When someone thinks of high school sports on a Friday night, he/she would most likely think of packed gyms, loud student sections, and the two or three parents who yell at officials like it’s their job. But not too many people will think of a crazy night in the bleachers at a high school baseball game.

The enjoyment in seeing your fellow peers and classmates succeeding athletically should get anyone to attend their events, but somehow the baseball stands never fill up. The factor that keeps students away from showing up to baseball games, is the deception that baseball is the most boring sport there is.

Baseball is a sport where if a player succeeds every three out of ten times, they will go down as one of the greats. Compared to basketball, where if one of the guards makes three out of ten shots, it will be obvious that they had a bad game, or are in a slump. In football, if the quarterback completes three passes on ten attempts, they might have the backup in at that point already. Failure is not an option in these sports as it is in baseball.

The constant feeling of excitement and knowing that anything can happen at any moment on a basketball court or a football field keeps the fans coming back. The amount of time a fan might have to wait for a play to entertain them at a baseball game could be two pitches, or it could be two innings, which is normally what repels students from attending a high school baseball game.

Especially when not every high school baseball player can throw 90 mph or hit the ball 400+ feet on a regular basis.

A student or fan can only truly appreciate the game once they fully understand the goal of each play and the intent with each pitch the pitcher throws. With each pitch the pitcher throws, he has a purpose in mind of where he wants the ball to go, and what he wants the ball to do while it’s in the air. Each at-bat is its own game of chess, between the pitcher and the batter.

For example, if the count is no balls and two strikes, the pitcher can throw a “waste pitch”, which is a ball not really near the strike zone just to see if the batter will swing at it. This is when the term “boring” is brought into play, and the two to three seconds spent anticipating a swing and a connection between the bat and ball were wasted, and now the fan is left in the seats just waiting for something to happen.

For baseball fans, sometimes the discussion about the game could be more interesting than the actual game itself. Talking with other fans about a decision the coach made back in the fourth inning that could’ve been made in a better way can sometimes intrigue people to watch the games. Games which have a lot less action than other sports.

To the average sports fan who is deciding if he/she should go to a baseball game or stay home, the decision should be easy after reading this article. Try understanding the difficult slow-paced game, and enjoy your peers battling it out with an opposing school for all seven innings.