"Are you kidding me!?!" - Great catch

BobUpnDown

BobUpnDown

Well-known member
I do find US baseball commentators, often, overhype the athletic prowess of the sport, or is it just me?

I'm comparing it against cricket catches & it just doesn't stack up, imho.. good hustle to get there but they use a freaking big mitt to catch with..

www.bbc.co.uk

'Are you kidding?' - Mullins takes 'impossible catch'

Watch Cedric Mullins make an "impossible catch" for the Baltimore Orioles against the Minnesota Twins in the MLB.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
I agree there are many cricket catches that are better, but it is still a good take!

I suppose you have to remember that these commentators don't watch cricket.
 
Catches like that are a lot harder in cricket as the ball often bounces out of your grasp when you hit the ground, so you have anticipate your landing making ut a lot harder. Not a problem if you are wearing a big catching mitt.
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
Ice hockey looks difficult.

The rest of their big sports look really easy. Being a quarter back and throwing the ball forward, easy. Being massive and dunking a ball in a hoop, easy. Catching a ball wearing a massive mitt, easy.

That is all I have to say about that.
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No sport is fundamentally easy or hard (except maybe gymnastics; wouldn't fancy my chances in that).

All that matters is doing it better than everyone else.

I always think the 10m air rifles at the Olympics sounds easy. I'm pretty confident I could hit the target every time. Could I hit the 0.5mm bullseye 60 times out of 60? That might be what you need to do to win.
 
BobUpnDown said:
I do find US baseball commentators, often, overhype the athletic prowess of the sport, or is it just me?

I'm comparing it against cricket catches & it just doesn't stack up, imho.. good hustle to get there but they use a freaking big mitt to catch with..

www.bbc.co.uk

'Are you kidding?' - Mullins takes 'impossible catch'

Watch Cedric Mullins make an "impossible catch" for the Baltimore Orioles against the Minnesota Twins in the MLB.
www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
I agree, americans overhype their own. they're obsessed with being huge as well. From boxing and Tyson's over hype, to Butterbean being taken seriously over there. Once the europeans were given fair air time, and big fights they started to dominate the yanks. Baseball players, a lot are bulky and strong, but they'd wilt by day two if they tried playing a cricket test match. mens Tennis has been european dominated for a long time. Basketball, unless you are a minimum of 6 foot 4 you are unlikely to be able to play the game to a good standard but they're no more athletic than a footy player. They have smaller playing areas, shorter game time, and rolling subs, they couldn't out run a prem league midfielder over middle and long distances but the yanks like to talk down footballers in favour of basketball and US football stars as athletes.

I think americans have a superhero mentality, they want to see freaks, 6 foot 8 basketball players, sumo size guys that can block, baseball players that can hit a ball out of the ground. It's a lack of subtlety in their sports stars, I think it's part of their national psyche of being bred better than anyone else, a superiority complex.

Anyway, as a an ex-resident of Baltimore it was great to see a little clip of Camden Yards
 
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Frozen Horse said:
No sport is fundamentally easy or hard (except maybe gymnastics; wouldn't fancy my chances in that).

All that matters is doing it better than everyone else.

I always think the 10m air rifles at the Olympics sounds easy. I'm pretty confident I could hit the target every time. Could I hit the 0.5mm bullseye 60 times out of 60? That might be what you need to do to win.
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Definitely rowing, just get a machine for your garage and if you really could be bothered you would win the Olympics within a few weeks of going on it. The reason people don't is because it's just so boring.
 
Brian Marwood said:
Definitely rowing, just get a machine for your garage and if you really could be bothered you would win the Olympics within a few weeks of going on it. The reason people don't is because it's just so boring.
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Totally agree.

Anyone could be an Olympic champion if they could be bothered, but it looks boring and a bit rubbish so why bother?

Similar to darts, all this fuss over that 40yr old 17yr old lad. Anyone could do it but who wants to throw darts at a board for hours on end? So boring.
 
Brian Marwood said:
Definitely rowing, just get a machine for your garage and if you really could be bothered you would win the Olympics within a few weeks of going on it. The reason people don't is because it's just so boring.
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I think similar with squash and tennis players.

Obviously no one plays squash anymore, but those who do are way fitter than tennis players whose rallies barely last ten seconds, especially in the men's game. Squash burns way more calories and is way harder, hence why most of them sack it off for tennis. I think the lowest ranked professional squash player in the world could win Wimbledon every year if he wanted, but those people just won't be inconvenienced enough to have to go and get the ball from the next court after losing a point, despite the bigger salaries.

You NEVER have to do that in squash.
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
Totally agree.

Anyone could be an Olympic champion if they could be bothered, but it looks boring and a bit rubbish so why bother?

Similar to darts, all this fuss over that 40yr old 17yr old lad. Anyone could do it but who wants to throw darts at a board for hours on end? So boring.
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A little wide of the mark there my toothpaste inspired friend, darts requires skill and precision. With rowing you to move some oars and off you go, there is no skill at all.
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
Totally agree.

Anyone could be an Olympic champion if they could be bothered, but it looks boring and a bit rubbish so why bother?

Similar to darts, all this fuss over that 40yr old 17yr old lad. Anyone could do it but who wants to throw darts at a board for hours on end? So boring.
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I remember James Cracknell's wife saying, on a podcast while sitting next to him, that being an Olympic champion with all the training is actually a really selfish thing to do, as it isn't THAT highly paid and it means your partner has to basically be a single parent during your training regimes, especially in an Olympic year.

Anyway, they're divorced now.
 
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Brian Marwood said:
A little wide of the mark there my toothpaste inspired friend, darts requires skill and precision. With rowing you to move some oars and off you go, there is no skill at all.
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The board doesn't move, you can pick your own darts, it's all just easy peasy muscle memory. Now, if they had to wear some outrageously slippery shoes on a greasy wooden floor like ten pin bowling as they approached the ochey,ockey? Then I might agree with you.
 
Colgates_shaving_foam said:
The board doesn't move, you can pick your own darts, it's all just easy peasy muscle memory. Now, if they had to wear some outrageously slippery shoes on a greasy wooden floor like ten pin bowling as they approached the ochey,ockey? Then I might agree with you.
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You do make a good point actually, perhaps darts is easier than hook a duck at the fair as the ducks are moving?
 
Yes, their catching is definitely easier due to the mitts - but on a related note, I've often heard it said (by various experts) that hitting a baseball is one of the very hardest things to do in all sports. The pitch comes at phenomenal speed and can move a great distance in the air. The batter has a ridiculously small amount of time to decide where the ball is going, what to do with it - and then try to actually do it. That's why even the greatest batters of all time only have hitting averages around .300 - which is a three in ten success rate, and that's before you even think about extra stuff like home runs.

If you're not convinced, or you want to know more, just google "hitting a baseball is hard" and you'll find a multitude of sources that explain it much better than I did.
 
Brian Marwood said:
You do make a good point actually, perhaps darts is easier than hook a duck at the fair as the ducks are moving?
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Hook a duck is definitely levels of complexity above darts.

The ducks are moving both laterally and vertically, presenting a far more difficult challenge than a simple game of arrows. The participants may also be feeling queasy from the amount of candyfloss/mini doughnuts/ hot dogs consumed.
 
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