By: Staff
February 6, 2017
John: I look forward to warm weather and baseball. I don’t want to imagine myself at a football game when it's 5 below. In the summer time, you get warmer temperatures, hot dogs and the sound of the bat and ball. When you go to a baseball game it’s not only more affordable but you get that connection between the players and the fans. You don’t have that with the NFL, NBA or hockey. It’s no fun putting a jacket on. I loved going to the United Center with Bill, Vince and Russell back last year, it was awesome, but wearing that jacket and dodging through that blizzard was the killer.
Russell: I have to agree with you, it’s baseball, definitely. The season is great and you get to watch more games on TV. Football season is one game on the weekend and that’s it for the whole week. With baseball you get a game on every day of the week - at night, and sometimes even in the morning there’s a game in Japan. I agree, it’s no fun sitting watching basketball with your coat on. Football is the same way. Baseball is my favorite sport. When I was a little boy, that was the first thing I’d watch. The Cubs and Mets in ’69. Hockey is OK, but I can’t really afford to go to the games so I can’t say if I’d enjoy it or not. I like it on TV. Basketball is a nice sport but it’s always fast paced. It’s one sport where one team can dominate for a while. Teams like Golden State and Cleveland just get better and better and other teams are still trying, like Sacramento. I’d go baseball, then basketball and football.
Bill: Russell, that’s the same order I would follow, frankly. Baseball was my childhood. It was everything. In those days I lived in Gary, Indiana on the beach. We would go on Sunday mornings, after the beaches were full, and collect the bottles and turn them in for a nickel. We would get enough of those to get the money necessary to get on the South Shore to go see the White Sox. Spring is also the promise of summer. As I have gotten older, I’ve realized I won’t go to games that are in April or May because it’s too cold. I would rather go to a football game with all the clothes on knowing that it’s going to be cold, than going with the hope that you might get through the game without freezing to death. Baseball’s too long to be sitting. Once the summer is here though, I just love going to the ball game. I have never done anything, but feel good at a baseball game. When I go to a baseball game, I can see the game, I’m in the game. I’m there. It gets me out of myself and out of this world. A baseball game is not the same on TV. Now, basketball is a good TV sport. You can see the pattern in the game, you can see up front and you can see the replays. I love football until the first guy gets hurt and then I can’t watch it anymore. I just think of that guy’s career and I guess it’s 'cause I’m a grandfather. It just hurts to see people regularly injured.
John: As far as football and basketball are concerned, you’re right, Bill. They are great TV sports. Hockey, I think, is difficult for both TV and in person. Following the puck is the hardest thing to do. You’re back and forth, back and forth. But, you have to admire the hockey players. I don’t think any of us could do what they do.
Russell: Hockey is a fun sport, but it’s pretty fast, like John said. I like the Blackhawks and some other teams, but I still like baseball better, if I can go to a game without it getting rained out.
Bill: I was thinking about why you get attached to a team. I got attached to the White Sox back when they had stripes with red, like third baseman Bill Melton's era [1968-75]. The Dodgers and the Cardinals have always had great uniforms.
John: The Yankees too!
Bill: In a way those are important symbols.