Recalling the time I attended a 6 hour and 13 minute Baseball game \ stacker news ~Stacker

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Recalling the time I attended a 6 hour and 13 minute Baseball game

742 sats \ 13 comments \ @grayruby 4 Mar Stacker_Sports

Baseball has been one of my passions since I was a young child. Some of the fondest memories of my youth are playing baseball, watching and attending baseball games with my dad and skipping high school classes in the early years after the Wildcard was added to the playoffs, so I wouldn't miss any day games.

The days I have not thoroughly enjoyed watching baseball are few and far between. But all of today's talk about this marathon cricket match between Australia and India (which apparently only appeared to be a marathon to non cricket fans because it seems to be the normal course of business for games to take 7.5 hours) reminded me of a Blue Jays game I attended almost a decade ago that went 19 innings and took over 6 hours.

The game was on July 1st, 2016. For those that are unaware July 1st is Canada Day, where we celebrate the anniversary of the formation of the Dominion of Canada on July 1st 1867. (On a side note, there used to be a Canadian grocery store called Dominion and as a kid I always thought that name was awesome- sadly Dominion got purchased and rolled up into the Metro (nice stores, lame name) grocery store chain around 15 years ago). Anyways, back on track, besides opening day and the playoffs (playoffs???), Canada Day is the premier Blue Jays game to attend. It is always sold out and filled with pre game festivities. Normally these pregame festivities are a lot of fun and a must see if you are a proud Canadian. However, on this day they just ended up making a very long day even longer.

This game featured a matchup between the visiting Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays. The 2016 Blue Jays were a very good team. They were coming off a trip to the American League Championship Series against the KC Royals in 2015 and later this year would face off again against these same Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship series. It was a low scoring but wild affair as two Blue Jays players and the manager got ejected from the game for arguing with the umpire. The game ended the 9th inning tied at 1-1. Both teams had a couple chances to score in extra innings but no runs were scored. Eventually the Blue Jays ran out of pitchers and had to use infielders Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney to pitch. Goins threw a scoreless inning in the 18th, which was fun and brought a bit of life back into the quiet crowd but then got injured in the 19th and had to be replaced by Barney who ended up giving up what would be the game winning home run to perennial Blue Jays destroyer Carlos Santana. All in all the game took 6 hours and 13 minutes and the Blue Jays lost 2-1 in 19 innings. Add in some travel time to and from the stadium and the 30 minute Canada Day pregame show and it was a long day of baseball. One of the few that I didn't particularly enjoy that much.

Don't get me wrong. I was enjoying the game until extra innings but there were a few times in extras where my buddy and I looked at each other and said "should we get out of here" but agreed to give it "one more inning" and eventually fell victim to sunk cost around the five hour mark when we were resigned to just ride it out.

So how on earth do people watch cricket for 8 straight hours without getting bored?

Sats for all, GR

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40 sats \ 2 replies \ @astro_penguin 4 Mar

I was at a baseball game that went into the 11th (or maybe 12th, I'm a little hazy on that) inning, but nothing quite that long!

I've never been to a cricket match yet, but I plan to do it sometime! None of the stadiums are anywhere near me though, so it'll be a multi day event to plan. If I do go it'll most likely be a T20 match, so similar or shorter to a standard baseball game length.

I'm not sure how I would do at a Test or ODI match. I do watch the longer forms of cricket from home, but it's often something that I'm keeping half an eye on while I'm working on another project. I'll usually pay more attention when it's a player I particularly like or a tense section. It's not that I don't have the attention span to sit down and watch, I just have too many other responsibilities to attend to!

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby OP 4 Mar

I think I would try a T20 event first too.

Oddly enough, I think I have been to both the longest and shortest Blue Jays games home games ever. When I was kid I went to a game that finished in under 2 hours.

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @astro_penguin 4 Mar

I want to see Major League Cricket sometime, they are currently splitting matches between Texas and North Carolina still. Morrisville, NC is still a 6+ hour drive, but it's better than Texas! If I were to go I would probably stay a couple of days and try to go to every match over that time. We'll see.

That is interesting that you've been to games at both extremes! I've not been to a huge amount of games, but I think most that I've been to were around the average length.

40 sats \ 1 reply \ @kurszusz 4 Mar

"So how on earth do people watch cricket for 8 straight hours without getting bored?"

The answer is relativelly easy and simple...we are not the same (ant this is one of the most beautiful thing in our life imo)...someones like baseball, someones cricket...and someones other sports/hobbies :)

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby OP 4 Mar

I hear you and I think it is a matter of what you are used to. If you are used to an 8 hour game then it won't seem long but if you are used to a 3 hour baseball game and it takes 6, it seems long.

40 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 4 Mar

I'm increasingly convinced that Canada Day is some sort of prank. It was definitely Canada Day for several days while we were driving through Canada in August. It was all over the radio and all the campsites and lodging were jammed up with Canada Day celebrators.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby OP 4 Mar

Canada Day is not in August. That is what we call the civic holiday in Ontario, but I believe is heritage day in Alberta. It occurs the first Monday in August.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Msd0457890 4 Mar

I feel very identified with you. I was born in a country where baseball runs through your veins, where you become a born fan. I remember watching the games on television 📺 with my dad and my brother and we never get tired of watching them.

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @grayruby OP 4 Mar

cc: @Jer

Do you recall this game?

40 sats \ 3 replies \ @Jer 5 Mar

I know of it for sure. As a general rule: I don’t watch games when they are wearing the red jerseys.