Was Spring Training better back in the day or do we just have more access?
There was a time when I would watch every televised Spring Training game? Even this decade I was listening into every spring broadcast (even if the opponent feed) on the MLB App before the horrible commercial levels finally made me stop.
The last few years I have barely turned on the telecasts?
Is this a function of Too Much Media? Back in the day if I needed to connect with the Mets the only way I could do it was by checking out Tim McCarver on a Saturday afternoon. Now – instantaneous news of Vargas and/or the lineup and/or Thor walking around without a shirt.
In some ways it makes us all more connected, but in some ways less connected.
I think it’s just a function of growing up with 7 channels and no internet vs. now. Back then, what else would I do all day – play Dodge ‘Em again? The Mets were a way to kill 2. 5 hours.
Now baseball wants us to not kill but find four hours in a world where everything is on demand. That’s a tough sell.
Final thought – maybe it’s just a wistful memory, but I feel like the Spring Games used to be more “real” especially as we got later in Spring. This thing where Spring games are basically the home team sort of playing for real against starless visitors wearing #97 feels like it crept in during the last 10 years or so. Maybe I am just remembering things the way I want.
Anyway, now we enter the real slog. This 10 days of dragging it out, the novelty of baseball has worn off, and 9 beat reporters speculating over who will be the 25th man. Maybe we were better off with a few bullet points in tomorrow’s newspaper.
