Major League Baseball: A Love Story

Born and raised in Norway, I feel like the only baseball fan in the world.

There is nobody looking forward to Spring Training, nobody talks about how the Yankees will cope with their new star-studded (dollar padded) lineup, nor do they discuss who will close for the Cubs this year.

Nobody cares.

Therefore, I am so eternally grateful for finding this wonderful site where real fans can write freely, without a degree in journalism, about the game they love. So here is my story.

(Note: Please excuse my English at times; it is not my first language as you may have gathered from me being Norwegian.)

In the early 90's, I spent four years at DePaul University in Chicago before going back home. Not once in these years did I go to a baseball game. I watched a lot of it on TV and understood the basics of how the game was played, but never really got into it.

In 2006, I went back to Chicago for a two-week vacation, living with a friend who lived a block away from Wrigley Field, so I decided to go see a game. In retrospect, this may have been both the dumbest and greatest thing I have ever done. The game just opened up to me in all its beauty and I felt like I "got it."

Obviously, the first thing I did when returning to Norway was got the MLB.com package so I could see the rest of the season on my computer. I think I saw every single one of the Cubs remaining games—plus a bunch of other games out of curiosity and to learn more about the game and its players.

So what have I learned? In all simplicity—baseball is the most perfect balance between science, art, beauty, and pure passion.

The science aspect of baseball is quite obvious. Every single little thing that happens during a baseball game is methodically written down. We use these statistics (both raw and situational) to second guess what will happen next. This aspect is, as far as I can tell, unique to baseball and gives the fans the ability to prepare for any given game in a far more detailed manner than other sports.

The game is constant match-ups between two athletes and the situation they are in. My point is, I can really get the brain juices flowing while watching a game, trying to second guess the next play. I love that!

Art. One-hundred-sixty-two games.

It seems to me a baseball season is not so much about winning and losing, but more about the collective performance over time. While watching a team play this many games, you become apart of the team in some unexplainable way; you become familiar with the clubs inner workings and you can actually feel it when they are in a good flow.

No other sport has allowed me to feel this kind of connection to the club and its players.

The baseball diamond. Is it not the most fantastic and beautiful looking sports arena there is? Some would say golf has prettier looking surroundings—but they do not have hot dogs and beer wherever you are seated, so end of discussion.

Have any of you been to a soccer game in Europe? Well, in short, the fans try to kill each other as often as humanly possible. There are no friendly discussions about the game being played, there are no people with different jerseys sharing the same bleachers; there are just people looking angry spending most of their energy yelling at each other.

Baseball does not work like that. It seems to me the fans share the experience of watching a baseball game, and even though you cheer for your own team, you also respect the other fan and his or her passion for the game. I find beauty in that.

A true baseball fan must be passionate. In order to enjoy baseball properly, you need to know the game—which in itself is quite complex.

I have seen several times during a game that situations arise where nobody really knows what is going on. Not the TV announcers, not the fans, and certainly not the umpires. So the discussion begins.

To really enjoy baseball, you also need to not only know your own team, but you need to know your opponent as well. You should know their batting order and their basic stats, you should know their respective starting pitchers and their three or four favorite go-to pitches.

Which stadiums does each player perform better in? Day or night game? So many factors are added in, and the fascinating thing is that the numbers behind these factors are available to us. Let the passion begin.

There you have it. Some of the reasons a Norwegian loves baseball. I would like to thank all of you who writes so many informative and interesting articles on this site. They help me keep the passion alive. Have a great 2009 season, and please let the Cubs win it all.