Baseball vs. football, why baseball is better

If you aren’t a sports fan or you aren’t related to a sports fan, then you may not understand anything you’re about to read. But I can promise you what you read will either be educational or at the very least, slightly entertaining. I know that this is Texas and speaking negatively about football could get me legally deported back to where I came from, which technically would be Chicago, but I feel it needs to be said, especially after the opening weekend of the NFL. (National Football League). I’m going to say it, baseball is better than football. I’ll pause briefly while those of you who just suffered a stroke or anxiety attack, recover. OK, let me explain my thought process. Dallas Cowboys fans should understand this better than anyone right now, being a football fan is much too painful. If your team was good enough to play into January, which most teams don’t, your season ended in December or sooner if you’re a Chicago Bears fan, like I am. We’re usually mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in the first week of October. But say your team did play well into the playoffs, you still had about seven months to get excited about the upcoming year. New players coming on board, new coaches, etc. It’s a long time to wait for the new season to begin. This year not only were some of the “experts” predicting that the Cowboys would make the Super Bowl, but they were predicting that Dak Prescott, the Cowboys quarterback, would be the league MVP. As of this Monday morning, those same “experts” were saying that, “the Cowboys season is over!” How can their season be over after one game you might ask? Well, Dak, the Cowboys quarterback, who is being paid $160 million dollars, hurt the thumb on his throwing hand and they’re saying that he will be out for at least six-seven weeks, which is basically half the season. And to make things worse, they only scored three points with him and they lost.

Being a Chicago sports fan, I’m used to pain and agony, so I feel like I fit right in here. My Cubbies broke a 108-year championship drought in 2016 by finally winning the World Series. My Bears haven’t won since we all were doing the Super Bowl Shuffle in 1985 and the Bulls haven’t won anything since Michael left in 1998. The Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup three times since 2010, so they are respectable. I don’t count the White Sox as a professional baseball organization because no self-respecting Cubs fan should. So, as you can see, my sports fandom resume is filled with pain, despair and loss, so I feel like I’m an expert on this subject. Baseball is so much less painful for their fans. The season begins in February with Spring Training in Arizona and Florida. If you’ve never made a trip to Spring Training, you have to go. For years, it was my yearly vacation. A week of sun, fun and baseball, played in small stadiums where you can get up close with the players. Cubs fans absolutely take over Mesa, Arizona and the Phoenix area in general for that entire month. The official season lasts from April until the end of September, which is when the playoffs begin. Normally my Cubbies are mathematically eliminated by the All-Star break in July, but it’s a nice long season, officially 162 games.

Football’s regular season is 17 weeks, while baseball’s is six months long. In baseball, your team could have a terrible month somewhere along the way, while in football, if you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan, your season is apparently over after Week 1. Do you see the difference in the pain you suffer as a fan of both sports?

Now, let me give you my opinion on this whole, “the Cowboys season is over,” stuff. I don’t buy it. There is a lot of football left and to give up on a team after one loss and the loss of their main player, shows no confidence in the entire team. Football consists of 53 men on the sidelines, in uniform and even when a team doesn’t prepare for the loss of their main guy, those are capable players on the sidelines. Don’t forget, Tom Brady only became Tom Brady because Drew Bledsoe got hurt. Brady was selected 199th the year he got drafted, so I’m sure Patriots fans were feeling like Cowboys fans feel today, having some unproven backup quarterback leading their team. A lot of things can happen in the remaining 16 weeks of the football season, but that’s just the optimistic Cubs fan in me talking.

Anyway, the point of all of this is to help prevent any sports-related suicides here in Hopkins County. Stop writing that goodbye note and relax. The Cowboys season isn’t over yet and you have to try and stay positive. And here’s another positive, at least your baseball team, the Rangers, are respectable and not known as “cheaters,” like the Astros are.

I’d rather have my teams lose with dignity rather than win with dishonesty.