In these days of having every live game at your fingertips, it is important to not let yourself fall into a trap.

It is important to let yourself settle into a game.

Resist the temptation to slip into ‘highlight mode’ and bounce from game-to-game.

“hey look at that score in the 6th!”

“oh look at that interesting situation in the 8!”

Blah.

In order to make Critical Observations, one must give themself over to the game completely or run the risk of turning into a highlight-hungry glam-fan ogling over superstars.

This is when giving up on a game can hurt:

You are watching Houston vs San Diego, and jumped to watch another game
because Houston looked like a mountain when they got out to a 5-run lead
in the 5th…

Hours later you are back at the same game which San Diego tied in the
9th, 10th and 11th innings, and eventually got a three-run home run in
the 12th in what had by then become the longest game of the year…

You saw the last home run.

You do not even feel good about that.

You feel empty.

This is exactly the type of game you scan for in the off-season.

But

With all this choice at your fingertips, and now that you know so much, you thought listening to the New York Yankees radio announcers boo their own team as the Yankees were losing to the Detroit Tigers in the 7th would be more fun.

It was not more fun.

You were wrong.

Baseball is observing.

Be on the lookout for time-conflicts.

It is challenging when all the games start at 7pm because it forces a decision.

The 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm relieves you of so much frog-hopping.

Do yourself a favour:

1. Check the schedule
2. Get the game times and interest (or not-interest) of the situation
3. Set the schedule
4. Hang in there