# 100 Reasons why Baseball is better than Football **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 9, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036 "2011-01-09T22:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/21 "2011-01-10T06:01:28Z")
I love baseball and think football is boring but a lot of Boswell’s list is just stupid, and in fact doesn’t name any of the things that make me like baseball more. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/22 "2011-01-10T06:04:12Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > It’s called AstroTurf because the first professional stadium it was installed in was the Astrodome, not because it was specifically named after the Astros. I’ve been trying to find out what teams - baseball or football - played on it first, but it’s not mentioned on either Wikipedia or the AstroTurf website. > > Regardless, the list has its points, though I could only wade through a third of it, despite the fact that I love baseball much more than any other sport. > > Joe Come on. You aren’t even trying. The Harris County Domed Stadium was built in 1965 specifically for the Houston Colt .45s, an expansion team granted solely because the owner promised to build said stadium in 1962. Both the stadium and the team were renamed for opening day in 1965, the Astrodome and Astros respectively. Initially it was grass inside, replaced with Chemgrass in 1966. Chemgrass was renamed AstroTurf immediately after due to publicity. The turf, the stadium and the team were all effectively named at the same time by the baseball teams owner. The Houston Oilers didn’t even exist until 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/23 "2011-01-10T06:09:31Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Come on. You aren’t even trying. Nope, not really. Beyond checking the wiki for 15 seconds, and checking out the AstroTurf site for another 15, nope. Thanks for doing the in-depth research, though! Joe ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/24 "2011-01-10T06:37:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I love baseball and think football is boring but a lot of Boswell’s list is just stupid, and in fact doesn’t name any of the things that make me like baseball more. That list certainly didn’t age well. I imagine it was a pretty stupid list back when it was written, but now that we’ve seen how the last 25 years have unfolded it’s almost embarassingly stupid now. I have every confidence that dopers could put together a much more compelling list demonstrating the superiority of either sport. Or any sport, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/25 "2011-01-10T16:03:26Z")
The more whimsical entries, such as “Baseball means Spring’s Here. Football means Winter’s Coming.” and “In football, nobody says, ‘Let’s play two!’” were kind of fun, but the complaints about penalties and stats and the two-minute warning and so forth just sound like a guy who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Kickers think they “kick a touchdown”?? Whuh? I happen to prefer baseball myself, but most of this list was just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/26 "2011-01-10T16:17:50Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > That list certainly didn’t age well. I imagine it was a pretty stupid list back when it was written, but now that we’ve seen how the last 25 years have unfolded it’s almost embarassingly stupid now. You can’t blame Boswell for not having ESP. But the list is just dumb even by the standards of the time. And frankly, I was saying long before the roid scandal broke that a roid scandal was inevitable. Lots of people were. I’ve said it before and will again; the point at which every sporting league on earth should have cracked down on PEDs was the 1988 Summer Olympics. If the Ben Johnson scandal didn’t show you what PEDs could do to the reputation of a sporting program, you had to be as blind as Stevie Wonder. And complaining about nicknames? Jeezus. [QUOTE=Wheelz] The more whimsical entries, such as “Baseball means Spring’s Here. Football means Winter’s Coming.” and “In football, nobody says, ‘Let’s play two!’” were kind of fun, but the complaints about penalties and stats and the two-minute warning and so forth just sound like a guy who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Kickers think they “kick a touchdown”?? Whuh? [/QUOTE] Boswell is referring to the practice NFL teams had of getting European soccer players to be their kickers, so you had a league where an extremely critical part of the sport was a skill unrelated to any of the rest of the sport executed by players who really didn’t know anything about football. The most famous example was Jan Stenerud, who’s in the football Hall of Fame and IIRC was the first pure kicker ever elected. However, I don’t believe this is common anymore, as now U.S. college kickers kick like soccer players and so the advantage of importing soccer players is gone. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/27 "2011-01-10T16:31:11Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > The Houston Oilers didn’t even exist until 1968. Really? So what team was I watching play in 1961? The ones with the little oil derrick on their helmet. The Oilers predated the Colt 45s by a year and a half. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/28 "2011-01-10T16:34:31Z")
That baseball is better than football is a truism. It doesn’t need defense, any more than gravity does. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/29 "2011-01-10T16:46:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Boswell is referring to the practice NFL teams had of getting European soccer players to be their kickers, so you had a league where an extremely critical part of the sport was a skill unrelated to any of the rest of the sport executed by players who really didn’t know anything about football. The most famous example was Jan Stenerud, who’s in the football Hall of Fame and IIRC was the first pure kicker ever elected. The specific “kick a touchdown” quote goes back to that era, and was apparently made by [Garo Yepremian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_Yepremian). The story goes that Yepremian kicked an extra point late in a game (which his team at the time, the Lions, were losing), and began to celebrate. When Alex Karras asked him why he was celebrating, Yepremian is said to have replied, “I keek a touchdown.” (In George Plimpton’s book, “Mad Ducks and Bears”, Karras, who really didn’t like Yepremian, teased the kicker about that.) At any rate, by the early 1980s, most NFL teams were employing soccer-style kickers who were born in the U.S., so Boswell’s comment was out-of-date even then. (And, yes, Stenerud was the first pure kicker elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a distinction which he still holds, though many believe that Adam Vinatieri has a chance to make it in.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/30 "2011-01-10T16:48:26Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Really? So what team was I watching play in 1961? The ones with the little oil derrick on their helmet. > > The Oilers predated the Colt 45s by a year and a half. Indeed; the [Houston Oilers](http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/oti/) were one of the AFL’s founding franchises in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/31 "2011-01-10T16:52:11Z")
> [@TexCat](#): > > The best reason baseball is better than football…cause you can listen to it on the radio and not miss a thing. With baseball, you can play a game of ninepins, have a drink, grow a long beard, lose your dog and wife, and still “not miss a thing”. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/32 "2011-01-10T16:57:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > (And, yes, Stenerud was the first pure kicker elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a distinction which he still holds, though many believe that Adam Vinatieri has a chance to make it in.) I imagine Stenerud will continue to hold that distinction if Vinatieri is elected. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/33 "2011-01-10T16:59:11Z")
I’m sure there will be more, but here’s the one that sticks out in my mind: **Reasons Why Football Is Better Than Baseball** #1 - One of the most exciting events in baseball, the event so awesome it makes fans wet themselves in anticipation, is the “perfect game.” A “perfect game” is a game in which one team never even _threatens_ to score. Talk about excitement! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/34 "2011-01-10T17:04:59Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The specific “kick a touchdown” quote goes back to that era, and was apparently made by [Garo Yepremian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_Yepremian). The story goes that Yepremian kicked an extra point late in a game (which his team at the time, the Lions, were losing), and began to celebrate. When Alex Karras asked him why he was celebrating, Yepremian is said to have replied, “I keek a touchdown.” (In George Plimpton’s book, “Mad Ducks and Bears”, Karras, who really didn’t like Yepremian, teased the kicker about that.) I hadn’t heard that story before, so I’ll give Boswell that. Still, he wrote: “_ **Half of them** , in Alex Karras’ words, run off the field chirping, ‘I kick a touchdown.’_” Bit of an exaggeration, no? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/35 "2011-01-10T17:21:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I imagine Stenerud will continue to hold that distinction if Vinatieri is elected. Gah, I misworded what I’d intended to post. Stenerud was the first pure kicker elected, and he is still the **only** one to be elected (which is the distinction that Vinatieri might end). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/36 "2011-01-10T17:21:46Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’m sure there will be more, but here’s the one that sticks out in my mind: > > **Reasons Why Football Is Better Than Baseball** > > #1 - One of the most exciting events in baseball, the event so awesome it makes fans wet themselves in anticipation, is the “perfect game.” A “perfect game” is a game in which one team never even _threatens_ to score. Talk about excitement! Counter-argument: “In arguably the greatest football game ever played, in 1946 Notre Dame tied Army 0-0.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/37 "2011-01-10T17:22:33Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I hadn’t heard that story before, so I’ll give Boswell that. Still, he wrote: “_ **Half of them** , in Alex Karras’ words, run off the field chirping, ‘I kick a touchdown.’_” Bit of an exaggeration, no? By 1987, when Boswell wrote it, it certainly was (heck, the quote was 20 years old even then). ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/38 "2011-01-10T17:24:18Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > George Carlin did it better. And the _Wall Street Journal_ did it more methodically: Baseball [has more live action](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534102219239786.html) than football. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/39 "2011-01-10T17:35:57Z")
We have an ongoing and sometimes lively discussion around our office on the subject “Which is the greatest game: baseball or football?”. But in this case, the ‘football’ in question is what we in America usually refer to as ‘soccer’. On the one side of the discussion you have the native-born USAites, and on the other several folks who are relatively recent arrivals from ‘across the pond’. The only thing that we’ve been able to agree upon so far is that the one sport is intensely gripping, steeped in strategy and nuance, and full of nail-biting excitement from start to finish, regardless of the score, while the other sport is a snooze-fest from beginning to end. Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks, i guess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036/40 "2011-01-11T00:57:47Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > And the _Wall Street Journal_ did it more methodically: > > Baseball [has more live action](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575534102219239786.html) than football. That kind of comparison is just silly. Far more happens per second of action in football than baseball. Orders of magnitude more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-reasons-why-baseball-is-better-than-football/567036.md?page=3)