March Madness: Why Baseball is Better Than Basketball

Why Baseball at Simmons Field is Better than the NCAA Basketball Tournament

(this post is a repeat - with updates - from March, 2007)

1. 3 Games in 3 Days!!! Basketball offers you 49 games this weekend. Problem is, you'll see about 5-10 minutes of each game. You can enjoy all 9 innings of every game this weekend. And, if you're lucky, they'll all go into extra innings!! (Let's play two!)
   
   And you won't actually be there at those basketball games. Come down to Simmons Field and you can be a part of the action. You can yell at that TV all you want, but those refs aren't listening. At the ballpark, you can tell the home plate ump that his strike zone moves up and down more than the stock market, and he'll hear you.
   


2. Get some Exercise!!! Get off your seats and on your feet!!!
   
   Going to the ballpark is a great way to shed those extra pounds you added during the recent Global-Warming Deep Freeze of Winter. If you sit at home (or at your local non-smoking bar) watching basketball, the most exercise you'll get is getting up to go to the bathroom.
   
   Instead, you could be at Taylor Stadium getting a real workout:
   
   - Park down at Reactor Field and climb the long hill up to "Johnny Hi"
   
   - Stand up and heckle the visiting Aggies. Do it often do it loud, do it long - a great aerobic workout.
   
   - The 7th inning stretch: Don't just stand there and listen to the the greatest song in the world as it plays. Sing along, and do some real stretching (we used to have some Soccer girls who would do some real stretching during the 7th inning break -- worth the price of admission).
   
   - Chase foul balls: Run up and down the stadium stairs, dodge cars in the parking lot, beat out the Tiger redshirts that have been sent chasing balls.



3. It's America's Pastime!!! 5 Reasons why Baseball is just better than Basketball:
   
   (1) 208-121-2. That's MU Baseball's all-time record against Kansas.
   94-167: MU Basketball vs. the Jayhawks
   
   (2) Better seats. At Taylor Stadium, I can afford to sit as close to the field as I want - the equivalent of the high-rollers' seats at the Mizzou Arena. And it's certainly a better view than you'll get on the TV this weekend during the NCAA Tourney.
   
   (3) Tiger Crew vs. Cheerleaders. The Tiger Crew (we still think of them as the Diamond Darlings) don't just bounce around and look good. These girls work (and look good)! They're bat and ball girls, they help the ground screw before the game and during breaks, they help with in-the-stands activities. "Hey, bat girl!"
   
   (4) Baseball is a harder game to play. It must be. Look what happens to the top draft picks in each sport. Top draftees in basketball go straight to the NBA. Top baseball picks work their way up through the minors in order to prove themselves good enough to play in The Show.
   
   (5) Better Uniforms. Sorry, but those baggy drawers on the basketball players just can't compete with the classic style of baseball uniforms. Take your girlfriend to the ballpark and ask her what she thinks of those tight pants the players are wearing.



4. Fill out your bracket It's Fill-in-your-Brackets time for College Basketball fans. Since I really know very little about College Basketball, I fulfill my annual manly responsibility by filling in the March Madness bracket based on two guiding principles:
   
   

   1) I always pick Mizzou to win their first two games. After that, I try to leave
   sentiment behind - sort of
   
   2) I decide each bracket matchup based on how those two teams would fare against each other in BASEBALL, not basketball.

   This provides some interesting matchups this year, especially considering that North Carolina and LSU - two highly ranked baseball teams - will likely meet in the 2nd round this weekend in basketball. I've posted my picks on the Bracket contest at Tigerboard.com, and at this point I show Boston College, Missouri, Texas and North Carolina in the final Four, with UNC edging out MU for the championship.