Last week, it was -26 degrees in Big Rapids, or so iPhone Weather told me, yet it was the first day of summer for sports fanatics.
Yes, baseball season started on February 19 when pitchers and catchers reported to their respective camps all-around Arizona and Florida.
It took the prodding of former Ferris hockey player Justin DeMartino to get me thinking. He brought up on twitter that the season is obscenely long and seems to start earlier every year.
Being a huge baseball fan, I enjoy the early start. Unfortunately, I emotionally invest in my team of choice, and the grueling span of 162 games from March to October, not including the playoffs, wears on the fans.
I feel as a baseball fan that I need more time away from baseball since I’m not fully recovered from the Tigers collapse of last season.
Baseball is that sport that connects the end of a school year to the beginning of the next.
Games are long already, with pitchers stalling on the mound and instant replay additions.
Is it possibly time that baseball season shortens up?
Physically a game doesn’t require an incredible exertion of energy in comparison to sports like water polo or swimming. It’s a game that requires a high-level of hand-eye coordination and concentration.
That day-to-day concentration becomes an impossible challenge when the season stretches from the months where the ice thaws into those where it tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit and back to the days where the leaves fall.
Baseball could be cleaned up by a shortening of the season. Plain and simple, it keeps interest higher throughout the process of a season and the players fresher.