Time flies when you're having fun

I heard an interesting story on All Things Considered on National Public Radio on Wednesday. They were interviewing reporter David Biderman from the Wall Street Journal about a story he had done where he analyzed how much action there is in a baseball game. Here's a link to the transcript of the radio story. You an also listen to the story from that page.

Most people who don't like baseball (and even a lot of people who do like baseball) complain that the game is too slow. They say there is too much waiting around. So, Mr. Biderman decided to measure it. Of course, when you measure anything, you have to define what you are measuring and that is always the hardest part. What is "action" and what is "waiting around"? At first view, you might say that watching the pitcher and catcher trying to decide what the next pitch is going to be is "waiting around". But if there are men on base or the score is close and depending on how good the batter is, this can be a very exciting part of the game. The runner is taking a lead off the base - perhaps setting up to attempt to steal the next base. The coaches are sending signals to the batter, the runners, the fielders and the pitcher and catcher. The fans are yelling. Anything can happen and it is going to happen fast! That, to me, is the essence of baseball - the anticipation and the preparation for the coming action. Each fielder is running down a check list of what he will do if the ball is hit and where it is hit. Each runner is going down his own check list of what he will do if the ball is hit or the pitcher tries to catch him off base. There are so many variables that I can't imagine how anyone would say it is boring.

Anyway, you can go to the web pages for either article to see what they had to say. Let's just give a summary by saying that, based on what they call "action", there is only about 14 minutes of it in an average baseball game. "Aha," shout the football fans (American football, that is). "See? We knew baseball was mostly 'waiting around' as compared to football where there is always action." Well, not so fast, football fans. Mr. Biderman did the same kind of analysis for football and found that there was only 11 minutes of "action" in a typical American football game. And I dare to say that during the "waiting around" times during a football game, there is no tension. No one is going to try to sneak the ball down the field when no one is looking in football.

So, it all depends on whether you are enjoying the game or not. If you're having fun, the time flies by. By the way, that's my picture here - a Time Fly. You might be thinking that since this is a story about baseball, it would have been a Pop Fly. Yeah, we engineers can be funny sometimes, too.