Crafting with Kids

For a lot of people not enamored to the sports, being keen on baseball may be something short of madness. For them there is no excitement in seeing grown-up men go after a small ball, flung or whacked by another grown-up man who obviously wanted the ball to go beyond the grasp of others. But for baseball aficionados, it is the best game in the world, even immortalized in small pieces of cardboard called baseball cards. Most cherished are Topps baseball cards, those plain reminders of the great men of baseball, complete with the performance statistics, names, autographs and other information so dear to the hearts of baseball fans.

But why is baseball so admired? The first reason is because it is a viewer sport. Since it is played in a large area, it may be viewed by many persons. Even if watching is confined to the number of people who stand at the periphery of the baseball diamond, the number is still more. Compare baseball to chess and you get the notion. If merely a portion of the number gets truly engrossed in the sports, the real fans will be more numerous. One irrefutable proof is the super-large stadiums mainly for staging baseball games.

Second, baseball is an activitygame. There is much action, but usually in flurries, so the viewer is not overwhelmed. A viewer can actually follow the action of the important players as they fly around the bases, hurl the ball, or dash home to score. But breath-taking, split-second action happens quite often, enoughsufficient to get people enthusiastic in watching the games. Moreover, the game is quite easy to follow, the players clearly viewable, winning and losing quickly understood.

Next, it is a game of heroes. The guyplayer who hits the ball to outside the field and make numerous homeruns is a hero. The pitcher who regularly outs his batting competitors is a hero. The shortstop who gets the fly ball with the bright sun shining in his eyes is a hero. Anyone who makes a home run inspite of great odds, is also a hero. They may be infrequent, true, but they happen and you need to watch the games to witness them.

Baseball is a multi player sports, from two players to 20 or even beyond that. It is adaptable enough that from a pair of players one as batter, the other pitches and fielder it can accommodate to as many as wanted, as long as the field can hold them and all agrees to the arrangement.

Then it is a game for everyone. For every age, any status, from all styles of life: there is no discrimination or prerequisites. A child, a father or a senior citizen and all the others between and all family sides can enjoy it at the same time, in the same stadium, for the same purposes. It makes for a great bonding not just for family members but for friends, neighbors and perhaps strangers.

Last, it is a game of skill, guts, willpower and physical abilities, all of which we hold essential for ourselves and thus in others, too.

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