Baseball, for example
When I was younger I use to love watching NBA games. Consider the time difference between Israel, were I used to live than, to the US, were the games took place, I was pretty dedicated. But over the years the game stop being attracting for me - mostly because it stop being about sport. The way the league operates took the purity from the game and made it over commercialized, and when it become more about marketing and less about sport I simply lost interest.
The WSJ published a similar story about baseball, but with different ending. Apparently many people that lost interest with modern baseball, but that were still passionate about what baseball used to be, decided to create an alternative - vintage baseball:
Played using rules from the 19th century, vintage baseball looks like baseball except for the homemade leather balls, old cotton uniforms and fielders playing barehanded. There are no vendors selling 18 varieties of baseball caps. There are no songs played when a batter steps up and no mascots firing t-shirts from a bazooka into the mezzanine section. There is no mezzanine section. There are, instead, benches and folding chairs.
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There are two leagues - the Vintage Base Ball Association and the Vintage Base Ball Federation - and since the mid-1990s, hundreds of teams have formed throughout the country. Though each team uses rules from different years or eras, most players have become accustomed to catching barehanded and, even when the rules allow the use of thin cotton gloves (mid-1890s regulations), many players prefer no protection.
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And it is in this relaxed setting that vintage baseball restores the game’s role as a communal event in a way you rarely see even in other amateur leagues. It’s not that vintage baseball is better than baseball. It’s just that it feels more like baseball.
This is a great example how solutions emerge to solve needs. Some might think that it is a proper role for the government to deal with cheating in sport games, somehow it seems to me that a solution that emerge from the people will be much more effective.
Tags: Baseball, Football, The invisible hand, Vintage BaseballRelated posts