If soccer is the "beautiful game" So baseball is the most "Perfect" match

The world loves the game of “futbol”, which in America we call soccer. While soccer has enjoyed phenomenal growth as a popular sport for boys and girls, and at the high school and college levels, the game has not been successful at the professional level in the United States. In the rest of the world, however, soccer is the most followed of all sports.

“Football” has been ordered the “Beautiful Game” by the crazy football fans who are addicted to the game. Because the use of the hands to control the ball is not allowed, the game requires great eye-foot coordination, speed, balance, aggressiveness, and a chess-like strategic vision of the entire playing field. The flow of the game, which may seem slow to casual observers, is part of the beauty of the game that enhances the passion that the sport enjoys among its rabid fans.

I have lived in Europe and have traveled extensively, including second and third world countries. It is an incredible spectacle to see a country completely mesmerized, the population, men and women, old and young, glued to the television screens, while the key matches are played. Games between clubs from different countries create an incredible outpouring of nationalism.

Soccer is a beautiful game. And if that statement is true, then I think baseball is the perfect game. The pace of soccer and baseball is similar in the sense that much of the game is spent preparing for the difficult tasks of scoring, goals in soccer, careers in baseball. Both are total team games, and yet both require people to perform at high levels. The shortstop in baseball is completely on his own when trying to field a hard ball, but he needs other players to fill his roles to pick off baserunners.

The symmetry of baseball is amazingly perfect. The game has been romanticized as having been invented by Abner Doubleday in a field in upstate New York in the mid-19th century. Maybe, maybe not! However, whoever actually drew up the rules of the game designed a playing field with perfect dimensions. Dimensions actually add to the drama of virtually every pitch and play.

Imagine if the bases were closer or farther than 90 feet apart. The bang-bang game at the beginning would hardly ever happen. If the bases were closer, the stolen base would be automatic, even for the slowest runners. The bases are arranged in a diamond pattern, providing a perfect path for runners to chase and fielders to aim. The pitcher’s mound, a small hill, is 60 feet, six inches from the spot of home plate. If the rubber on the mound, which the pitcher uses to hold on and leverage while pitching to the batter, were closer than 60′, 6″, the batter would have almost no chance of hitting the ball. If the rubber were further back, the batter would enjoy an unfair advantage.

The strike zone is designed to balance the opportunity for the pitcher and batter to succeed competitively. Three strikes and the batter is out; but an at-bat can be extended indefinitely by fouling pitches. Four balls and the batter earns a fair pass to first base, forcing the pitcher to throw strikes or give up baserunners that can lead to runs scored.

The most wonderful thing about the game of baseball is best described in the famous statement by the great Yogi Berra: “It’s not over until it’s over!” Unlike any other team sport, there is no time limit in baseball. The game is not over until the last out of the ninth inning is clinched. It’s possible, and it happens regularly, for a team to seemingly be so far behind in the run count that the game’s outcome seems inevitable, but a few hits, a few walks, one error and suddenly there’s hope. the result will be reversed.

Spring training, baseball on the radio, hot dogs and beer in the park, and the chance to enjoy a game played at a leisurely pace on a warm summer night while chatting with friends, make baseball the ” perfect game”. It’s as beautiful as football, but if played right, there is no sport as perfectly crafted and structured as baseball.