# The Home Run Derby is the dumbest thing ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232 "2005-07-12T20:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/21 "2005-07-13T10:01:08Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > I’d like to see the NHL “fistycuff” derby 😛 > > /putting money on Ty Domi [Get your tickets now!](http://www.aaahockey.com/hockeyenforcers/) Domi won’t be there, though. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/22 "2005-07-13T10:24:04Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Same same with the NBA all-star dunking contest. No one to defend. No one to call travelling. Not even a time clock. And hey wow, they can dunk! Do you complain about floor gymnastics the same way saying “Hey! they can do cartwheels!”? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/23 "2005-07-13T10:40:03Z")
> [@TwistofFate](#): > > Do you complain about floor gymnastics the same way saying “Hey! they can do cartwheels!”? I must admit that I would be more impressed if they had to do them while someone else tried to stop them. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/24 "2005-07-13T11:10:10Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I must admit that I would be more impressed if they had to do them while someone else tried to stop them. I would have to say that I would actually watch gymnastics if there was someone on the floor trying to stop them. Like a linebacker. Man, those 12 year old little waifs would be toast. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![robotic\_panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@robotic\_panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robotic_panda)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/25 "2005-07-13T11:14:33Z")
I like Home Run Derby. We played it as kids with a wiffleball in the backyard. Oh, THE Home Run Derby? Yeah, it was pretty cool. They raised a lot of money for charity. It all reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Bart crashes the MLB data-gathering sattelite. Mark McGwire shows up. “Do you wanna know the dark, terrifying truth… or do you wanna see me hit a few dingers!!” “DING-ERS! DING-ERS!” ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/26 "2005-07-13T12:45:41Z")
I think home run derby is stupid, too. Can’t understand why people watch it. Can’t understand why on every one of the 200 home runs hit, Chris Berman has to act like he’s never seen one before. Still, I pig pile pit it “in theory”. It’s not being held in my back yard, so I find it easy to ignore. Maybe I hate it because we never played HR derby wiffle ball. We actually ran bases and the only way to get a guy out was to catch a pop up or drill the runner with the wiffle ball when he was between bases. ---
**Author:** ![robotic\_panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@robotic\_panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robotic_panda)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/27 "2005-07-13T13:32:45Z")
Heh, **Trunk** , if you’re talking about me and the wiffle ball Home Run Derby… that was a side game besides regular wiffle ball. I was a nerd growing up in a baseball family… Oh did I get pelted. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![robotic\_panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@robotic\_panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robotic_panda)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/28 "2005-07-13T13:59:18Z")
Oh, and I forgot to thank you for assuming I was ignorant. So here it is. Thanks, dumbass. I’ll remember that I’m supposed to RUN around the BASES. Garsh thats diffimicult. I usually hit the ball and sit down again. Garsh. When you assume… ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/29 "2005-07-13T14:03:43Z")
> [@robotic\_panda](#): > > Oh, and I forgot to thank you for assuming I was ignorant. What the fuck are you talking about? Like 99 out of 100 kids play home run derby when they played wiffle ball. We just happened to be ones that ran around the bases. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/30 "2005-07-13T14:06:58Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I must admit that I would be more impressed if [floor gymnasts] had to do [their routines] while someone else tried to stop them. There are several things trying to stop them. Gravity, for starters. Inertia, friction, pretty much the whole environment. And they don’t have specialized tools like baseball bats to overcome these physical difficulties. The competition in gymnastics is athelete versus environment. This is every bit as tough an opponent as opposing human beings or arbitrary rules like baseketball shot clocks. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![robotic\_panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@robotic\_panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robotic_panda)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/31 "2005-07-13T14:10:29Z")
Bah jebus… I totally misread you. Apologies, **Trunk**. I thought you were against HRD wiffle ball. We did bases too :smack: Sorry again. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/32 "2005-07-13T14:27:54Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > There are several things trying to stop them. Gravity, for starters. Inertia, friction, pretty much the whole environment. Applies to everybody everywhere all the time, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/33 "2005-07-13T15:18:38Z")
I don’t mind watching the home run derby. During the All-Star break there aren’t any other sports on (except the TDF), and it’s mildly entertaining to see the best hitters in the world try to hit the ball as hard as they can. It’s not something I plan my week around, but I’ll casually watch it. That said, listening to sports announcers is pretty unbearable for the most part – especially for meaningless events that are nothing but hypefests. But their job is to be enthusiastic, so I can’t hold it against them. I’m more turned off by the constant product-placement and marketing tie-in extravaganza that the All-Star game has turned into (or has it always been that way and I never noticed?) And don’t even get me started on the asinine “winner of the All-Star game gets home field advantage in the playoffs” rule. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/34 "2005-07-13T16:05:44Z")
It’s the All Star **Break**. As in a break from regular baseball [read: daily grind] for the players. Basketball does their’s half way through the season too. Hockey has one during the season when they are actually still playing that here. Nascar has something similiar too but I can’t remember what they call it. Football holds their’s after the season is over. Every major sport has an All Star Something-or-Other and the all have some type of skills competition. Dunking may be simple for most of the players in the league, but for most of the viewing public it isn’t. The same with hitting home runs, or throwing footballs through a moving tire, or breaking plates in a goal with the puck or driving 200 mph in a circle. Sure they all commercialize the hell out of it, and change the rules and generally overblow the whole thing. But the players that are there enjoy it for what it is; a change of pace and a chance to hang out with their peers, and the ones that don’t want to join in the reindeer games stay home and get replaced by guys who will enjoy the experience. Anyone who watched the Home Run Derby Monday will tell you that Miguel Tejada was having more fun than anyone, and he wasn’t even participating this year. He was waving his flag, loosening up other guys before their at bat, getting them a towel to wipe their brows with and/or a drink while at the plate and and generally being a cheerleader. He cheered when Bobby Abreau broke the mark for most HR’s in a round, and he (Tejada) had set the mark just last year. Sure, its a big hypefest, but the players for the most part seem to enjoy themselves, and watching them enjoy themselves make it more enjoyable to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232/35 "2005-07-13T17:34:15Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Applies to everybody everywhere all the time, doesn’t it? Not in the same way. The inertia you have to overcome to swing a bat is very different from the inertia you have to deal with to do a cartwheel. Enjoy, Steven [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-home-run-derby-is-the-dumbest-thing-ever/312232.md?page=1)