Nine players, a dusty field, wooden sticks, and a ball. When you come down to it, America’s favorite pastime may not actually be everyone’s favorite. A rational thinker, like myself, could argue that America’s favorite sport shouldn't be baseball, but rather replaced by a new and fresh sport, basketball.
Baseball has been known as America’s favorite pastime since even the late 1800’s when the sport was just beginning to become popular. Many say that one of the major reasons baseball is America’s pastime is that it dates back to our grandfathers and even generations before them. Baseball’s first recorded game was played at Elysian Fields on June 19, 1846. Around this time baseball was at its peak of popularity, brewing amidst the Civil War to become the country’s new love.
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 with the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. During the four bloodiest years our country has ever witnessed, baseball was people’s escape from their otherwise stressful lives in the midst of a war. Baseball was a huge favorite for people back in times like the Civil War when they worked hard, usually twelve hours a day seven days a week. Going out to the baseball field on a Saturday afternoon to sit back and relax to watch the game was very relaxing. People were hungry for the chance to just relax together.
Fast forward a century and a half. In today’s times, the general public isn't so intrigued with the idea of heading out to the baseball field to burn in the sun and squint until we can finally see what’s going on. For most, sitting and baking in the sun while agonizing over what inning it is isn't very exciting. The present day culture of our generation is hungry for fast paced entertainment, not sitting around waiting for the action to happen.
In the modern world we live in today, what people thought of years ago as ‘relaxing’ would now be thought of as boring to us. Times have changed and that is one of the major reasons baseball is being overlooked by new sport’s fans often. Most people today enjoy the continuous action and excitement of basketball compared to a baseball game that can drag on for what seems like forever. With few boring moments, basketball is a fast upcoming game that is catching a wide range of viewer’s attention, and reflecting the fast paced modern lifestyle to which we are accustomed.
Although basketball may not be an elder in the history of sports, it is definitely making its name known around the world but it didn't come easy. For years after the game was invented in 1891, there were no federations concerning just basketball formed. It wasn't until 1932 that an international federation was made specifically for basketball. Fewer than three years later the federation was recognized. But even before the FIBB was formed, a federation that handled all hand ball sports. After six years of no progress or even any meetings, the IAHF’s power was handed down to the FIBB who later took on just basketball and everything then took place. Basketball continued to grow and had to take huge steps to get to the level that is it now nationally and internationally.
In general, it’s clear that there are many flaws overlooked in our nation’s said, favorite pastime. As the world grows and changes through technological advances and in other ways, shouldn't our nation’s favorite sports be too? Basketball is a relevant sport that is becoming more and more popular, so why be stuck squinting into the sun, waiting for something exciting to happen at the baseball game, when over at the basketball arena there’s enough action to keep you glued to your seat?
