sport when the top has already been reached, and the only way to keep the sport fresh and exciting is to learn how to fly-figuratively speaking. Nevertheless, the era for the use of performance enhancing drugs varies by sport. The amount of possibilities for how a sport can be played will only delay that wretched and shameful period, which has severely crippled baseball much like that horse crippled Chris Reeve. I fear for the likes of snowboarding and other extreme sports. A body can only spin and flip so much. Considering the type of professionals in those sports, there will be an increase in deaths before HGH and anabolic steroids enter the picture. And while some football players have dabbled with those substances that only cheapen the game, the NFL was fortunate enough to hire Roger Goodell as the league's commissioner. The new player conduct policy was added right as the NFL was in the early stages of what would lead to the sport's downward spiral. And unlike pro-baseball, the NFL was not about to make the same mistake by letting the problems pile up until the league's reputation was tarnished indefinitely.

Football is the superior sport, not because of off-season activity, but due to the amount of action and drama you are guaranteed all season long. Baseball is more of a waiting man's game similar to fishing, but with more moments that help keep the hope for excitement alive. Baseball fans are more like drug addicts with bad connections than sports fans; searching hopelessly for a high that comes along rarely. Shorten the baseball season, help wean the fiends off their addiction, and allow football the spotlight it rightfully deserves. America is a football country now, so go to a Caribbean ghetto if you want quality baseball because that died in this country a long time ago.