(sorry, quality may not be the best)

This passage is seriously the finest piece of writing I’ve read on your site. I’m keeping this in my list of baseball quotes. Really well done. It’s Scullyesque.

“It is “the national pastime.” It is a game which can and often does fade into the background over the course of months as opposed to demanding that we drop what we are doing and Take Notice. It is the soundtrack or score to the summer for most people. The accompaniment which complements our days and nights, not the concert or main event which demands that we block out those days and nights and refrain from other obligations. It is always there, not as a loud roar, but as a steady, comforting hum that maintains no matter what else is going on in our lives, and thank God for that, because our lives can and often do carry plenty of drama and intensity of their own.

Those who disparage baseball — and there are many — frequently claim these things to be the very problem with the game. But baseball’s calm and steady nature and its, eventually anyway, slowly-building intensity are features, not bugs. To suggest that the very aspects of baseball which make it unique and enjoyable to so many people constitute its essential problem is to fundamentally misunderstand its essential nature.”

Beautiful

That was how I read it to. But as was pointed out to me below, he is actually saying their should be excessive celebration in MLB – or at a minimum, it should not be discouraged.

No need to get all testy and make this a “Phillies thing”

“If maybe there’s something to learn from all this it could be the passion, both from the players and the fans, that we’ve seen from the non-U.S. teams. In the U.S., we often beat this out of our young athletes. Celebrate a touchdown in football and get called for a penalty. Don’t smile too much when you hit a home run. We have to play these games seriously, the right way, with life lessons to teach. I can’t help but think of Nick Saban looking grim and unhappy or college basketball coaches yelling at refs for 40 minutes. When you watch the Puerto Ricans and the Dominicans and the Kingdom of the Netherlands squad, you see the simple joy of playing the game. Don’t tell me that wasn’t a factor in some of these results.”

Yes, you’re right, Dave, the US lost because they are aren’t passionate enough about the game. Man, I really miss the days when Rob Neyer had the Schoenfeld role at espn.com.

1) Players were in mid-season form instead of early spring training form

2) The best players all played

3) Pool play consisted of each team playing each team in their pool 3 times and once you get to 8 teams, they play at least 5 game series to advance, preferably 7 games. It is baseball, one game means little with respect to who is better, which is why the WS has never been a single game (well, that…and ticket sales).

As currently comprised, I couldn’t care less. I just hope that no players are hurt during the exhibitions (just like ST games). I have never had a single friend or co-worker bring up the WBC to me, ever. Yet, we talk about regular season baseball, college basketball, and college/pro football almost daily.

Thanks for reinforcing one of my negative stereotypes about Phillies fans.

Still, you’re right. His statement makes no sense. He likes excessive celebrations when it’s part of the WBC (there were plenty of other examples) but not during the regular season?

“…fervor that burned bright even on a cold, drizzly night at AT&T Park: Flags waved. Horns honked. Whistles blew ”

followed by:

“now that the tournament is over, baseball (sadly) will revert to its default settings……excessive celebrations”

Sooooooo…..is he is favor of or against excessive celebrations? Not to mention – beyond the Ryan Howard Home Run gaze or a Jose Reyes fist pump after a Stolen Base, what excatly are these “Excessive celebrations” that occur in MLB?

May be the best sentiment Craig has ever expressed. Nothing says summer like warm nights with the windows open and the sounds of the game drifting around the house…