The Problem with Baseball in America

A pastime is a tradition, sport, or object passed on from generation to generation. When it comes to sports, Canada's national pastime is obviously hockey, England-soccer, and Japan-sumo. Unlike other countries, America's pastime is neither the most popular nor most the most celebrated, baseball. Among team sports in the United States the NFL more than doubles the MLB in average attendance, 68,600 to 32,767, and also has two more teams, 32 NFL teams to 30 MLB teams (Sports). However baseball truly is the American sport. The United States is defined by a society of overweight, lazy, rich, arrogant citizens who do not care about anything but themselves, which is why baseball is the national pastime. Baseball promotes this society by incorporating realms of gluttony, laziness, immoral outlooks, and pompousness into the baseball world.

Approximately 127 million American adults are overweight today, which is equal to the amount of people in Japan (Obesity). America is known for its portly stature regarding food the food they eat and make. The United States promotes the introduction and creation of new fast-food restaurants, salivates at the site of an all-you-can-eat buffet, and nourishes their double-chined faces with anything presumed edible. Salads and smaller portions fight to break through the ideology of the American citizens; however they are simply tossed aside and laughed at, regarded as "too European". The ballpark abides by these stereotypes. When someone goes to a baseball game they usually stop by the overpriced snack stand at least twice a game. In three hours they will spend upwards around thirty dollars on food and drinks and will consume around 1,500, or more, calories.

Food at the ballpark is anything but nutritional. At Dodger Stadium one "Dodger Dog", the most prolific hot dog in all of baseball, is packed with 240 calories (200 calories from fat), 22 grams of fat (34 percent of daily value), and 860 milligrams of sodium (36 percent of daily value), without the bun (Dodger). At Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, their loaded half pound cheeseburger is, health-wise, right up there with the Texas Fair deep fried Twinkie. It has 840 calories, 56 grams of fat (86 percent of daily value), and 1,190 milligrams of sodium (50 percent of daily value) (Ballpark). Now take these foods, add on two drinks, bag of peanuts, box of Crackerjacks, and/or another hot dog, and indigestion along with a gluttonous sense of pride will lush over the fan. This is America. This is the culture which bleeds not burns calories, this is the culture which takes a sense of accomplishment in how much food they can eat in a single sitting, this is the culture which promotes gluttony. By downplaying the nutrition aspect of the food at the ballpark, Americans hang their hat on the foot-long hot dogs along with their 1,000 calorie plates, they have only added more shame and humiliation to America's already tainted image.

Not only do Americans need to envy Japan's work ethic, average iq, and tech-savvy citizens, they need to look into their ball bark food as well. While the average American fan will consume around 1,200 calories, the average Japanese fan will consume around 500 and be just as filled. Rather than foot-long hot dogs and half pound cheeseburgers, popular Japanese ballpark cuisine consists of bento boxes and yakitori. A Bento Box is a box which usually consists of a serving of rice, corn, sushi, sashimi (raw fish), and or another meat, teriyaki, chicken, pork. Nutritional wise an average bento box will consist of about 360 calories from a 12 piece California Roll sushi platter, 100-150 calories from the sashimi, and around 100 for the corn and rice (Bento). The next popular item on the Japanese stadium menu is yakitori, or grilled chicken speared on a stick. The chicken sticks are usually grilled then served to the customer with a choice of condiments or amenities which go along with it. For two of these chicken sticks they will pack an immense 1.1 grams of fat and 158 calories (Chicken). Whoa, look out Jenny Craig. Americans need not gorge themselves until they are on brink of stomach failure. There is no sensible reason for the food at American baseball stadiums to be this unhealthy. When you get 86 percent of your daily fat value in one burger there is either something wrong with the society, vendor, customer, or all of them.

Baseball is the definition of a lazy man's game. The players trot 90 feet from base to base and most of the game is played with seven players watching two play catch. When the players are done in the field they come in and sit on a bench until they get up to bat, where they have a possibility of running 360 feet, or one football field end zone to end zone. What other sport can a player actually allowed to walk during the game? Barry Bonds holds the major league record for number of walks in a career at 2,558. That's 230,220 feet and 40.6 miles, walking not taking into account the sad excuse for jogging he did during homeruns, he hit 762 homeruns which is equal to 274,320 feet and 52 miles (Barry Bonds).

Lawnmowers that mow themselves, vacuums that clean automatically, cars that park without the driver, the American society is beginning to seem very Jetsons-esque. America is a culture defined by laziness. When it comes to technology America is on the forefront of the marketing and consuming aspect of products however they, in fact, do not invent them. Robomow, an automatic self-mowing lawnmower, redefines lazy. The owner simply sets the parameters for it to mow and it mows while the owner can go wherever they want. Robomow's catchphrase is "It mows, you don't" and its creators state that it "saves you time and effort" (Robomow). In another attempt to diminish America's energy expenditure the company Irobot, has a line of self-cleaning robots. They have one for vacuuming, floor washing, sweeping, pool cleaning, and even gutter cleaning (IRobot). Americans love being lazy. They thrive on taking the road which requires the lesser amount of work, which is why baseball fits perfectly into the society. No other sport has ever seen the likes of its players, smoke, drink, and eats hot dogs on the sidelines; much like many of the players did in the early 1900s. The laziness of the players along with the overall essence of the game makes it perfect for the lethargic culture of America.
Money is but an object to Americans. In a midst of an economic recession, Americans still spend money as if it grows on trees. Still spending 100 dollars on Abercrombie jeans, 80 dollars for a video game, and 400 dollars on a stuffed Butterscotch Pony; yes, some say to solve this economic crisis Americans do need to spend, but there must be a line somewhere. Take the 44^th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and his newest installment in the United States unnecessary spending history. 150 million dollars was spent on President Obama's inauguration, dwarfing the second highest mark of President George W. Bush's 42.3 million (Balloons). At a single premium rate of 4,700 dollars 150 million dollars could cover 31,915 people for healthcare (Healthcare), for 15,000 dollars a deep well, placed anywhere in need of water, delivers water to 2,200 people so 150 million people would purchase 10,000 wells and give clean water to 22 million people (OneDollarWater). American competence where art thou?

Certainly not in the world of baseball. The second most popular sport in America boasts the largest salaries for its players. Without a salary cap the MLB is a haven for rich, pompous team owners. The Yankees are constantly bombarded for their immense spending habits, and rightly so. Out of the top six largest sports contracts in history, the Yankees have paid four of them, #1 Alex Rodriguez-ten years 275 million dollars, #3 Derek Jeter-ten years 189 million dollars, #4 Mark Teixeira-eight years 180 million dollars, and #6 C.C. Sabathia- seven years 161 million dollars. In fact, out of the top fifteen largest contracts ten are from Major League Baseball Out of the top 35 largest sports contracts only five are from the NFL, the most popular sports league in the United States (Largest). The American economy is in a state of confusion, doubt, and uncertainty; yet, like most Americans, Major League Baseball continues to spend and spend and spend without any concern for how much they are wasting. To many team owners free agency is like Christmas morning. They pick which players they want to get and offer them amounts of money which the average human cannot possibly spend. 20 million dollars per year is the new standard for top baseball players, however there is no need for that amount of money. Why don't the owners realize what the current state of the economy is and make a good name for themselves by donating some? Why not? Because it's the United States.

Many citizens of the US claim that baseball is not the most American sport because of the amount of non-US citizens in the MLB. Countless Americans state that the sport is ruled by Latinos since the games most popular players are from the Dominican Republic or are of Latin descent. For the 2007 season 29.4 percent of professional players were Latino and 2.4 percent were Asian (Outsourcing). Many fans of baseball thought that those numbers would in fact be larger up around fifty or sixty percent yet 32 percent of non-American born players is still a large number in a sport called "America's Game". Given the immense number of non-American born players, many claim that baseball is actually the least American sport played. However, that is the essence of the United States. The very foundation America was founded on was to ensure everyone, no matter what race, gender, or ethnicity, has an equal opportunity to prosper. As Thomas Jefferson so boldly stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Regardless of the social aspects of baseball, it, on a deeper level, is the most American sport.

Baseball may be America's national past time nevertheless, it is not the most popular. The more than NFL doubles the MLB in attendance ratings yet baseball is still the national sport. Maybe because baseball truly does encompass America's finest qualities: gluttony, laziness, and pompousness. The people of the United States have no idea how much baseball mirrors their arrogant culture. A world of gluttony reigns from 127 million overweight Americans to 1,200 calorie burgers. A world of laziness governs with self-mowing lawnmowers to a game filled with walking. Finally a world of frivolous spending affects every US citizen from 150 million dollar inaugurations to 275 million dollar contracts. This is society America has created, and the one baseball has followed.

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