But when the games really matter, baseball is unmatched. No other sport has the capacity to make your skin crawl for hours on end. Basketball is too frenetic to allow knots to develop in its spectators' stomachs. Football is vicarious violence and cheerleaders in costumes you wouldn't want your daughter to wear to the beach. It appeals to the more primitive part of society, and even with that considerable constituency, its success is largely predicated on office pools.
Baseball is more dramatic.
It is more thrilling. It is more difficult to predict. It is endlessly absorbing and often agonizing. It is a lot like first love, and it is bound to break your heart. It was real hard to watch,'' Hershiser said.