Why have I lost interest in baseball?
 

Life long Braves fan and for some unexplained reason I just don't enjoy baseball like I used to. For about 20+ years I'd watch 90% of all Braves games.

Now I just don't care much anymore. Maybe it was the Red Sox/ Yankees saturation on sports media? Maybe its all the new faces every year? Maybe its the constant over-analysis of every single play on the field? I can't point to one thing.

Has this happened to anyone else?

It also happened to me with the NBA shortly after Jordan retired. But that was because I just got tired of the me-me in your face tatooed thugs being force fed marketed to me, and the Olympic teams trash talking, chest beating and screaming in the face of some 5'11" Chinese player they just did a 360 slam dunk over. I actually started pulling against the US Olympic basketball team.

Errrrrr... baseball sucks?

Well it didn't suck for 20 plus years, IMO.

Same here Danno. Been watching the Braves since we got TBS (or whatever it was) in the 70's. Claudell Washington? Ron Gant? Glen Hubbard? Chris Chamblis? Bob Horner? Rafael Rameriez? Pasqual Perez? Man I grew up on those guys...and when Sid scored from second on broke knees (and Barry Bonds noodle arm from left) I cried like a baby. Then TBS stopped carrying all the games.

Truth is, Skip Carey is what I began to miss the most. He taught the game to me. Chip is good...very smooth, but he ain't got his daddy's charisma or something. I watched the Braves beat the Mets on Sunday I guess it was - DirecTV Free Preview - first game I've watched 1st to 9th inning in a long time (except a few Rangers games when I lived in Dallas. It just isn't the same.

And sadly, when Chipper retires I'm not sure I'll have a rooting interest in baseball anymore. I love baseball - I truly do. I was once passionate about it and I'd like to get that back, but I'm just not in to any of these West Coast teams and don't feel like forcing it.

... I'm gonna' go out on a limb here and suggest it still beats camping, :lol:.

And down the stretch he comes!!!

I swear I jumped up and down screaming and acting a fool every bit as much as I did when Porter picked off Manning in the Superbowl. One of the 3 or 4 greatest sports moments of my life.

Now I'd probably just say "Cool, whats on next dude?".

I agree though, I was a big-time baseball fan growing up, but not so much anymore ... I'll still catch a few afternoon games and keep score, but it's not as interesting as it once was ... maybe it's because the athletes aren't the same like they were back then, don't stay with the same team that long, et... in all professional sports.

I grew up watching the Braves on TBS with my dad, and there are many fond memories there. The aforementioned Sid Bream score is a big one.

Baseball was my favorite sport as a kid, although it's the game I sucked at the most! I was better at basketball, which I liked least. I also lost interest around Jordan's retirement, for pretty much the same reasons as Danno.

I still love baseball, though. I'm watching the MLB Network right now. I guess strikes, steroids, speed (it's a slow game) and saturation (Yankees, Red Sox, rinse, repeat) combined to turn many folks away. But I still get excited for opening day, and watching baseball always makes me smile.

You haven't been on the right camping trip. :p

You and me both brother. Me and my mom watched that game. It was truly a movie script in real life. BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN!

And in the years that followed and even now when I hear that call I get tears in my eyes. That moment, Hartley's kick, and Porter's interception - I will take those three moments to the grave.

yea man, i played and watched baseball for ~13 years (~5y/o through high school)...i really could not care any less about watching it. following it is lame...the players are lame...nothing is appealing to me except going to enjoyable stadiums and drinking some beer - like going to any park (state, national, city...etc). i do enjoy watching derek jeter though...hands down one of the best SS ever.

In some ways, college baseball, particularly in the playoffs and the CWS, is a bit more entertaining!

No John Schuerholz.

No Bobby Cox.

No Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz.

No TBS.

No Braves.

All the excitement surrounding the Braves eons ago has been zapped. They've lost their media exposure along the Gulf Coast not being televised daily on TBS. They've lost all the players we all grew up and followed practically the most of our lives. They lost one of the best GM's and coach in baseball history. And instead of spending money like the big boys, we've become a small market team looking for basement bargain deals to improve our team. Why should anyone, much less the old school Braves fans, be excited about Atlanta baseball?

Who the hell wants to watch a team compete for the Wildcard every year when we should be competing for pennant?

Now while my interest in Braves baseball has dwindled over the years, I still follow baseball more closely than any other sport. I've gravitated more towards Rangers baseball(always had 1 AL 1 NL team) and fantasy baseball has kept my interest strong. I could never forget about my first love.

Oh and yea... I root against USA baseball too. I hope they get their asses kicked.

Personally, I think free agency and big money ruined baseball, and all sports. When we watched baseball, football, basketball as a kid or young adult, you knew who was on your team. That player was a member of your team year after year until they retired. Now that the money has gotten so big, and it's so easy to change teams, you never know from one season to the next who is going to be playing on your team. Look a Albert Pulhols (spelling?). He takes his Cardinal to the World Series, and the next year he's gone...$250 million to the Angels, where he sucks by the way. Now I don't blame the players for this. If someone offered me $250 million, I'm out of here too. Plus these high contracts, and the bajillion dollar stadiums has priced a trip to the ballpark out of the hands to the ordinary people, the true fans. If I wanted to take my family to go see a Saints game this season, it would cost me around $2000 just for a weekend to New Orleans...WTF? Now that Brees has a hundred trillion dollar contract, that price is probably going to be higher. I would love nothing more than to take my wife and kids to a game, but I doubt that I will ever get too. Just cant swing that kind of money, all for a three hour game. So that's my take. Free agency and big money has just taken the glint out of the average fans eyes, and I don't think we'll ever get that glint back.

A constant gripe of mine, too. Heck, I LIVE down here & it costs several hundred dollars for just the wife & I to catch a game. All while I can enjoy my flatscreen, my comfy couch, my reasonably-priced beer, etc. here at home. I'd love to have season tickets, to catch every game live, but let's face it ... the working man was priced out of the stadium a long time ago.

Baseball games are a little more reasonable (at least the Astros games are), but still outrageous when you consider they hold 80+ home games per year.

Yea it did although some people didn't notice. ;)

My general dislike of baseball aside, I do sympathize. Last year totally killed my interest in basketball. Didn't even notice until my girlfriend asked in March why I hadn't watched a game all season. I trace mine back to DWIGHT HOWARD, Otis Smith, David Stern, ESPN coverage (and getting a lot of Bulls games), Lebron James, shortened season, NBA owners, NBA players, Magic management, and Shaq. So, in short, any tools like that in baseball? Because that might be your answer.

Baseball has always been a "newspaper" sport for me and I follow it a bit there with the stats and fantasy. I love the Rangers, but being out of their market and the fact that teams play 162 games a year, it's just too much of a grind! Games are long and really not that much is at stake in a single game. Not the most exciting game to watch on TV. Especially in the summer months with other things going on. It makes for great background or napping noise though :).

Come playoff time though, I tune in a little more, especially for the Rangers.

... as a Tiger fan, the Rangers are the only team in the AL I'm afraid of ... they got it all.

Katrina shuffled the cards and a lot of old timers got out, new people came in, and that last renovation was the real back breaker as far as working man fans in the Dome, it's terrace or bust, IMHO

Thanks for Smoltzie by the way. :-)

it's the change your going through. It's that time of life your getting a little older.

... yeah, in retrospect, that's probably one trade the Tigers wish they had back, :lol:.

Why baseball still interests me ...
 

... having a Cy Young Award winner & the 2011 AL MVP pitching for your team, :mrgreen: ... 100+ pitch count, late in the game, and this m'fer can still bring the heat ... what's not to love?

Justin Verlander