A Question For My Blogger Friends
I've recently become re-interested in professional baseball with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays playing against the Florida Marlins these past few weeks. My question is: why do they alway spit? Years ago I stopped watching baseball for that reason; it turned my stomach to see them spit toward me onto my TV screen. I believe in the olden days they were chewing tobacco, but these days I don't see any evidence of that. No other team sport that I'm familiar with does that: not hockey, soccer, basketball, downhill snow skiing, figure skating, or any other sport that I've watched over the years. Do any of you know why this spitting is still a popular thing for baseball players to do? I have to shut my eyes when I see it coming. If they don't stop it, I may have to stop watching their game. If I knew that there was a good reason for it, I might just continue to watch and shut my eyes at those times.
posted by Monica @ Wednesday, June 28, 2006
13 comments
13 Comments:
I will let you in on a little secret. I watch all my baseball on mlb.com (click on GameDay). You don't have to listen to inane banter from the announcers and you don't have to watch them spit. They show pictures of who is up and who is pitching and they show where each ball is thrown and how fast it was going and whether it was a ball, strike, etc. Since the Tigers have been doing so good I keep this window going at work when they are playing and I just look every once and a while.
While I am happy to hear the scores every morning, and glad that the Tigers are doing so well, I curtail my actual baseball play by play watching to the Little League playoffs. I don't remember any spitting there.
I love watching the games, as does my son. We even have season tickets to the Los Angeles Dodgers. I think one of the main reasons they spit now is Sunflower Seeds. You will always notice a HUGE bucket of David sunflower seeds in each dugout for each game. Adam is addicted to them as well. When he was playing Little League and High School ball, there would be remanets in my washer and dryer from him leaving them in his back pocket.
I must admit tho, that I do turn away as well when they show it on tv. But if you go to a game you can't see it. At least not from our cheap seats! BTW your Devil Rays and our Dodgers just made a huge trade. Hopefully you guys will get something out of our players, that we couldn't.
Tigers RULE! unless they are playing the dodgers
Ah, spitting. I watched someone do it when I was seven years old, and, being impresionable, I started to do it too. I woman on whose porch we were playing commented on it and I was so embarassed about it that I stopped. Maybe nobody has pointed out to baseball players how offensive it is to fans. I don't know anybody that gets admiration for three fast spits in a row. It does effectively keep the dust down at home plate though.
Last night I saw a player spray it out between his teeth. You could take a shower in it. I think I'm giving up on baseball.
I asked Adam about this and he says tobacco is still prevelant.
Gee, I thought if one was chewing tobacco, they would have a swollen cheek, and their spit would be brown. I've seen neither of these with the players on TV. Am I wrong?
OK you guys, all this talk about spitting has raised my consiousness. I was happily enjoying the World Cup games (during commercials from Wimbledon) and now I see them spitting all the time. Yuch.
Don't they spit at Wimbledon?
Tennis, a gentlemans sport, does not have spitting. What it does have is sweating. Water intake is very closely controlled by the player and it is required because all the quick, moving activity forces the muscles to seek heat relief. The mouth gets dry very fast.
Yes, I was thinking about tennis and no spitting, then I thought that's because it's played on clay and cement and they would probably slip on it, so they don't do it. Then, watching Wimbledon I realized that HEY, THAT'S GRASS! So I guess it's because they are gentlemen.
I just watched the match between Naval & Agassi. I must admit that I saw Agassi spit twice during this match. I forgive him because I think they were swallowed tears. If not his tears, then mine.
If you go on line and type in Baseball and Spitting, they have aprons and framed prints of a baseball, spitting. ....I don't know....I don't like it at all.
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