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This question is a no brainer, of course.
But a friend recently gifted me an original of a January 18, 1987 Washington Post article by my sports’ writing diety, Thomas Boswell, on this very subject. I don’t remember having seen this particular article and thought I’d pass it along.
“Let Me Count the Ways,” Boswell wrote more than a quarter of a century ago, and then continued:
Some people say football’s the best game in America. Others say baseball.
Some people are really dumb.
Some people say all this is just a matter of taste. Others know better.
Some people can’t wait for next Sunday’s Super Bowl. Others wonder why.
Pro football is a great game. Compared to hockey. After all, you’ve gotta do something when the wind chill is zero and your curveball won’t break. But let’s not be silly. Compare the games? It’s a one-sided laugher. Here are the first 99 reasons why baseball is better than football. (More after lunch).
Now the list of his first 99 reasons.
My favorites are: 11 (especially if you add that Weaver was once thrown out of a game before the game even started), 21, 25, 54, 60, 64, 69, 70, 72, 91. And those don’t include the ones Boswell must have listed after lunch.
Which ones are your favorites? (List them in the Comment section below.)
Or even better, list your own reasons why Boswell is correct.
And while I’ve never claimed MillersTime is either fair or balanced (as far as my views on baseball are concerned), you can see this lame list of 25 Reasons Football Is Better. (Some of these seem to make Boswell’s case even stronger.)
Finally, Frank Deford, someone I had also held in high esteem in the world of sports’ writing, at least until I came across this article, sees it differently.
What say you?
jere said:
When your e-mail said the article was from 26 years ago, I pictured something from the 60s! Time’s flying…. But not in baseball, as there’s no clock. And there’s my answer to the question.
(But I do like football too. It’s just harder to field grounders when the ball’s bouncing all over the place like that.)
Brian Steinbach said:
Sadly, some of these no longer apply, such as no wild cards, no replays, no steroids (come and we hope gone), and no two point conversions (I’ve noticed a lot more of these efforts as well as a lot more no-punt on fourth down). But most do. And really, George Carlin said it all.
Thanks for linking to a great Boswell column. I can’t believe he’s been writing for the Post for some 40 years. Seems like only yesterday that he started, more or less when Bob Addie retired (Shirley Povich, of course, never did retire)
Baseball is like a Jedi light saber. A more elegant game for a more civilized time.