The guys involved are pro baseball players who hit dozens of home runs in a season off professional pitchers throwing their best stuff.
Why the fuck am i supposed to be surprised or impressed that these same players can hit home runs off some guy lobbing slow balls at them?
What’s even more pathetic is how EXCITED the commentators and the fans get. The guy commentating acted like he’s never seen a home run before, and the fans go crazy over what is essentially batting practice.
It’s not that the feat is so difficult, it’s more that one, Abreu, excelled so far beyond all his professional competitors. 24 dingers in the first round? That was impressive. And then against others both bigger and smaller than himself he continued to put on a show well beyond everyone else’s ability.
I agree that a couple would have been no big deal. But at least one contestant couldn’t hit a single one… and Abreu got 40.
Point 2: If you’re going to watch it, at least have the good sense not to listen to the announcers. Get some friends, get some beer, get some good conversation going. Start talking about how Bud Selig’s face looks like your grandmother’s ass and then get someone from Milwaukee to start ranting about how he blackmailed the city into paying for his shiny new stadium when he can’t even put together a team worth watching.
Actually, i moved to the US in 2000, when McGwire’s best years were behind him. Also, i’ve never been to St. Louis. So the answer to that question would be “no.”
Actually, i can uinderstand people going to watch batting practice. It’s more the huge hoopla surrounding the HRD that i don’t understand.
I wasn’t talking specifically about this year’s event. I didn’t even watch it. I’m just talking about the concept of the thing. It’s dumb, IMO.
I wouldn’t say it’s a huge hoopla… yeah, people are screaming and cheering, but no one’s really all that interested in the results, I don’t think. It’s just an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down and enjoy the best home-run hitters smack the hell out of the ball. I mean, sure, if you look at everything, it’s more impressive to see someone tag a major league closer who’s throwing 99 mph sliders, but hey, it’s just fun to see a guy blow out a few lights in the scoreboard with a baseball from 500 feet away.
Oh, and a good rule of thumb is to ignore the announcers, save Jon Miller, on any national broadcast.
The only good sports announcers are in the World Series of Poker.
It is the only mini-game in which ou can get individual challenges like Mantle vs. Mays, Reggie Jackson vs Jim Rice vs George Foster vs George Brett, Sosa vs McGuire, and anybody vs Bonds, when Bonds feels like it.
Actually, ESPN broadcasters, a handful of former Major League old-timers, and Grade Z celebrities playing softball against each other is the dumbest thing ever.*
*degree of of dumbness in direct negavive proportion to total amount of Jennie Finch camera time.
Hey, I like Home Run Derby. YOU go out and try to hit 24 homers (Abreu’s first round total) in 17 minutes at the plate, whether the ball’s served up from a BP pitcher or your Aunt Alice.
Yeah, it’s a silly, completely made-up ‘competition’ for which the rules change every year; yeah, in MLB’s zeal to promote next year’s world, world series they tried to fake up some sort of bogus ‘international’ competition rather than bringing in, duh, the best power hitters in the league; yeah, Chris Berman looked like he was going to pop out of his suit (and why was his face that bizarre color?); yeah, I found myself screaming "shut up! Shut Up!! SHUT UP!!! at Bud Selig after about 1.5 minutes of his self-absorbed blathering; but dang, it’s fun to see all those dingers sailing out of the park. And Abreu WAS pretty impressive with the machine-like precision he displayed.
Sometimes Berman would act like the home run derby was the most exciting thing in the history of the world, the rest of the time he acted like it was an unwelcome distraction from his boring converstations with Selig et al. I wish he would make up his mind. In my opinion, home run derbies should be taped during spring training and shown from time to time during the season to while away rain delays. Making a big deal of it just seems forced to me. Also, Berman should never do live commentary on anything because he absolutely SUCKS at it.
Yeah, i was actually going to use the dunking competition as another example in my OP.
I’m looking forward to the day when the NHL All-Star game has the top players competing to see who can score the most penalty shots—without any goaltenders in the net.
