Who?

[perrykneeham]

Ah, but there may be excellent ice-hockey or basketball teams.

[perrykneeham]

Jun 21, 2024 20:22:21 GMT flatandy said:

Jun 21, 2024 20:17:17 GMT perrykneeham said:

Is it better than cricket?

No. Does that matter?

Yes. Why isn't cricket widely popular in Japan and Korea?

[flatandy]

Why isn’t cricket wildly popular in Nigeria or Ghana? What has cricket got to do with baseball and William Seward anyway?

[mids]

Too complicated.

[voice]

And why isn't baseball played in the Philippines given it was a US colony for close to a century, I'm pretty sure it's closer to that mecca of baseball, Alaska.

[marechal]

Jun 21, 2024 20:07:58 GMT perrykneeham said:

Jun 21, 2024 19:47:20 GMT marechal said:

Your tactic of trying to run people in circles to win an argument is not a very clever one.

Too clever for you, clearly. Maybe you can just make your argument. You seem to be following the dullard's way out.

My "argument" was that baseball is played outside of the US, Japan being a notable example.

Then you, as someone who has "barely heard of it", suddenly became an expert in the history of baseball in Japan. You blunder, introduce various strawmen to save face, and are called out on it, leaving you with the choice of admitting your mistake or doubling down and looking like a fool. You, of course, chose the latter. Well done.

[perrykneeham]

Jun 21, 2024 21:59:57 GMT voice said:

And why isn't baseball played in the Philippines given it was a US colony for close to a century, I'm pretty sure it's closer to that mecca of baseball, Alaska.

Slightly less than 50, actually. Baseball is played in the Phillipines.

Both facts easily checked.

[perrykneeham]

Jun 21, 2024 23:05:08 GMT marechal said:

Jun 21, 2024 20:07:58 GMT perrykneeham said:

Too clever for you, clearly. Maybe you can just make your argument. You seem to be following the dullard's way out.

My "argument" was that baseball is played outside of the US, Japan being a notable example.

Then you, as someone who has "barely heard of it", suddenly became an expert in the history of baseball in Japan. You blunder, introduce various strawmen to save face, and are called out on it, leaving you with the choice of admitting your mistake or doubling down and looking like a fool. You, of course, chose the latter. Well done.

Well, nobody's disputed that it's played outside the US, but you've spent a lot of time defending it's popularity in the face of the evidence. The case is that baseball, basketball and "football" are nowhere near as popular as you would like to think. I made that point some time ago, but you don't seem to have been able to choke it down. Yee-haw!

It has been fun to watch you reveal your ignorance of your own country's geography and regional influences though. Do you have a passport?

[flatandy]

It’s funny, if Baloo is correct, how no other country gives a sh*t about American Football. How is that possible? Is it, perhaps, because it’s a sh*t sport?

[flatandy]

Anyway, as already noted, for someone who claims to know and care nothing about beisball, we seem to be pretending a lot of knowledge and care about it.

[perrykneeham]

I believe that's a reasonable call. It is shite, but also likely not to have been adopted more widely for the same reasons that other sports weren't: possibly to do with cultural mores, the specialist kit etc., but mainly just because it's tedious.

[perrykneeham]

Jun 22, 2024 5:34:31 GMT flatandy said:

Anyway, as already noted, for someone who claims to know and care nothing about beisball, we seem to be pretending a lot of knowledge and care about it.

It's a discussion. It's reasonable to read up on it and advance theories and arguments (rather than just blast out fondly-imagined nonsense). I couldn't give a monkey's jizz for most sports TBH, but their adoption by other countries is an interesting product of geography, geopolitics and culture, not least because it appears to be so patchy. It's also tied up with an engrained Yank jingoism, as so apply displayed by Marechal's brittle sense of self worth, usually expressed in stocks but, in this case, in globally underwhelming pastimes.

[flatandy]

There’s definitely an interesting link between culture and where sports are played. Good sports like football are everywhere. Decent sports like baseball and cricket are adopted by countries with hundreds of millions of people, starting with cultural connection. sh*t sports like American Football or rugby are played basically in one country each, and by a small bit of the population in a handful of others.

Basketball is interesting because it requires a tiny pitch that takes no maintenance. Which makes it the ideal sport for crowded cities. And for mountainous places. Which explains its popularity in the Balkans and northern Italy.

But the fact that baseball has spread when American Football hasn’t despite huge amounts spent on marketing tells me that baseball is a decent sport that people can get into.

[flatandy]

Also, on basketball, I think it’s like golf: fun to play and sh*t to watch. But fun to play on a small court where you can cycle players in and out all the time means it doesn’t need much cultural connection. It’s really the only sport that can reasonably be played by lots of people with little equipment in some environments. Cricket or baseball or football need quite a large area.

[perrykneeham]

I agree that it's a sport that people can get into, much like cricket, but it's clearly not as popular or widespread as some people would have us believe. There are many interesting factors that may be at play here - you don't need to be an expert to see that. Imagine - someone questioning lazy assumptions and supporting their argument with facts! Here! Of all places!

[perrykneeham]

You certainly notice basketball courts in southern European cities. It occurs to me that it is played more widely in UK schools now as they've sold off the playing fields.

[perrykneeham]

Intersecting .... www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/live/c4nndl9kgjrt

[moggyonspeed]

We used to play baseball at Primary School, only we called it rounders back then.

Boys and girls on the same side (great stuff!) although, when “Games” was rained off, we’d spend a long time in the classroom discussing whether transgender politics was ever gong to be invented.

[flatandy]

Really?
We are still doing the rounders = baseball thing? Is it 1985?

[perrykneeham]

Baseball might be better if they allowed one hand/one bounce. Pacier, like 20/20 cricket.