Sports News Australia | BackPageLead

Brrrr. It must be the World Series

To: Andrew Demetriou, David Gallop, Ben Buckley, James Sutherland

From: Ashley Browne, The Toy Department

Date: 28 October, 2009

Guys, we're taking the trouble to pen this memo to you because while we understand there is a lot to learn and much to like from the slick and highly-amped world of American sport, not all that glitters is gold.

In this instance, we're talking about baseball's World Series, which kicks off tomorrow between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Now, you probably know that in the States, baseball likes to call itself the national pastime, even though it has long been surpassed in popularity by American football - NFL and college - which is now the national sport.

Baseball likes to refer to its players as the "boys of summer" but a quick glance at your calendar shows that today is October 28, so we are much closer to the end of the year than we are to the middle of it.

Well, these so-called "boys of summer" will be playing for the premiership of baseball in conditions that aren't exactly summer-like. The forecasts for both New York, where the first two games will be played and then Philadelphia, for games three through five, are for cool and damp weather. A playoff game in Denver a fortnight ago was postposed for a day because of snow. Forget the sunhat and the sunscreen. Gloves, scarves, beanies and even thermals are requisite items for playoff baseball.

Add to the fact that Major League Baseball insists upon playing the games at night, and you add to the discomfort for players and fans.

Night games kill baseball at this time of year. The weather comes into play more than it should. Playoff games usually run for more than four hours and often end after midnight, which means that casual fans and more importantly children, rarely stick around to watch the matches to their conclusion. "Welcome to the World Series. Children, you may now go to bed."

So our message to you, Andrew, David, Ben and James is not to follow the lead of baseball, which is a slave to the demands of TV, sometimes to the detriment of the sport.

We like our daytime AFL grand final (particularly this year given how cold it was), twilight NRL grand finals and soccer and cricket matches that finish at a respectable hour.

Please keep them that way.