Latest / Sorta Sophisticated / Episode 097 - The Most Romantic Sport in America: Why Baseball Feels Like A Love Story

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Episode 097 - The Most Romantic Sport in America: Why Baseball Feels Like A Love Story · Sorta Sophisticated

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome back to another episode of Sort of Sophisticated, the podcast where culture, curiosity, and chaos collide. I'm your host, Pete, here with my much more competent and controlled co host.
• 0:15
  Speaker B: I don't know about that.
• 0:16
  Speaker A: I just wanted to use Cs.
• 0:18
  Speaker B: Okay, okay. Fair, fair.
• 0:19
  Speaker A: Because curiosity, chaos, collide, all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm just gonna rip the band aid. We're gonna start right away with. Why am I here at 10:30 in the morning? Like, what. What is this? What is happening? Why am I recording any podcast early? I can't drink. Uncomfortable. I'm frustrated. Why did I have to make adjustments for you? This is terrible.
• 0:36
  Speaker B: Some of us have jobs.
• 0:38
  Speaker A: Jobs, man. We got a lot of jobs. This is your job. This is your job. What are you talking about? Sort of Sophisticated is a job.
• 0:44
  Speaker B: I. It is. It's a lot of work. That is absolutely. You do a lot of work.
• 0:48
  Speaker A: We both do a lot of.
• 0:49
  Speaker B: I don't. It's not true.
• 0:50
  Speaker A: For such limited. Limited payback.
• 0:53
  Speaker B: Okay, we digress.
• 0:55
  Speaker A: We totally do. Believe it or not, I'm excited because we're doing.
• 0:58
  Speaker B: Always excited.
• 0:58
  Speaker A: We're doing a cool episode today.
• 0:59
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 1:00
  Speaker A: Sometimes I like them. Sometimes I like them.
• 1:01
  Speaker B: What is it?
• 1:01
  Speaker A: This is a cool one. We're doing a sports episode because I looked back, we haven't done a sports episode in, like, forever. I like sports, like, a long, long time.
• 1:08
  Speaker B: I'm here for it.
• 1:09
  Speaker A: Are you a baseball fan?
• 1:10
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. We go to the Angels games. I root for the Angels.
• 1:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, let's go.
• 1:14
  Speaker B: We end our season really early, so,
• 1:16
  Speaker A: I mean, they're going to win it all this year. This is it.
• 1:19
  Speaker B: So I guess. Do I follow baseball? Yes. Yes, I do.
• 1:22
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So actually, it's kind of a big deal because I think opening day is tomorrow, question mark. Or, like, really close. So it's happen and it makes sense. Yeah.
• 1:31
  Speaker B: We're almost in April, but we can't
• 1:32
  Speaker A: go to an angel game because they're away. So we can't go to the home opener.
• 1:36
  Speaker B: Oh, yes. It is.
• 1:36
  Speaker A: Until, like, whatever it is.
• 1:37
  Speaker B: Like April 3rd or 4th.
• 1:39
  Speaker A: Yes. Yes. Should we get tickets? So we go.
• 1:40
  Speaker B: We should. Let's go. Let's go. Take it on the road.
• 1:42
  Speaker A: Opening day. So good. Okay.
• 1:44
  Speaker B: So we're doing an episode of Baseball,
• 1:46
  Speaker A: so sort of I'm just excited about baseball, but you know me with the twists and the whole thing like that.
• 1:50
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:50
  Speaker A: So actually, we're gonna talk about baseball without really talking about baseball. Does that make sense?
• 1:57
  Speaker B: No.
• 1:57
  Speaker A: I can tell by your face. It makes Absolutely zero sense. Because, listen, here's the deal. We're so sophisticated. What are we going to do? Teach people baseball. Nobody gives a shit. Nobody wants to learn this. Nobody cares.
• 2:05
  Speaker B: Okay, fine.
• 2:05
  Speaker A: Everybody, there's a bunch of nerds, right? They already have, like, SiriusXM, and you could listen to baseball 24 7. Like, we're not. We're not doing that at all. We have a different angle.
• 2:13
  Speaker B: What's your twisty twist?
• 2:14
  Speaker A: Our angle is, let me do official title first and you'll figure this out. Okay? The official title is the Most Romantic sport in America. Why Baseball Feels Like a Love story. A love story.
• 2:26
  Speaker B: I think you're on crack.
• 2:27
  Speaker A: No. How do you say that?
• 2:28
  Speaker B: I just.
• 2:29
  Speaker A: No, it is totally romantic. You don't believe me.
• 2:32
  Speaker B: I don't think baseball is very romantic at all.
• 2:34
  Speaker A: I.
• 2:35
  Speaker B: It's boring.
• 2:36
  Speaker A: I am gonna spend the next 30 minutes trying to convince you.
• 2:41
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 2:41
  Speaker A: That baseball is romantic.
• 2:43
  Speaker B: All right?
• 2:44
  Speaker A: Trust me.
• 2:44
  Speaker B: Here we go.
• 2:45
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 2:45
  Speaker B: I mean, I don't doubt you in your little Jedi mind tricks, but can
• 2:48
  Speaker A: I just start with this? Didn't you and Trent ever go to baseball games where he had kids and just, like, sit there and make out?
• 2:52
  Speaker B: No.
• 2:53
  Speaker A: Okay, yeah, no, me and Gabby didn't do that either. I'm. I'm uncomfortable now. Okay? Anyway, that's not one of the reasons why.
• 3:02
  Speaker B: You were the people that, like, I threw popcorn at. Be like, stop sucking face. Pay attention to the game.
• 3:06
  Speaker A: Yeah, sorry, but that's not one of the reasons.
• 3:08
  Speaker B: I'm still a little perplexed on how you're going to pull this off, but you're basically trying to convince me that you're going to tell me how baseball is romantic.
• 3:14
  Speaker A: Yes, I am.
• 3:15
  Speaker B: And this somehow makes us more cultured and curious.
• 3:19
  Speaker A: Yes, it does. Because who wants to just learn about regular baseball? Let's just start with that. Cause that is not gonna make us more cultured and curious. But learning why it's romantic is.
• 3:27
  Speaker B: Right, but you were just making out with Gabby the whole time, so I just.
• 3:30
  Speaker A: I feel like. No, it's so much bigger than that. Okay? Like, this is. This isn't even about baseball. Like I told you, this is so much bigger than sports. This transcends sports. This is about summertime. This is about nostalgia. This is about the breeze blowing in the sky overhead and the sun setting. This is a big deal. This is a good old thing.
• 3:46
  Speaker B: I think just like this, to make it be romantic.
• 3:49
  Speaker A: No, no, no, no, no. Listen. I mean, this is where I take my kids all the time when they were like, growing up. Don't you take your kids?
• 3:53
  Speaker B: I do. It's true.
• 3:55
  Speaker A: Right? This is where grandpas take grandbabies. This is where, like, boyfriends and girlfriends go. This is what people propose. This is, like, a big Listen. Okay? Some of the best dad advice I ever gave to my kids was sitting at a baseball game where they were eating cotton candy and, like, all their Cracker Jacks and crap, and I was getting dad advice, and. And they didn't even know I was giving dad advice because they were just having fun at a baseball game. Okay, so I get the idea that maybe that's not romantic. I'm telling you how it's teaching us about culture. It's American culture. Think of. When you think of American culture, what do you think of? Baseball. Apple pie. Isn't that like a. I think that's a motto of America. It's like baseball and apple pie. It's as American as baseball and apple pie. Right. That's romantic. That's culture, and that is all you need to know.
• 4:37
  Speaker B: Okay, fine. What's our word of the week?
• 4:39
  Speaker A: Our word of the week?
• 4:40
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 4:40
  Speaker A: Our word of the week is besmirch.
• 4:43
  Speaker B: Besmirch.
• 4:44
  Speaker A: B, E, S, M, I, R, C, H. Besmerch.
• 4:47
  Speaker B: Huh?
• 4:48
  Speaker A: It's a verb me and Gabby used to besmirch.
• 4:50
  Speaker B: Oh, no, take it away. Take it back.
• 4:51
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. No, it actually means to damage someone's reputation by saying something bad about them, usually in public.
• 4:58
  Speaker B: Huh. Okay.
• 4:59
  Speaker A: Besmirch.
• 4:59
  Speaker B: That's a good one.
• 5:00
  Speaker A: Comes from the old English word smirch, meaning to smear or stain, like putting a dirty mark on something. It used to be clean. Okay, all right, so basically, probably what I do to you, I besmirch you.
• 5:10
  Speaker B: Well, here we go.
• 5:10
  Speaker A: I besmirch you on this microphone all the time.
• 5:13
  Speaker B: All right, so before you then go and besmirch baseball.
• 5:15
  Speaker A: Yeah, that doesn't count. New rule. You can't use the word in the first 20 seconds after we say the word new rule. It's made up.
• 5:21
  Speaker B: Done. My ADHD doesn't not done.
• 5:23
  Speaker A: You have to find. You have to figure out how to put it in somewhere else.
• 5:25
  Speaker B: Fine, whatever. How are we going to start this thing?
• 5:27
  Speaker A: Okay, I have, like, four or five big major topics we're going to talk about on convincing you how this is going to be romantic. But I think we should probably do, like, a very fast True to our podcast History of baseball in, like, 20 seconds or less, so everybody knows, like, where it came from.
• 5:43
  Speaker B: Okay, can we do that? Let's go.
• 5:44
  Speaker A: And then we'll go. Okay. So, fun fact, if you remember our cricket episode, baseball actually came from cricket.
• 5:51
  Speaker B: Yeah. We just wanted to be like, I smite the.
• 5:53
  Speaker A: And it was also, we didn't want to sit around for five days and watch a cricket match.
• 5:56
  Speaker B: Well, that's true.
• 5:57
  Speaker A: And we wanted it to be, like, a lot shorter. And still we both complained that baseball is boring and takes too long. But yet here we are. So it started in the streets of New York, believe it or not. There you go.
• 6:07
  Speaker B: Streets of New York. Okay.
• 6:08
  Speaker A: Don't quote me on streets. New York. It started in New York. A bunch of.
• 6:11
  Speaker B: I did know that. Yeah.
• 6:12
  Speaker A: They were coming up with different ways to, like, make the game faster and so on and so forth. And then by like, 1845, some dude named Alexander Cartwright basically was the guy who wrote down the rules.
• 6:22
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 6:22
  Speaker A: And he was like, this is it. So they sort of took what was some different versions of baseball. And then Alexander Carter was like, yeah, enough. Wrote them all down. And officially, in 1845, he, quote, is the guy who invented baseball.
• 6:35
  Speaker B: Super random.
• 6:36
  Speaker A: There we go. Right?
• 6:37
  Speaker B: That's how all good things start. Just organically. Here we go.
• 6:40
  Speaker A: And weird history tie in. Because I love doing that. Kind of weird, like how long ago it was John Adams was still alive.
• 6:47
  Speaker B: Oh, that's crazy.
• 6:48
  Speaker A: And was watching when they invented the second president, United States, a guy who followed, like, George Washington.
• 6:53
  Speaker B: That's crazy.
• 6:54
  Speaker A: So that's, like, how old baseball is. And then, like, you connect baseball right up till today, and it's like, all of a sudden, history is so really,
• 7:00
  Speaker B: what you're saying is, like, in the DNA of America.
• 7:03
  Speaker A: It is, absolutely. Which is why I think it's important. And we've learned about it because it makes us cultured. If we want to be Americans, then we got to know a little bit about it. And like I said, nobody really wants to know how to play baseball. That's why I'm doing the whole thing.
• 7:15
  Speaker B: Yeah. I'm still stuck on the romantic.
• 7:17
  Speaker A: We're going to get there. We're going to get there. It's going to be totally fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So rules real quick for anybody who doesn't know it goes like this. You have a bunch of dudes standing in an outfield wearing what looks like pajamas, kind of. Right. Like, they're not. When you think about uniforms, they look the most like pajamas. Right.
• 7:31
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 7:32
  Speaker A: Kind of like the 1920s pajamas. Because they're all, like, kind of weirdies,
• 7:36
  Speaker B: is what you get in at here.
• 7:37
  Speaker A: Exactly.
• 7:37
  Speaker B: Okay?
• 7:38
  Speaker A: And like the pitcher guy tries to throw the ball and the hitter guy tries to hit the ball and run around the bases and basically all the people in the field try to get him out. That's sort of it. You get three outs and you're done. You play nine innings. It's really simple. That is baseball. That is not romantic at all. Okay? Now we're gonna. That's the basics, okay? Any questions about anything or you think we need to explain anything to anybody?
• 7:58
  Speaker B: No.
• 7:58
  Speaker A: We can start.
• 7:59
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:59
  Speaker A: All right.
• 8:00
  Speaker B: Nine innings. Get up in the seventh, get a. Sing a song.
• 8:02
  Speaker A: That's one of the reasons it's romantic.
• 8:04
  Speaker B: No. Oh, goodness.
• 8:06
  Speaker A: Well, just wait. Just you wait. Okay. Can I start?
• 8:08
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 8:09
  Speaker A: Okay, first one. Here we go. Baseball is romantic because of all the stuff that happens when nothing is happening. Oh, my God. Why are you laughing at me? Why are you laughing at me?
• 8:21
  Speaker B: It's romantic when nothing happens.
• 8:23
  Speaker A: Yes. Here's my argument, okay? Baseball and cricket too. Like, but whatever, we're just gonna talk about. Baseball is like the only major league sport in the world where the defense controls the ball the entire time, not the offense, okay? So think about that for a second.
• 8:39
  Speaker B: Right? That's true.
• 8:40
  Speaker A: Football, the offense has the ball. Basketball, the oven. Soccer, right, Whatever. Okay? We're conditioned to believe whoever has the ball can score the goal or win the game.
• 8:47
  Speaker B: Okay?
• 8:48
  Speaker A: In baseball, it's opposite. So pitcher has the ball, right? He's on defense, which means the batter, the guy who's technically on offense, is supposed to create something to happen, right? But he's. But he's reacting the whole time to
• 9:00
  Speaker B: pitch fair, fair, fair.
• 9:02
  Speaker A: So the batter is literally trying to make a split second decision with a ball flying at him, I don't know, 100 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour. And the pitcher is trying to, like, lie to him the whole time, try to throw him off, try to freak him out. I mean, they're playing mind games with each other, which is, I understand the pitcher's ent, but if you ever watch this shit, it's like absolutely nuts. Because when they slow down the ball and you actually see this right on tv, like, fastballs look like curveballs. Curveballs look like fastballs. They're like, some are going in, some are going out, right? And the batter's trying to make all this make sense. It's like a standoff. They're 60ft apart from each other. It's like, you remember, like, Showdown at the OK Corral when they used to have like, shoot, like Raymond Burr and Alexander Hamilton, when they used to have duels, it is absolutely built to be like a duel.
• 9:47
  Speaker B: I'm gonna lie. I will give you that one. That does make it a little like you romanticized it a little bit back to history.
• 9:53
  Speaker A: Absolutely. Because if you take that. Think about it. Go a bit further with it. Think about the way you talk about baseball. You don't say stuff like, oh, that was a fastball. Right. They're like, the pitcher got in his head there. Yeah. It's like they have their own language. Right. Oh, he was sitting on that pitch. They're talking about the emotions behind what's going on during the pitching. Does that make sense?
• 10:12
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 10:13
  Speaker A: It's like the strategy becomes the story. The strategy becomes, what does the pitcher think the batter's gonna do? What does the batter think the pitcher's gonna do? What does the batter think the pitcher thinks the batter's gonna do? They go back and forth and back
• 10:26
  Speaker B: and forth, and it's more of a mental warfare game than it really is just throwing a pitch.
• 10:30
  Speaker A: Yes. And as that goes on throughout the game, it gets more intense with each pitch because the defense is controlling the ball. Every pitch builds up and matters more all the way up through the end of the game. Does that make sense?
• 10:43
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 10:43
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:44
  Speaker B: So, like, I see a thread of romance, however, like, no, no, no, no.
• 10:49
  Speaker A: It's totally. No, no, no.
• 10:50
  Speaker B: But it's more about, like, the pitching and, like, how it's like a throwback or a tribute. Right. Kind of to dueling. And I get the mental warfare of it. What's.
• 10:58
  Speaker A: It's 10. The word is tension. The word is drama. The word is like. What is the word? Anticipation. Anticipation is romance. Like, that's it. It's not about the moment the batter hits the ball. It's about the moment that hangs right there before it, the one split second before it, when the entire place, 60,000 people, are quiet and they're waiting to see if the batter guesses right or if the pitcher guesses right. And that moment of anticipation is literally the most romantic thing on the planet. How could it not be? It's like, it's the moment before Kiss. It's the same moment. It's like. Like, why are you laughing? It's like that buildup of how cool it is.
• 11:37
  Speaker B: I can kind of get on board with that. Oh, my God. It's interesting. I can. I can acknowledge this tension of it being a romantic.
• 11:44
  Speaker A: Tension is romance. That's. How do they make movies without.
• 11:48
  Speaker B: Sure. No, you're. I get it. You were Right. I'll give you that. But besides just that moment, what else is there that makes baseball romantic?
• 11:58
  Speaker A: That's it. That's all I have.
• 11:59
  Speaker B: It's just the tension.
• 12:00
  Speaker A: No, not even. I had, like, four or five. Okay, you did say that we're going to number two. Here we go. Ready? Ready for the. Okay, I'm going to throw you off ambiance.
• 12:06
  Speaker B: It is hot and sweaty and you're sitting next to somebody and you're rubbing elbows and there's a drunk guy throwing his beer. I don't know.
• 12:13
  Speaker A: Just because you live in Southern California. Bear with me here. It's a literal ballpark. It's a park. They name it a park.
• 12:21
  Speaker B: I don't go play on a swing set.
• 12:22
  Speaker A: No, but it's the same concept. It's open air, the setting. Okay. This is probably one of the best settings that you could think of going to, I don't know, say, like, what?
• 12:31
  Speaker B: Think of soccer. Matches are outside in the open air.
• 12:33
  Speaker A: Not even close. Not even the same at all. Soccer, football, like, theoretically, yes. Like, I get what you're saying, but those are designed to focus on the sport itself.
• 12:44
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 12:45
  Speaker A: Bright lights. They have the Jumbotron. It's loud. You can have a seizure. Like looking at all the things that change at a football game. Okay. Baseball, wide open. Like, sky in front of you. Beautiful. Like sunset stars coming out. Lights going on, but not crazy bright. Nice and slow. They turn on everything. It's like you're on the Titanic with Kate Winslet and what's his name? Jack? Leo. Leo. My boy Leo. The setting and the ambiance of that whole thing that. The vibe. It's the vibe of summer. You go to the ballpark, put it up.
• 13:17
  Speaker B: More than just being nostalgic than it is the actual atmosphere.
• 13:22
  Speaker A: Fine. Call it what you will. I'll use ambiance. I'll use nostalgia. You are going to a baseball game in most cases to experience the park and the ambiance. And it's like a baseball game just happened to break out. When you go to a football game, you go to soccer game, hockey game, basketball game, all those. You go for the sport. You know what you're going for. A baseball game's a little different. You're going with the person sitting. Amanda. You end up chatting with the people sitting next to you. You end up chatting with your kids. You end up, like.
• 13:50
  Speaker B: Because there's so much downtime.
• 13:52
  Speaker A: That's the romantic part.
• 13:54
  Speaker B: It forces you. Is what you're telling me. Forces to have interaction.
• 13:58
  Speaker A: The conversations that you Wouldn't otherwise have. Also, fun fact about baseball stadiums that I don't know if you know. Do you know that no baseball stadium is the same like in the United States? None of them are designed the same. Like, the infield's the same. Right. Like, the bases are all nine feet
• 14:12
  Speaker B: apart from each other, but, like, all
• 14:13
  Speaker A: the outfit, everything else, totally different. All the other, like, soccer stadiums, basketball, all those. They're all the same. This really?
• 14:19
  Speaker B: They're all the same.
• 14:19
  Speaker A: You can go mostly all the same. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, I know some are. This is like the Green Monster Fenway Park. It's, like, crazy, right? It has a huge.
• 14:28
  Speaker B: But that's why it's a thing for people to, like, go to every ballpark.
• 14:31
  Speaker A: Oh, really? Would you argue that's romantic? To go to every ballpark? Because it's interesting to see them all. Oracle Park. Right? The splash zone where they knock it out of the park and it hits the San Francisco Bay as the light sun's going.
• 14:42
  Speaker B: I didn't know that. But, like, that sounds cool.
• 14:44
  Speaker A: You just fed into the whole reason people want to go around the United States to see baseball games. They don't do that with our sports.
• 14:50
  Speaker B: You're right.
• 14:51
  Speaker A: And that, I'm arguing, is the second reason why this is romantic.
• 14:55
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 14:55
  Speaker A: Oh, my God.
• 14:56
  Speaker B: So the setting.
• 14:56
  Speaker A: You are so coming to the dark side.
• 14:58
  Speaker B: Kind of give that to you.
• 15:00
  Speaker A: Can I just for a moment. The angel game, what was the last. Last year you went.
• 15:03
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 15:04
  Speaker A: What time you get there usually? Game. What game time? 7 o'. Clock.
• 15:07
  Speaker B: So, like, just a little before.
• 15:08
  Speaker A: A little before. Right. Sun sort of still out. Some people are in the sun, some people in the shade. Already you're bitching for, like, 30 minutes. Soon as that sun goes down, you start chilling out. The lights start coming on super slowly. You don't even know when it gets dark. When you're sitting at a baseball, the next time you go, you don't even know. Literally, you look up and the sun is setting, and then magically the stars come out. And you're sitting under the stars in the middle of summer.
• 15:33
  Speaker B: I think you missed your calling as a romance novelist.
• 15:35
  Speaker A: I'm telling you, it's set up that way on purpose. Okay, Right. And that's when you want to start making out with Gabby because. Oh, my God, I just miss her. Okay, Leave me alone.
• 15:47
  Speaker B: I'm not. I'm not knocking.
• 15:48
  Speaker A: And maybe this is a little nostalgic for me right now.
• 15:50
  Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
• 15:51
  Speaker A: Okay. I'm having a little bit of moment. I don't Know if this is my third one or if this is, like, still part of. I'm going to say this is still part of ambiance, because I still got all the ones. If you think about it, that whole concept, like, mirrors life. Like, it's like the whole thing that you're talking about. Oh, my God. It's because there's so much downtime and it's so boring. Think about life for a minute, right?
• 16:08
  Speaker B: Like, getting deep here.
• 16:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, we are. But, like, think about it. In like three hours, it mere. Everything about life is not fun. You grind. There are boring parts of life. There is that's happening. There is tough conversations you're having. There's times when you're like, oh, my God, I want to kill my. Oh, my God, I want to. Oh, my God, I got to eat dinner, whatever it is. And then all of a sudden, you have a magic moment in your life. Your child's born, you and Tran get married, you get the job you want, like, whatever. Something massive happens and you're like, it's like a home run or it's like a strikeout or it's like crazy. And so life, right, goes, has these crazy periods of downtime and then these, like, really cool moments of anticipation. And baseball is designed the exact same way. And it copies it in like a three hour period. You're sitting around, you're chatting with the guy next to you. All of a sudden, wham, home run. Everybody's up. He's your best friend. You're. You're high fiving him. You got your arm around a guy you don't even know because you're super excited, right? And then all of a sudden, you're back and you're like, oh, I'm back in my chair. I'm eating my peanuts. I'm talking to my kid.
• 17:06
  Speaker B: Okay?
• 17:06
  Speaker A: Everything, it mirrors life.
• 17:07
  Speaker B: I. Okay, I'll give you that one.
• 17:09
  Speaker A: That was like.
• 17:09
  Speaker B: That's a good one.
• 17:10
  Speaker A: That was an extra. I just threw in an extra one for you.
• 17:12
  Speaker B: That was a good one.
• 17:13
  Speaker A: All right, fine.
• 17:14
  Speaker B: Wow. You're mildly convincing me here.
• 17:16
  Speaker A: There we go. I like that.
• 17:17
  Speaker B: Okay, you said you had like four or five, so that was two. You gave an extra two and a half. Yeah. So then number three.
• 17:24
  Speaker A: Number three. Are you ready?
• 17:25
  Speaker B: Yeah. I'm gonna see how long this can go, because I feel like you're gonna strike out pretty soon.
• 17:29
  Speaker A: Oh, I like where you're going. I'm sorry, did you just besmirch me?
• 17:33
  Speaker B: No, I besmirched.
• 17:34
  Speaker A: There it is. Done. And Done. She did it. Jericho, you jerkstar. The third reason, it doesn't have a clock. No clocky, no tiki talky.
• 17:44
  Speaker B: Okay, so why is that romantic?
• 17:46
  Speaker A: I don't know. Amanda, do you time your sex? I don't time it. I don't. I don't know about you. How is it not romantic, Right? You know, a clock times your life. That's bullshit. Nobody wants a clock in their life. So, I mean, I know they added the pitch clock and everything, which, by the way, I would argue is 10 out of 10. Amazing. Thank God they added the pitch clock. But in general, you like clock, but
• 18:06
  Speaker B: you don't like clock.
• 18:06
  Speaker A: I like the pitch clock. I hate other games where, first of all, I love soccer because the referee keeps the time. A lot of people bitch about this. The referee keeps the time. So you don't quite know when it's going to end. I love that anticipation. I hate football. I hate basketball. They control the clock. They foul, they stop the clock. Timeout. It is so fucking boring. Right?
• 18:23
  Speaker B: So.
• 18:24
  Speaker A: So my point about baseball, you have to win the game by getting the last outs.
• 18:29
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:29
  Speaker A: So by default, there's always a chance. There's like. It is the comeback story of the century. Always.
• 18:39
  Speaker B: It gives the underdog a moment.
• 18:41
  Speaker A: Always times 10. So I know other sports, I know there's been comebacks. I know there's huge that you. The miracle on ice and, like, there's so many things you could talk about, comeback, but with baseball, it's times 10. It's so much better because of that concept of you're never at. Like, when you're a little kid, that's all you think about. Okay? Literally, you're like playing baseball in the park, and it's like, okay, there's two outs, there's two strikes, there's two men on base, the three men.
• 19:03
  Speaker B: Like, there is the pinnacle moment, right?
• 19:06
  Speaker A: Where you're always trying to hit that. And then. Amanda, oh, my God. I know that you're an angel fan, but the Dodgers, when they just won the World Series and it comes down to the 11th inning, game seven, are you kidding me? It was like, don't no other sport. You watch the Super Bowl. The super bowl sucked. But you watch baseball, and you know that there's always that chance and that chance. I am telling you, Amanda, it's why I get. I'm not gonna lie, I get a little tingly down there. You know what I mean? Like, it happens, okay? It's kind of a big deal. No clock. Yes to pitch clock.
• 19:36
  Speaker B: It is a Big deal in your old age.
• 19:41
  Speaker A: That was so.
• 19:42
  Speaker B: Sorry.
• 19:42
  Speaker A: That was so besmirching. That was so good. Oh, my God. That was probably your best one. You actually. You made me, like, laugh out loud. Oh, my God. That was good. Okay, are you ready, number four?
• 19:52
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 19:53
  Speaker A: Can I. Okay, I'll give you that one.
• 19:54
  Speaker B: That was good.
• 19:55
  Speaker A: Okay, that's a momentum here. I'm hitting number four here. Okay. Baseball is built around failure. No other sport is built around failure. Think about it. Best hitters in baseball hit what, 300? Yeah, three out of 10. Like, right? Like you're a good hitter to 75. Like, seriously, that's like 30%. If we did 30% at work or we did 30% in life, we'd get fired.
• 20:15
  Speaker B: Yeah. So they make it sound like baseball's a half ass sport.
• 20:17
  Speaker A: No, no, no. What I'm telling you is, it is the whole idea of, like, oh, my God, pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get in there and try again, no matter what. When life kicks you in the teeth, you have to get back in the batter's box every time. And you know, you know you're gonna miss the ball eight out of 10 times.
• 20:34
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 20:35
  Speaker A: And you still have to get it.
• 20:36
  Speaker B: You're saying it's a game of resilience.
• 20:38
  Speaker A: It is absolutely a game. Like, why shouldn't we do that in life? I got kicked in the teeth. I lost my parents. I lost my wife. Like, what do you want me to do? Not get back in the batter's box? What would you argue I should do? You would look at me. Absolutely. And say, get back in the batter's box every day. Wake up and do it. You'd say, do it for me. You'd say, do it for my kids. You'd say, do it for whatever.
• 20:55
  Speaker B: Fair?
• 20:56
  Speaker A: Absolutely. That's not romantic. That's totally romantic.
• 20:59
  Speaker B: Okay. You're kind of winning. Okay.
• 21:01
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 21:01
  Speaker B: Thank you.
• 21:02
  Speaker A: I like this.
• 21:02
  Speaker B: Oh, no. Here's our last one.
• 21:04
  Speaker A: Last one.
• 21:04
  Speaker B: My last opportunity for you to fail. This is 25%, right?
• 21:08
  Speaker A: No, no, I got this. I got that. I feel like this is good. Like, I can. Like, you're like, you're getting into this.
• 21:12
  Speaker B: I've come around.
• 21:13
  Speaker A: Save the best for last. You know how I roll. This is it. Okay. Back to nostalgia.
• 21:17
  Speaker B: I eat peanuts and crush them and throw them on the floor. No sunflower seeds.
• 21:21
  Speaker A: Have you ever noticed, like, when people talk about baseball, they're not actually ever really talking about baseball?
• 21:27
  Speaker B: What are you talking about?
• 21:28
  Speaker A: Usually in every story anybody tells you about another sport, they're telling you this specific thing that happened in the sport. Oh my God, did you see that play? Did you see that thing?
• 21:38
  Speaker B: Okay, fair with baseball.
• 21:40
  Speaker A: Baseball is always the backdrop to the story. They're always telling you something that happened while baseball was going on in the background. So back to nostalgia, back to memories. They're telling you how, oh my God, my dad used to take me to the games and I used to feel this way. Or they would say things like, tell
• 21:58
  Speaker B: me it's a sissy lala sport is what you're talking about.
• 22:00
  Speaker A: No, I'm not. No, not at all. I would listen on the, like on the ride home, I would fall asleep in the car and the game would. The ninth inning would still be on and I'd be trying to listen before I fell asleep in the car, right? For me it was always like, game on. Not at the ballpark, but game on on the television. My dad in his stupid green chair falling asleep and like the numbing sound of the game. And I was just. I felt safe in summer. Like it was summertime and I just felt safe. My point is, is normally you don't hear people talking about the game. You hear people telling a story about how it made them feel at a time in their life that they wish they could go back to, which is nostalgia, which is the whole reason I started this damn episode in the first place. And when you think about baseball right now, what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about being really excited to see an angel game? Or are you thinking about going to the angel game with your daughters and having a night at the park? Just tell me, what are you thinking?
• 22:54
  Speaker B: You may or may not be right.
• 22:56
  Speaker A: Whoa. No. Now I want to know. What do you got? What is it?
• 23:00
  Speaker B: No, you're like, the baseball game makes it exciting. We do pay attention. They learn about, you know, the game and the sport and they love it. But yes, if you were to ask, I even think the kids, what's the best part about baseball? It would be going to the stadium, cracking, you know, my peanuts and getting thrown on the floor and being with mom and dad and bingo.
• 23:23
  Speaker A: Yeah, okay, like it or not. And I know, and maybe the word romantic isn't awesome when it comes to, like, kids and parents. But yes, I'm using the word romantic. And like, it's just, it's a frickin love story. I don't care if it's between a man and a woman, grandparents and grandchildren, husband and wife, there's children, there's a
• 23:37
  Speaker B: special moment in time that you don't get at any other sporting event. Oh.
• 23:40
  Speaker A: And then when you look back in your life, you always think about those special moments.
• 23:44
  Speaker B: So really, what you're saying is everyone needs to go to a baseball game.
• 23:46
  Speaker A: Oh, my God.
• 23:47
  Speaker B: You need to experience it once.
• 23:48
  Speaker A: Hells yeah. You do. Absolutely.
• 23:52
  Speaker B: That was really sweet. Okay. Thank you so much. Wow, look at you.
• 23:55
  Speaker A: And you only bespurched me twice.
• 23:58
  Speaker B: Twice.
• 23:58
  Speaker A: Two times.
• 23:59
  Speaker B: Let's go. Who's counting?
• 24:01
  Speaker A: I'm always counting. Clearly, yes.
• 24:03
  Speaker B: Okay. You gave me one fun fact in that whole episode. Are there any more?
• 24:06
  Speaker A: There's a lot.
• 24:07
  Speaker B: A lot.
• 24:08
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 24:08
  Speaker B: About baseball or about, like, romantic.
• 24:10
  Speaker A: I'm gonna do romantic fun facts.
• 24:12
  Speaker B: What? I don't even know how this is gonna work.
• 24:14
  Speaker A: It's gonna work fine. Like, just chill out. Just trust me.
• 24:16
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 24:17
  Speaker A: Okay. I got a little bit of everything. I got a little bit of everything.
• 24:19
  Speaker B: Okay, go ahead.
• 24:19
  Speaker A: Everything's built in.
• 24:20
  Speaker B: Sprinkles on.
• 24:20
  Speaker A: Okay, here we go. Number one. Did you know the whole reason we started singing the national anthem at every sporting event in the world?
• 24:27
  Speaker B: It was mandated.
• 24:28
  Speaker A: No. Because of a baseball game. I think we had this one once before. I think I remember this fun fact. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was in the 1918 World Series in Chicago in the middle of World War I. A military band played the Star Spangled Banner during the seventh inning stretch. And there just happened to be, like, a bunch of soldiers that were in the stands at that day. And the music started playing, and the stadium stood up and, like, honored the military soldiers. And then ever since then, like, literally the next day, they did it again. The next day they again. And ever since then, they played the Star Spangled Banner. And it went to all the stadiums in baseball and then all of the. All the different sports in the United States. And there you go.
• 25:05
  Speaker B: All right.
• 25:06
  Speaker A: Star Spangled Banner.
• 25:07
  Speaker B: That's a little romantic.
• 25:08
  Speaker A: Number two, remember the seventh inning stretch thing you talked about earlier?
• 25:11
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 25:12
  Speaker A: We all get up.
• 25:12
  Speaker B: Yeah. Because it was so long.
• 25:14
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's what she said. Okay, here's where it comes from. 1910. Then President William Howard Taft. Apparently, he was at a game in Washington and he got tired of sitting, and he was a larger man, big president. I don't want to besmirch, but, like, he was a big, big president. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so when he stood up to stretch his legs, everybody else stood up because they were like, the president, United States is standing up right now.
• 25:37
  Speaker B: And subsequently, history was written.
• 25:39
  Speaker A: It just stuck.
• 25:40
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 25:41
  Speaker A: After that, everybody started standing up in the seventh inning. Okay, and, like, how is that, like. Like, literally, you sing like, we all sing. We're singing together like that. I know it sounds, like, super cheesy, but that's also another one, like, Take Me out to the.
• 25:53
  Speaker B: You're right.
• 25:53
  Speaker A: It's very iconic, and, like, that's also part of the road. It's like, we all can be goofy together, and it's totally okay. All right. All right, sorry. Back on track number three. Okay. The whole ambiance setting thing we were talking about. Do you know there's actually a guideline in baseball? I think I talked about it a little earlier, where, like, the stadium has to face. So. Right, right, right. So the. It's not. The sun's not in. Yeah, yeah. So I guess architects, every time they design a new stadium, home plate is supposed to point east, northeast, so that it keeps the sun out of the batter's eyes. So most parks are designed, sun will set in the stands behind instead of directly over the pitcher's shoulder, which I think is awesome. But also that probably makes it easier for the batter, and I think it's bullshit because, like, we should probably make shit harder for the batter sometimes. Well, I guess.
• 26:36
  Speaker B: No, because they know, because that's the only moment of offense.
• 26:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And they only hit the damn ball 25% of the time. All right, number four. Okay, here's a good one. Ever wonder why the hot dog got so popular? Like, why the hot dog at baseball games? Like, why not something else?
• 26:48
  Speaker B: Well, like processed meat. Right. World War I or 2. And I like this Spam and hot dogs.
• 26:53
  Speaker A: I don't know, kind of onto something. You got the through line there. Yeah, yeah. So back in the 1800s, they needed something cheap, fast, and easy to carry through the stands that didn't need silverware or a plate. And so here we are. Hot dogs were born. They were already cooked. Throw them away. Got your hot dog here, right? Absolutely. That's totally cool. Now. I mean, now you go to Angel. I still like hot dogs. Like, at Angel Stadium, I'll still eat them, but, like, you can get filet mignon.
• 27:17
  Speaker B: Oh, no, I. I get the. I get the. All the seasonal bougie stuff.
• 27:20
  Speaker A: Let's go. Right. You get it, Cargo. Like, you name it. Right. My kids will walk around the entire stadium to get one. Dad, I'm going to go over there. I'm like, yeah. Two hot dogs, please. Thank you very much. All right. I'm so old.
• 27:32
  Speaker B: The only time that hot dogs are appropriate.
• 27:33
  Speaker A: Right? All right, number five. Okay. So the phrase that Came out of left field, obviously.
• 27:38
  Speaker B: Baseball.
• 27:39
  Speaker A: Duh. But do you know why that's what I'm going.
• 27:41
  Speaker B: Because it came out of left field.
• 27:42
  Speaker A: Okay. So in some early ballparks, the left side of the field was always positioned next to, like, a busy street or, like, a public area. So during games, weird things would occasionally get thrown onto the field. Yeah. And players would be like, what the hell? That just came out of left field. And that's how the whole thing started.
• 27:59
  Speaker B: They'd like, oh, that's amazing.
• 28:00
  Speaker A: Throw shit back. Right. Because it was just like, people were just throwing their trash and whatever. Talk about Americans. Okay. And finally, I saved the best one for last. Of course, this is going to bring the whole romance thing home. Okay. Baseball stadiums are one of the most common places in America for public marriage proposals. Thank you very much.
• 28:19
  Speaker B: Interesting. Yes.
• 28:20
  Speaker A: Did you know teams have their own department that handles marriage proposals all the time? Yes. Some parks even have what's called proposal packages, where they'll obviously put the message on the big screen and so on and so forth. And, like, you get a keepsake and all sorts of shit. Like, you buy in advance whoever's gonna do the proposing. I think that's amazing. Yeah. Of all the places people choose to get engaged, they choose baseball stadiums. Why, Amanda? Why? Maybe because it's romantic and maybe because they made out there, and maybe that's where they fell in love.
• 28:49
  Speaker B: Okay. Maybe it was like a slow burn.
• 28:51
  Speaker A: Mike.
• 28:51
  Speaker B: You got it. You got. It's a slow burn. We get it.
• 28:55
  Speaker A: America's true love story.
• 28:57
  Speaker B: Like. Yeah, I guess so.
• 28:59
  Speaker A: Done. I win.
• 29:00
  Speaker B: Okay. All right. Well, it's. Evidently, it's not just about eating snacks and going and watching people get struck out or hitting a home run.
• 29:09
  Speaker A: I didn't strike out, but evidently.
• 29:13
  Speaker B: I mean, I guess it's a metaphor for your relationship. Right.
• 29:16
  Speaker A: Thank you. It's a metaphor for life.
• 29:19
  Speaker B: You're right. You win. I did not see it coming. I was totally thinking you were full of hot air today.
• 29:25
  Speaker A: Here's what we're going to do. But you and I are. Bring the kids.
• 29:30
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 29:30
  Speaker A: And we'll go to the baseball game. We're going to hang out at least one time this summer, and it's going to be glorious. We're not picking a day game. We're picking a night game. And it's going to be awesome. And we are going.
• 29:39
  Speaker B: It's not Sundays.
• 29:40
  Speaker A: Right. I'm going to point all this crap out to you, and then in two seconds, you're going to turn to Trent.
• 29:43
  Speaker B: They're all dreamy eyed.
• 29:44
  Speaker A: I'm going to be Dreamy eye. You're going to turn to Trent and start macking down. It's going to be glorious. Kids are gonna be like, what's mommy and daddy doing? I'm like, come over here, kiddos. Get over here. Get over here. Uncle Pete. All right, Sorry. Wrap this sucker up. What are we doing?
• 29:55
  Speaker B: I don't know. You're gonna tell me. I guess. If anybody wants to learn a little more about why baseball's romantic, should they watch a movie besides going in and experiencing it?
• 30:04
  Speaker A: Obviously, go experience it. Just like me and Amanda are gonna do. Of course. Because you gotta, like, let summer, like unfold in front of you. Yes, do that. But dude, there's like a lot of baseball movies you could watch, right? Bull Durham.
• 30:16
  Speaker B: Sandlot.
• 30:17
  Speaker A: One of my favorite. Sandlot. Feel the dreams. I love sandlot. Moneyball. Brad Pitt even says it in Moneyball. He goes, how can baseball not be romantic? That's probably one of the best.
• 30:27
  Speaker B: And that everybody is where this episode came from. Evidently.
• 30:30
  Speaker A: No, I just realized. Right. Deep core. Yes, absolutely. Deep core memory. Did you see that movie?
• 30:36
  Speaker B: No, I'm probably.
• 30:37
  Speaker A: I don't know. It was about the old. He was the general manager, Billy Bean. Whatever. Real. Based on a true story of the Oakland A's. And they didn't have payroll. They had a shitty payroll. I mean, they're going up against the Yankees and the Dodgers and all these guys. And he created something I think called saber metrics. Basically, like figuring out all these analytics behind baseball. And the Oakland A's went on the 21 game win streak, blah, blah, blah, ended up, I think. And I don't know if they won the pennant that year. I think they did. Anyway. It was crazy. Please go back and watch. And it's Brad Pitt. I mean, Brad Pitt's amazing. Okay. That's kind of all like. No, there's nothing. What? Go watch a baseball game. Go watch a baseball movie. Done and done. Okay. And then, you know, if you don't want to do any of these things, just.
• 31:10
  Speaker B: What do I need to remember?
• 31:11
  Speaker A: Yes. To be sort of sophisticated. Okay.
• 31:13
  Speaker B: Rather, how to. What do I need to remember to be able to convince people that baseball is romantic?
• 31:17
  Speaker A: Okay. Are you ready for this? Here we go. Baseball feels different from most other sports because it's one of the very few sports where the defense actually controls the ball. The pitcher starts every moment, which turns every pitch into a psychological duel between the pitcher and the batter. Instead of just physical play like other sports. Number two, baseball stadiums are designed to feel like summer evenings. Most games start in the daylight and end under the stadium lights, which means the atmosphere literally changes as the game unfolds. Number three, unlike almost every other sport, baseball does not run on a clock. The game only ends when the final out is made, which means there's always a possibility of a comeback, which is absolutely the most romantic thing ever. Number four, Baseball is built around failure. Even the greatest hitters in history only succeed about 30% of the time, which means the entire sport is about resilience and getting up again after you miss. Just like the story of life. And finally, the reason people love baseball isn't because of the game itself. It's all the memories that come attached to it. For most fans, the sport is just a backdrop to stories about family or childhood or summer nights under soft lights and the people who they choose to watch it with. And that's all you need to remember to be sort of sophisticated.
• 32:27
  Speaker B: Well, there you have it, dear listeners, our deep dive into why baseball might secretly be the most romantic sport in America. Not because of the score or the stats, but because of everything happening around the game. The tension, the memories, and those little moments where time feels like it slows down just long enough to hear your own heartbeat. If we did our job right today, you're walking away a little more sophisticated and maybe seeing baseball a little differently, not just as a sport, but as a story that unfolds slowly and where the drama lives in the anticipation and the moments that surprise you. As always, if you like this episode, hit, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with one friend who says baseball is boring.
• 33:05
  Speaker A: Like you did before, you can explain
• 33:07
  Speaker B: to them why they're actually missing the whole point.
• 33:10
  Speaker A: Wow, coming from you, that's kind of a big deal.
• 33:12
  Speaker B: So until next time, stay curious, stay patient, and remember, sometimes the most interesting stories aren't the fast ones. They're the ones that take their time to develop.