Baseball the most exciting sport

It’s that time of year when sports fans can watch the World Series, football, basketball and hockey, with split screen if they wish.

If you search hard, some soccer is available too, but why bother?

Before moving onto the real sports, it’s noted that Paul the octopus, who received worldwide fame by correctly predicting last summer’s soccer World Cup matches, died last week.

Stefan Porwoll, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany, said: “His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself.” I wouldn’t say “almost.”

It’s rumoured that Paul committed suicide by strangling himself with one of his arms rather than having to watch another soccer game. However, staff is sticking by the story that Paul simply died of boredom during one too many 0-0 matches.

On to baseball and the World Series, a game that some misguided people think is also slow and boring.

As Yogi Berra might have said: “They’ll get smart unless they’re too dumb to think about it.”

No other sport matches baseball for suspense and drama. Every pitch in baseball offers the possibility of a hit or run. The game does that at a relaxed pace, allowing time for the suspense and drama to build.

Hits happen about 25 per cent of the time. Get a couple of hits and a walk and the bases are loaded. Now you have real nail-biting drama.

Pitchers often get yanked from a game, to be replaced by a pitcher from the bull pen. This usually happens when the team on the field faces a crisis. The replacement takes time, but that too allows suspense to build.

There is just the right amount of time in a baseball game to have a chat with a friend.

There is enough yawn time in soccer to read War and Peace.

Every play in football can result in a touchdown. A small number of plays are scoring plays, but - like hits in baseball - good plays contribute to long scoring drives. The probability of a successful drive is about 40 per cent. Add to that the instant replay: a real suspense builder.

Every shot in hockey and basketball could be a score. However, both games lack drama, for different reasons.

In basketball, the chance of a shot scoring is about 40 per cent. Such a high chance of scores - often over 100 in a game - devalues the excitement of each score. Teams can get down by five scores and easily come back. That doesn’t usually happen in other sports, especially in soccer where I believe the mercy rule is set at a two-goal lead.

In hockey, the score per shot rate is about 15 per cent. Eight scores in a game is above average. In other words, a goal is a big deal compared with a basket.

Hockey’s downfall is that there isn’t enough down-time for drama to unfold. It’s a non-social sport, allowing little time for one fan to chat with another for fear of missing something important, namely, a goal. Or a fight.

When watching a hockey game, I’d like to see hockey rather than amateur boxers on ice.

To see a real fight, watch professional boxers. No one would pay to see heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko play hockey. Why pay to watch hockey players pretend to be boxers?

Klitschko would give up 20 pounds to New York Rangers’ beast Derek Boogaard but, in a ring, Boogaard wouldn’t last two rounds with Klitschko.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.