Fwd: Re: [19cBB] Three Times Three a Tiger ?

[Seán Fitzpatrick]

Larry Horn wrote:
<<My guess is that football originated as, and for a long time was still primarily, a college sport, while baseball is mostly associated with professional players...I think that's the key difference rather than anything intrinsic to the sports themselves, although the opposite position could be defended, no doubt.>>

Basketball and football are not the only school sports, but they are the ones with cheerleading.  They generate mass enthusiasm and audiences, while individual sports--and baseball--are less effective representatives of collegial spirit.  Every football and basketball season  has pep rallies and a "Homecoming" game, but homecoming baseball games are as rare as homecoming gymnastics meets.

Cheerleading goes with football and basketball but not with baseball because, although baseball is a team effort, it has much of the character of individual sports.  Play in baseball follows the ball back and forth between defense and offense in a sequence of individual actions, while the fact of "possession" in football and basketball leads to concerted team efforts that represent school unity, which can in turn be expressed in mass cheers ("Block that kick!").  In the etiquette of individual sports, cheering on the play is regarded as ludicrous and even rude.  While pretty girls in tight sweaters are always welcome, cheers in baseball would be as silly as for tennis ("Break that serve"?) or fencing ("parry that riposte"?).  

Seán Fitzpatrick