Off-topic oldie, but goodie.

[mick]

BASEBALL AND FOOTBALL (by George Carlin)

Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For
instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball
you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play
by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the
ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball.
In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball
intentionally, he's out; sometimes unintentionally, he's out.

Also: in football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports
played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the
ball prevents you from scoring.

In most sports the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is
run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach
wear the same clothing the players do. If you'd ever seen John
Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform, you'd know the reason for
this custom.

Now, I've mentioned football. Baseball and football are the two
most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it
seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves
and our values.

I enjoy comparing baseball and football:

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park. The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called
Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying.

In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.

Football is concerned with downs - what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups - who's up?

In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.

In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.

Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal
fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.

Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet,
hail, fog...
In baseball, if it rains, we don't go out to play.

Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.

Baseball has no time limit: we don't know when it's gonna end -
might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we've got to go
to sudden death.

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a
picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too
much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that
at least twenty-seven times you're capable of taking the life of a
fellow human being.

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely
different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the
field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling
the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite
of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet
passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory,
balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that
punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope
I'll be safe at home!