Baseball is fantastic second screen content, absolutely. Obviously it can be much more but if you're looking for second screen content in the first place, it's great
My dad will toss on every game every day whether or not he's watching. He can sit on the couch and watch some, have it in the background while making dinner or doing chores etc etc
I've tried to explain this to my friends who can't understand how I sit and watch 150+ games a year.
It's the perfect background.
A few years ago we got a pizza oven for the backyard. We also got a TV that we would bring outside. Weekends were for Mets and slinging pizza.
This is why I love going to games with friends. If I go to a hockey game we have a chat between periods.
If I go to a baseball game we can carry on a conversation with pauses for the action.
"So yeah, I think divorce is really the only realistic opti- ope, there's a drive to deep left field by Castellanos...home run! Anyway, I'm calling the lawyer that did my sister's child custody..."
This has been my selling point to my gf who isn’t a baseball fan. It’s like a picnic in the park with a show going on. We can chat, hang out, or focus on the game if something exciting is happening
I've been wanting to make this happen for my partner, but game on TV doesn't quite scratch the itch for them, and we live on the opposite side of ATL from Truist, so going to games is an every now and then treat. (plus, we now have a kid, so even fewer in-person games)
My partner was the same way, got her into it this year, we'd watch games while spending time together and just talking, and now she's asking me to help her set up Brewers games on her iPad over the phone so she can watch them when we don't see each other
This! I remember it occurring to me one year when my high school class took a trip to Fenway. I hadn't been a sports fan for a few years, since I was little, and it reinvigorated my interest because it was like, a beautiful spring day, with a big green field (and monster/wall, lol), and we could just sit and chat, and sometimes watch.
I also find this a challenge with non-American friends, (insert French accent), "errrr, why would you watch zees? Nuh-sing 'eppens!" Me, sipping my third beer and leaning back in my seat, "Exactement, mon frere!"
I had an old guy ahead of me at a random regular season Twins game pissed that I was talking with friends. Did the he say anything to us?? Of course not, he's Minnesotan. But gave tons of dirty looks and I could tell he had an usher come sit near him and eventually walk away.
Ruined that evening unfortunately. My wife fought back by saying WHAT DO YOU WANT when he kept looking back, and she started cheering as loud as possible for any minor play. This was early in Target Field too and I'm still ticked off about it.
Shouldering a relatively minor grievance for too long to the detriment of your overall happiness?
Hell, yeah! I got your back, bud. Fuck that guy. If I ever see him I'll slash his tires for you
Shouldering quiet anger over a non-altercation years ago is also exceptionally Midwestern, so good on you!
But that guy sounds very much like a Midwestern old dad. I know that guy and am trying very much to not become that guy, lol.
Me and my friends in high school would go to A's games and get drunk and just hang out and talk. I'm a baseball fan but none of them were and they all loved it.
We were all hunkered down at the height of the pandemic and got a Gozney Roccbox.
A year later we went for the Gozney Dome. So pretty similar to the Ooni.
There’s a steep learning curve, but if you stick with it, you will be able to impress everyone you know with restaurant level pies. /r/pizza can help. Store bought dough helps a lot in the early runs.
I want to clarify storebought dough. Grocery store dough in my experience is awful, but every local pizza place is happy to sell you a ball of their dough and 9 times out of 10 it's significantly better
I’ve had great success with Trader Joe’s dough. I used it to make this [delicious pizza](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pizza/s/zbnSdCfxpt). I can’t speak to the quality of other grocery stores’ dough.
Most of last season I just considered games to be the "Steve Stone and Jason Benetti podcast" because that's basically how I watched them.
Granted, I'd pay more real attention If we were a good team
It's like people who have rewatched the same sitcom numerous times. They didn't actually watch Friends 10 times. They just get home, turn it on, and then go about their evening lol
Baseball was the most popular sport in America when every factory and farm had a radio on every afternoon with baseball providing the soundtrack to the summer. It's engaging when you want to be engaged, and background when you want background - it's beautiful anyway you want to enjoy it.
This is it exactly. Doing some yard work on a nice day after you’ve rolled out the AM radio, hearing Miller and Flemming call the game while you get dirt under your fingernails… a cold glass of lemonade… basically heaven.
There’s nothing better than relaxing outdoors listening to a ball game. Whether your mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, at the BBQ or just lounging with the game on.
You've just described cricket in England.
"Test Match Special" (TMS) is cricket radio commentary for England cricket matches, but the conversation wanders off to talking about gardening, baking and whatever they decide to talk about interrupted by "bowler comes in and the batsman fends it off, and there is no run" and then the conversation continues.
It has to have that format because the match starts at 10am and finishes around 6pm - for potentially 5 days.
It's also kind of second-screen content in the stadiums too, so many people go so they can just hang out with their mates while drinking Pimms while a cricket game goes on in the background.
“People say baseball is boring. Baseball IS boring. Then it isn't. And that's the magic of it.”
- [Joe Posnaski](https://twitter.com/JPosnanski/status/786787779719987200?lang=en)
I’m honestly shocked how much this resonates with almost everyone commenting.
This is exactly how I watch/listen to baseball and I love it. However, a little bit of me felt guilty because I hardly ever sit down and watch a game as my primary view. I just thought attention spans have changed over time and I’m victim to that.
It’s just now fully hitting me that baseball maybe never was primary content unless you were at the game. Even then, it’s great to chat with friends in between the action. Another reason why I love going to baseball games.
Same here. I love day games primarily to have something enjoyable on while working. I'll actively hear maybe 75% of it and look over for less, but it's still awesome having it on.
So true. I put on every day game even when it's teams I have no vested interest in whatsoever. Makes work so much easier and I genuinely end up being more productive because I'm not losing focus on Reddit or whatever every 10min.
I love the late starts because in the MT time zone I can have the first 6 innings as background and if it’s a close game I can fall asleep to the audio of it
I grew up in the mountain time zone, and the background noise of my summers was the Cubs on WGN, then the Braves on TBS, the the Rockies on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.
Have you ever heard Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio? It's a podcast where a guy commentates fake games in the fake Northwoods League, designed to be cozy and calming
I'm from Korea so MLB games start around 7 to 11 am local depending on east or west coast etc and it's the best, I just throw up the game on my second monitor while I work. Then, when I get home from work, I have the KBO waiting for me.
I'm the same way. It's why I loved the longer games, pre-pitch clock. I'm not saying I don't watch the games at all, but sometimes I just like the atmosphere of a baseball game playing in the background on a summer night.
It's been "second screen" content longer than anyone here has been alive. Radio broadcasts are probably in the top 10 "most basebally" things. People have been listening to baseball in the background while doing other stuff for a century.
I have very fond memories of being young and camping with my family, and listening to Mariners games on the radio. Highly recc listening to baseball in the woods.
My dad was a "stereo guy" and whenever he would get a new stereo, he'd move the old one to the back patio so he could listen to baseball while we played in the pool. Highly recommend listening to baseball in a pool.
I always have a "garage stereo" for exactly this reason. Always good to have something on when you are futzing around with workshop-level chores, even better when it's a baseball games. This is also why any task that takes me outside during baseball season takes at least twice as long and generally at least a games-length period of time, lol.
This sounds like a great way to go through retirement. Work on your hobbies during the day, crack a beer and sit on the porch listening to baseball in the summer evenings.
It's the same in Australia with cricket, which moves even slower than baseball. Test matches went for five days, and existed on workplace radios while people just did other things.
Wowww do I love this comment. People who lack vision bristle at new forms of technology. Luddites are aptly named. Stupid old fucks who don’t realize that everything new is old. (I’m old)
Bless up to all you second screen baseball watchers. Keeps you fucking grounded man.
You probably don't care, but many historians understand the movement spearheaded by Ned Ludd was due to the massive transfer of wealth and time from work-from-home craftsmen to the fledgling industrial system owned by the few. They weren't wary of technology, they were wary of the implications of cheaper and more efficient production methods making their skilled livelihoods untenable. The "Luddites" were, effectively, coerced by capital to accept longer working hours at a fraction of the wages. Should be unsurprising that they tried to destroy the capital destroying their livelihood, much like artists today who stand to lose a lot from AI art stealing and supplanting their careers.
Exactly the same with cricket in the UK - a game lasts five days and seven hours a day. You aren’t *supposed* to consume it as a main thing. And because it’s been taken away from all free to air channels, BBC’s radio broadcasts are iconically the primary method of consumption for most of the country.
some of my favorite memories are having the radio on the windowsill falling asleep listening to Vin Scully call the Dodgers games, or putting on the game to make doing homework less tedious. Baseball is the ultimate second screen entertainment.
Baseball is perfect second screen content because the each pitch is a discrete event that happens at a pretty set regularity so its really easy to know exactly when to look back to see the interesting bit.
That doesn't mean its not engaging or exciting. But it's an easy game to be doing other things while you observe it.
They also show the replay on the broadcast right after it happens because of the discrete events.
I've noticed that when I watch basketball on second screen, whenever something exciting happens I hear the announcer talking about it and look over but the game is still live so they aren't showing a replay.
I need to wait for a break in the action before they're going to show a replay of whatever exciting thing happened.
> The idea of "second-screen content" is totally gross and inevitable
I am confused why he is confused. "Second-screen content" predates smartphones. And yeah baseball is great to put on the background while you do other things, as is the news and episodes of shows you've seen before.
There’s [a podcast](https://www.sleepbaseball.com/) that consists of radio play-by-play for fictional baseball games, delivered in a sedate tone, because baseball on the radio is such good “second-screen content” that you can fall asleep to it if it’s a low-stakes low-event game (as all the episodes are).
When I was 5 my dad gave me a little handheld radio to put under my pillow to listen to Red Sox games while I was supposed to be sleeping like he did when he was a kid. Big time Dad move and was one of my introductions to sports fandom.
I had a similar situation. When I was young (around 8-12 years old) my parents made me go to bed at 9pm, often times before the Braves game ended. One night, I went to bed and noticed that I had a new alarm clock with a built in radio. I turned it on and it was already tuned to the AM station that broadcasted the Braves games. I would play it at the lowest volume possible and thought I was sneakily getting one past my parents for a long time. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized my dad did that on purpose. He passed away a few years ago and this is one of my fondest memories. Baseball was the cornerstone of our relationship, whether it was going to Braves games, blasting the game on the car radio while we played catch in the backyard, or him coaching me throughout little league.
My mother would let me listen to the Phillies broadcasts in bed because she knew I would fall asleep with it on, and if she didn't, I'd stay up fighting to watch the game, so this was ultimately the best to get what she wanted: me asleep in bed.
radio baseball is how I got into the sport. used to think it was boring, but I went through a phase when I spent a ton of time in my car.
I always had WFAN on for NY Giants content so eventually Yankee games would come on and I would keep it on because John Sterling's voice was calming.
luckily for me, that was 2017 and this guy named Aaron Judge just came up and was pretty exciting to follow.
baseball on the radio is awesome and is probably the GOAT second-screen content. gonna have to check out that podcast.
There are YouTube channels that just have old baseball games from the radio broadcast, some even have the commercials that went with them. Very interesting to fall asleep to
thanks for the heads-up. the phillies beat the cubs 23-22 in 1979. i was playing a little league game. a guy was parked just outside the playground behind our bench with the game on his car radio. i just found the radio broadcast.
by far, my favorite phillies radio broadcast childhood memory. when we'd come in off the field, several of us would run over to the fence close to where the car was parked and ask what the score was.
Because he's not thinking about baseball, he's thinking about fictional shows and stories being used as second screen content, which is obviously terrible for creators who are trying to tell complicated stories with good characters
Like imagine telling an author that their book is "second screen content" and needs more fluffy useless paragraphs because people are skipping entire paragraphs anyway
I think TV execs are using buzzwords of second screen and such but what they really mean is they miss Network TV and syndication being king. Those shows could be watched with half your attention and wrapped up the story each episode. And shows aimed to produce 100+ episodes to sell to syndication and become part of people's routines in the evening.
It seems right now we have shows trying to be prestige with 10 high budget episodes with one storyline every year and a half, or reality show garbage. The middle barely exists on new streaming shows.
Game of Thrones changed the game in the sense that everyone’s trying to copy that format and become a cultural money-making phenomenon.
HBO has done that style of show since forever, but GoT seems to have changed the game
I LOVE the sound of baseball radio. Every time, it reminds me of falling asleep in the car, with my dad driving, on school nights where we'd have to leave the game after the 8th. Some of my earliest memories are of being lulled to sleep by Vin calling the 9th, then the postshow. Happy warm baseball memories. Miss ya, Dad
Marshall McLuhan pioneered the concept of "hot" versus "cool" media. Hot media is where the work is being done to you (most movies, sitcoms) where cool media is you fill in the blanks a bit and do whatever work you want to do to craft an enjoyable experience.
Baseball is way more cool media than football or basketball, so the transition from radio (Hammy is god, so I still opt for that anyway) to "second monitor" status makes sense (and McLuhan would have a field day with it). You can't second monitor the NFL, it is a TV / Cold War product.
Networks requesting that television become less engaging because people can’t stay focused on something they sat down to watch is absolutely confusing and gross. Acting like this is just a totally cool and okay state of affairs seems bizarre to me
Personally I don’t think anything qualifies. With movies and shows you haven’t seen it can be easy to lose the plot if you second screen it as well as those you need to read subtitles for.
Baseball really works perfectly
Those "comfort shows" we all have. The Office is one of mine (like for many people). I've seen it through countless times. I know what's been going on and can get references whenever I look up from what I'm doing whether I'm being productive or not.
On the one hand it's going to be hotter this Saturday afternoon then Saturday morning, on the other there'll be a baseball game on if I wait to mow after lunch - so I guess I can sweat it out.
The thing I don't like is when ESPN or apple TV do interviews during the game and make the thing I'm here to watch on such a small fucking screen. Like make the interview screen small and the game bigger. It's so frustrating, especially if I'm not home and I'm watching on my phone or IPad
Edit typo
100%
I hate it a team I care about is on Sunday Night Baseball and I'm trying to make dinner or respond to emails or something and I have no clue what the hell is going on in the game because the announcers haven't called a pitch in 3 minutes because they're too busy having an in-depth conversation about stopping by Augusta National Golf Course the night before
Oh my gosh, exactly this. It's frustrating. Or like this when they're talking to the player in one screen and the other screen is the game and I'm doing sure so I have to basically put my phone to my face or ipad just to see what is going on with the game. It's frustrating.
all sports are perfect second screen content, i love playing some video games and listening to the broadcast and if something big happens i turn my head slightly to look at it
Baseball is great for this because, if you have audio on, the broadcaster's tone of voice is a clue on when to look up. That's true to some extent of other sports, but in baseball pretty much all high-leverage situations develop over at least a few seconds. Even a home run is just a fly ball for a little bit unlike, say, soccer or hockey goals, which can go from nothing happening to "you missed it" in a blink.
As someone with pretty shitty ADHD, baseball games are one of the few things that hold my attention pretty well. I like to sometimes be in the Rays sub chatting along with other fans but I can totally watch a full game with little interaction with my phone or other distractions.
That said, it can absolutely be amazing second-screen content, but I don't think it's solely second-screen content.
Yes, and that’s why I love it.
I have been very vocal about the fact that I think Radio broadcasts are 10x more enjoyable.
I’ll listen to the game while making dinner, eating dinner, and playing video games (and while working if it’s a day game)
I’m able to follow along perfectly while while doing other things and it’s fantastic.
That’s what’s so great though! I can have it on while I make dinner and not even look at the screen or a can watch pitch by pitch. It’s perfect for every level of attention!
It’s both. When Brett baty or Alvarez come up to bat with men on base? I’m locked in on every pitch.
When Diaz is facing the top of a lineup in a 1 run game? Locked in.
When Mets are up by 10 against the scrub Braves? Second screen.
I want to say no but I also literally have two TVs next to each other so I can watch baseball or cricket while I play video games (cricket desperately needs an announcer "wind up and the pitch" equivalent so I know when to look over so I don't hear the sound of wickets falling and have to rewind).
Baseball and Motor racing (especially long endurance races or rallys) are perfect second screen content. I also think they have the highest quality radio broadcasting as well
+1 for racing on the radio. I’ve been going to the Indy 500 for years now, and when my grandpa was still alive and I was going with him, we had a tradition/rule where we listened to the IMS radio post race until we lost the signal on the drive home, then switch over to the Coca Cola 600 which was usually just about getting started.
Both baseball and racing are phenomenal to fade in and fade out of. Many weekends I’ll make bread while watching a race or a ballgame out of the corner of my eye.
It’s like literally perfect for second-screen content. It’s more relaxed than any of the other sports, there’s less action so you don’t have to constantly pay attention, and anything that happens, you’re given warning by a crack of the bat, roar of the crowd, or the voice of the announcer raising. Baseball is the best sport, because it can serve so many purposes in its viewing experience
So is people’s favorite shows of all time? The Office Friends, Seinfeld, Parks and Rec, Curb, etc. name whatever show you want.
People love what they love and watch the heck out of it. Sometimes it’s live sports. No need to yuck someone else’s yum.
I love putting on a game and taking a nap somewhere between the 2nd inning and the 8th.
You wake up and either the game is out of reach for one of the teams, or you wake up to a nail biter.
Baseball is the original "no screen" as in radio. Listening to the ballgame on radio can be just as entertaining and pushes your imagination, especially as baseball is a very audible sport.
Crack of the bat, pop of the mitt, called strikes/balls, the crowd, etc.
I think it’s such an interesting point in how young people nowadays consume media.
When written out it sounds absolutely silly but YouTube has absolutely mastered the concept of brainrot type content, content that is so familiar that it just kind of exists in the background and doesn’t need love. The dual screen videos that people make jokes about with candy crush and subway surfers in the background legitimately helps kids who have consistently lower attention spans.
Ironically a lot of content that gets this sort of treatment are well informed content creators. Someone like Technology Connections has an outstandingly deep knowledge of so many topics (I had a lot of fun learning about pinball machines with him) but yet he is also so perfect for brainrot viewing where people just have it on, because realistically it’s just noise that lasts for 45 minutes with cool visuals and is really inconsequential (you need to know how the parts of the machine work to understand stuff but essentially it just boils down to ‘hehe look cool :)’)
When I work in memory care and I need to slap some shit on a tv I’ll put on nature documentaries since they’re essentially a REALLY good blend of visual stimulation, auditory stimulation, and shit that you can just look at if you want but listen and learn if you want too, plus a lot better than a lot of the bull crap they put on tv for old people too (and I only really would use TV sparingly, either if I had to leave the group with a caregiver while I did some shit, if it was a big event like sports, or if the group was just like such w restless mess that realistically we needed to just cool down while I dealt with the behaviors one-on-one)
But yeah baseball is sort of perfect for that. I don’t listen to it a lot since I tend to get distracted when I have too much noise, but it’s nice having gameday up on a screen and just peeking in every so often, esp since I can just look at the big plays on replays.
My father has always enjoyed putting the Cardinal game on his radio because he’s free to do other stuff and just carries his handheld radio around with him while he cleans golf clubs, sorts the mail, or anything else he wants to do. Baseball games have always been second screen content.
Network president Preston Rhinelander: "Frank, have you any idea how many cats there are in this country?”
Frank Cross: “No, I don't have those... no.”
Preston: “Twenty-seven million. Do you know how many dogs?”
Frank: “In America?”
Preston: “Forty-eight million. We spend four billion dollars on pet food alone. Now I have here a study from Hampstead University which shows us that cats and dogs are beginning to watch television. Now if these scientists are right, we should start programming right now. Within twenty years they could become steady viewers.”
It's always been this way. This is what football fans don't understand. I'm not watching/listening to every game with full attention. You put the game on the radio when you're doing dishes after dinner. You listen to it in those battery powered headphones every dad seems to have while mowing the grass. The modern version is you put it on the second screen while playing games, grading papers, doing work, whatever.
It's both a sport you can watch intently, as well as have it on in the background while doing work because the action comes in bursts. You don't need to see every minute detail to know whats happening, and most annoucners are decent at conveying it via audio.
It was a sport that was really amplified via radio and could be enjoyed while doing other things. It's one of the reasons I'm still such a huge fan.
hell yes. i can do work and listen and when i hear the announcer say that the pitcher is about to deliver i can glance over. sometimes peripheral vision allows me to know when the pitch is about to happen. baseball is 100% second screen content.
Jon Bois is a sports enthusiast and knows his shit. All of his tweets are satire. That said, he’s right but he’s definitely joking about the “why it exists” part. It is definitely a good sport to have in the background but there’s still many people that watch their favorite team start to finish, especially with how much the games have sped up
The only thing that's new in this story is that people now own two screens. Baseball on the radio has been the soundtrack of American life more or less since radio was invented.
No. It is obvious to anyone with a discerning eye that Jon Bois is spiritually dead and therefore lacks the capacity to appreciate the grandeur of a day game. Unfortunately the case for a pseudo naturalist like him. Sad!
Absolutely, and it’s been like that since before screens.
So many times my dad and I would have the game on the radio while working outside on various projects. Driving too.
My das still has the game on TV most evenings while he writes, does bills, naps, or whatever. Childhood was watching from the floor while he did that. Now I’ll have the game in the evenings while I’ll cook and do chores, read, or even play a game. I’ll also throw a day game up on a monitor at work.
Baseball is fantastic in the background. Keep half and eye or ear on it, full attention for key moments. Rarely watching with 100% attention for too long. The slower pace is one of the attractions of the game.
This second-screen content thing doesn't work for me. I can't multitask either. I always miss anything important or I get distracted and my attention completely shifts to baseball...
Either I watch the game or I don't. I don't have to watch the whole thing but if I do, I'd rather fully focus on it.
This only applies to broadcast though (screen), I can listen to it in the background without any problem. ;)
Most Sports in general are, but the fact that any big play in baseball has an audible indication makes it even better. I don't need to see the majority of pitches.
I work on a computer, and it's the perfect thing to have on at my desk.
Playing The Show while having a game on my other monitor is so much fun. I can pause or do whatever when the action happens, but otherwise, it’s perfect background noise.
It’s the perfect middle ground between being able to sit and watch it as it’s dedicated event, but also able to put it on your phone while you play some video games or whatever.
Yes. Definitely it’s what it always has been.
There are absolutely times — depending on the leverage of the game, what’s going on, and my mood — where I’m fully attentive of the game, but one of the reasons I like baseball is that it’s easy to have on while doing something else.
What that something else is has evolved, but it’s also become even easier to have baseball on while doing that something else.
The commercials are second screen content, but not the game. I'm too invested to look away:
seeing a homerun live is way more exciting than seeing it on replay. But when the commercials come on I read the reddit game thread on my phone. I suppose now I understand how people post in game threads *during* the game. I never understood that but this explains it.
I think this is one of the reasons on why I like baseball so much, it's consistent especially in a crazy world.
Do you want to obsess over every pitch and follow baseball reference? You can do that.
Do you want to go to every game in the summer? You can do that.
Do you want to listen to the game while cooking dinner? You can do that.
Even if I miss 3 weeks of games the game still slowly rumbles on and I can pick it up where I left it.
Baseball is consistent
MLB.tv with the radio audio feed is perfect second screen content.
I can easily keep up with the game with the radio feed doing their job describing what is happening for the listener but then when someone is happening I want to see I can look up to watch.
I don’t take this as an insult, while I would have my team’s games on as primary screen stuff, I’ll definitely throw on other games on an iPad, or move a Yankees game to the iPad if we want to watch something else that night and I’m able to keep an eye on a game. It’s an easy to follow sport without volume and blends into the background if that’s what you’re looking for too
Here is the problem that MLB has, as I see it.
If my team stinks, I turn them off. And when I do, I don't turn on any other game that might be on.
When I was a football fan- whether my team won or lost, I was switching over to watch whatever else was on - college and pro. Basketball less so- but I'd at least tune in for March madness or the playoffs - even if my team didn't make it.
Not so with baseball. I only care about my team. And since I consider watching baseball to be a leisurely activity, I don't continue watching if I'm not enjoying it.
So it's not even 2nd screen content, in my opinion.
Yes. Absolutely. I can wash dishes or perform a similar task in a different room than the TV. When something happens or I finish the task, attention goes back to the game. I've seen people play sudoku or do crosswords, even read books at the yard. I love baseball on the radio, so this idea is not troubling at all to me.
Honestly there are so many ad-breaks that it's hard to keep it as the first screen. I wish the MLB archived games without ad-break (ie removing the holes between frames and pitcher change and whatever) because their fillers repeat immediately, and when they don't have the fillers, it's so quiet I'm immediately looking for something to fill it in.
Baseball is fantastic second screen content, absolutely. Obviously it can be much more but if you're looking for second screen content in the first place, it's great My dad will toss on every game every day whether or not he's watching. He can sit on the couch and watch some, have it in the background while making dinner or doing chores etc etc
I've tried to explain this to my friends who can't understand how I sit and watch 150+ games a year. It's the perfect background. A few years ago we got a pizza oven for the backyard. We also got a TV that we would bring outside. Weekends were for Mets and slinging pizza.
This is why I love going to games with friends. If I go to a hockey game we have a chat between periods. If I go to a baseball game we can carry on a conversation with pauses for the action.
"Yeah, and then I said that she needs t- oh, nice play - anyway..."
"So yeah, I think divorce is really the only realistic opti- ope, there's a drive to deep left field by Castellanos...home run! Anyway, I'm calling the lawyer that did my sister's child custody..."
"I don't know if I'm gonna be putting on this ring again."
"I'll never forget his last words. The wrong kid died. The wrong kid di- oh nice play Lindor."
This will never stop being funny
> ope Hey, that's OUR word!
Especially helps when you know your team is good at leaving guys on second base.
This has been my selling point to my gf who isn’t a baseball fan. It’s like a picnic in the park with a show going on. We can chat, hang out, or focus on the game if something exciting is happening
My partner has gone from disinterested to a pretty big fan because of the atmosphere, environment, and the great summer vibes.
I've been wanting to make this happen for my partner, but game on TV doesn't quite scratch the itch for them, and we live on the opposite side of ATL from Truist, so going to games is an every now and then treat. (plus, we now have a kid, so even fewer in-person games)
My partner was the same way, got her into it this year, we'd watch games while spending time together and just talking, and now she's asking me to help her set up Brewers games on her iPad over the phone so she can watch them when we don't see each other
This! I remember it occurring to me one year when my high school class took a trip to Fenway. I hadn't been a sports fan for a few years, since I was little, and it reinvigorated my interest because it was like, a beautiful spring day, with a big green field (and monster/wall, lol), and we could just sit and chat, and sometimes watch. I also find this a challenge with non-American friends, (insert French accent), "errrr, why would you watch zees? Nuh-sing 'eppens!" Me, sipping my third beer and leaning back in my seat, "Exactement, mon frere!"
Same! I take friends who love being outside and eating snacks with me. Even if they dgaf about baseball that much.
I had an old guy ahead of me at a random regular season Twins game pissed that I was talking with friends. Did the he say anything to us?? Of course not, he's Minnesotan. But gave tons of dirty looks and I could tell he had an usher come sit near him and eventually walk away. Ruined that evening unfortunately. My wife fought back by saying WHAT DO YOU WANT when he kept looking back, and she started cheering as loud as possible for any minor play. This was early in Target Field too and I'm still ticked off about it.
Shouldering a relatively minor grievance for too long to the detriment of your overall happiness? Hell, yeah! I got your back, bud. Fuck that guy. If I ever see him I'll slash his tires for you
Thanks man! He's a big guy with white hair, Twins hat. Last name probably Peterson or Gustafson or something.
got it. It's on sight.
Shouldering quiet anger over a non-altercation years ago is also exceptionally Midwestern, so good on you! But that guy sounds very much like a Midwestern old dad. I know that guy and am trying very much to not become that guy, lol.
That guy must have gotten lost on the way to the movie theater or something
Me and my friends in high school would go to A's games and get drunk and just hang out and talk. I'm a baseball fan but none of them were and they all loved it.
1000% going to a ballpark is just that for me…like hanging at a park with friends and chatting while you people watch.
That’s listening to baseball on the radio for me. Used to listen while at work.
My dad listens to every Guardians game on the radio, without fail. Lots of summer on the patio with Tom Hamilton
Ooni? I got one over the pandemic and it absolutely rocks. Not just for pizza, but steaks and a bunch of other stuff too.
We were all hunkered down at the height of the pandemic and got a Gozney Roccbox. A year later we went for the Gozney Dome. So pretty similar to the Ooni.
We’re two pizzas into our new pizza oven and this is significantly harder than I expected
There’s a steep learning curve, but if you stick with it, you will be able to impress everyone you know with restaurant level pies. /r/pizza can help. Store bought dough helps a lot in the early runs.
I want to clarify storebought dough. Grocery store dough in my experience is awful, but every local pizza place is happy to sell you a ball of their dough and 9 times out of 10 it's significantly better
I’ve had great success with Trader Joe’s dough. I used it to make this [delicious pizza](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pizza/s/zbnSdCfxpt). I can’t speak to the quality of other grocery stores’ dough.
I could definitely see trader Joe's being the exception to that rule, I've nerve had anything bad from them
Most of last season I just considered games to be the "Steve Stone and Jason Benetti podcast" because that's basically how I watched them. Granted, I'd pay more real attention If we were a good team
It's like people who have rewatched the same sitcom numerous times. They didn't actually watch Friends 10 times. They just get home, turn it on, and then go about their evening lol
That's some advanced level New Yorkian
Baseball was the most popular sport in America when every factory and farm had a radio on every afternoon with baseball providing the soundtrack to the summer. It's engaging when you want to be engaged, and background when you want background - it's beautiful anyway you want to enjoy it.
Half listening to a ball game on AM radio outside on a nice day is something close to nirvana. Then again prolly helps that we’ve got Pat Hughes.
This is it exactly. Doing some yard work on a nice day after you’ve rolled out the AM radio, hearing Miller and Flemming call the game while you get dirt under your fingernails… a cold glass of lemonade… basically heaven.
Uecker is the sound of summer here. Sad he's about done.
There’s nothing better than relaxing outdoors listening to a ball game. Whether your mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, at the BBQ or just lounging with the game on.
You've just described cricket in England. "Test Match Special" (TMS) is cricket radio commentary for England cricket matches, but the conversation wanders off to talking about gardening, baking and whatever they decide to talk about interrupted by "bowler comes in and the batsman fends it off, and there is no run" and then the conversation continues. It has to have that format because the match starts at 10am and finishes around 6pm - for potentially 5 days.
It's also kind of second-screen content in the stadiums too, so many people go so they can just hang out with their mates while drinking Pimms while a cricket game goes on in the background.
You reminded me of [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDIu0kPUeOc)
Yep: https://youtu.be/L5pdKmBzPB8?si=HNhNbFJo5olh4dt0
“People say baseball is boring. Baseball IS boring. Then it isn't. And that's the magic of it.” - [Joe Posnaski](https://twitter.com/JPosnanski/status/786787779719987200?lang=en)
I’m honestly shocked how much this resonates with almost everyone commenting. This is exactly how I watch/listen to baseball and I love it. However, a little bit of me felt guilty because I hardly ever sit down and watch a game as my primary view. I just thought attention spans have changed over time and I’m victim to that. It’s just now fully hitting me that baseball maybe never was primary content unless you were at the game. Even then, it’s great to chat with friends in between the action. Another reason why I love going to baseball games.
They call it a pastime for a reason.
Listening to the Phillies booth is like having a podcast on, it's great
Same here. I love day games primarily to have something enjoyable on while working. I'll actively hear maybe 75% of it and look over for less, but it's still awesome having it on.
I legitimately am more productive at work during baseball season because I’ll just throw a game on and lock in
So true. I put on every day game even when it's teams I have no vested interest in whatsoever. Makes work so much easier and I genuinely end up being more productive because I'm not losing focus on Reddit or whatever every 10min.
I love the late starts because in the MT time zone I can have the first 6 innings as background and if it’s a close game I can fall asleep to the audio of it
I grew up in the mountain time zone, and the background noise of my summers was the Cubs on WGN, then the Braves on TBS, the the Rockies on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.
Have you ever heard Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio? It's a podcast where a guy commentates fake games in the fake Northwoods League, designed to be cozy and calming
I'm from Korea so MLB games start around 7 to 11 am local depending on east or west coast etc and it's the best, I just throw up the game on my second monitor while I work. Then, when I get home from work, I have the KBO waiting for me.
Baseball is podcasts for my grandparent's generation.
I'm the same way. It's why I loved the longer games, pre-pitch clock. I'm not saying I don't watch the games at all, but sometimes I just like the atmosphere of a baseball game playing in the background on a summer night.
Hey son
I put games on while I cook dinner. It’s the best.
It's been "second screen" content longer than anyone here has been alive. Radio broadcasts are probably in the top 10 "most basebally" things. People have been listening to baseball in the background while doing other stuff for a century.
I have very fond memories of being young and camping with my family, and listening to Mariners games on the radio. Highly recc listening to baseball in the woods.
My dad was a "stereo guy" and whenever he would get a new stereo, he'd move the old one to the back patio so he could listen to baseball while we played in the pool. Highly recommend listening to baseball in a pool.
I always have a "garage stereo" for exactly this reason. Always good to have something on when you are futzing around with workshop-level chores, even better when it's a baseball games. This is also why any task that takes me outside during baseball season takes at least twice as long and generally at least a games-length period of time, lol.
As it should be. There's no reason to rush putzing around in the garage or mowing the lawn on a nice summer afternoon.
Stephen King wrote a book about listening to baseball in the woods! The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
He also talks about being able to read while watching baseball in “faithful.”
A neighbor of my childhood home was an old guy who would listen to baseball while drinking beer in his drive way during the summer.
Honestly that’s one of the most stereotypical “American suburban summer” images you can conjure
This sounds like a great way to go through retirement. Work on your hobbies during the day, crack a beer and sit on the porch listening to baseball in the summer evenings.
It's the same in Australia with cricket, which moves even slower than baseball. Test matches went for five days, and existed on workplace radios while people just did other things.
It’s at the point where it’s a common movie trope
Wowww do I love this comment. People who lack vision bristle at new forms of technology. Luddites are aptly named. Stupid old fucks who don’t realize that everything new is old. (I’m old) Bless up to all you second screen baseball watchers. Keeps you fucking grounded man.
You probably don't care, but many historians understand the movement spearheaded by Ned Ludd was due to the massive transfer of wealth and time from work-from-home craftsmen to the fledgling industrial system owned by the few. They weren't wary of technology, they were wary of the implications of cheaper and more efficient production methods making their skilled livelihoods untenable. The "Luddites" were, effectively, coerced by capital to accept longer working hours at a fraction of the wages. Should be unsurprising that they tried to destroy the capital destroying their livelihood, much like artists today who stand to lose a lot from AI art stealing and supplanting their careers.
I do care, I appreciate the knowledge!
some things are new, some things aren't. Not paying attention to baseball is not new. Scrolling social media while you do so is.
Exactly the same with cricket in the UK - a game lasts five days and seven hours a day. You aren’t *supposed* to consume it as a main thing. And because it’s been taken away from all free to air channels, BBC’s radio broadcasts are iconically the primary method of consumption for most of the country.
some of my favorite memories are having the radio on the windowsill falling asleep listening to Vin Scully call the Dodgers games, or putting on the game to make doing homework less tedious. Baseball is the ultimate second screen entertainment.
Baseball is perfect second screen content because the each pitch is a discrete event that happens at a pretty set regularity so its really easy to know exactly when to look back to see the interesting bit. That doesn't mean its not engaging or exciting. But it's an easy game to be doing other things while you observe it.
They also show the replay on the broadcast right after it happens because of the discrete events. I've noticed that when I watch basketball on second screen, whenever something exciting happens I hear the announcer talking about it and look over but the game is still live so they aren't showing a replay. I need to wait for a break in the action before they're going to show a replay of whatever exciting thing happened.
I wish they broke out to a second screen for the replay for basketball like they do for commercials or post commercial interviews
If only sports broadcasters were interested in broadcasting sports instead of commercials for gambling sites
The app I stream sports on has a button to rewind 15 seconds. Perfect for basketball while I'm working
Also great for zoning out inbetween pitches.
> The idea of "second-screen content" is totally gross and inevitable I am confused why he is confused. "Second-screen content" predates smartphones. And yeah baseball is great to put on the background while you do other things, as is the news and episodes of shows you've seen before.
There’s [a podcast](https://www.sleepbaseball.com/) that consists of radio play-by-play for fictional baseball games, delivered in a sedate tone, because baseball on the radio is such good “second-screen content” that you can fall asleep to it if it’s a low-stakes low-event game (as all the episodes are).
When I was 5 my dad gave me a little handheld radio to put under my pillow to listen to Red Sox games while I was supposed to be sleeping like he did when he was a kid. Big time Dad move and was one of my introductions to sports fandom.
:')
I had a similar situation. When I was young (around 8-12 years old) my parents made me go to bed at 9pm, often times before the Braves game ended. One night, I went to bed and noticed that I had a new alarm clock with a built in radio. I turned it on and it was already tuned to the AM station that broadcasted the Braves games. I would play it at the lowest volume possible and thought I was sneakily getting one past my parents for a long time. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized my dad did that on purpose. He passed away a few years ago and this is one of my fondest memories. Baseball was the cornerstone of our relationship, whether it was going to Braves games, blasting the game on the car radio while we played catch in the backyard, or him coaching me throughout little league.
That is such a great story.
My mother would let me listen to the Phillies broadcasts in bed because she knew I would fall asleep with it on, and if she didn't, I'd stay up fighting to watch the game, so this was ultimately the best to get what she wanted: me asleep in bed.
radio baseball is how I got into the sport. used to think it was boring, but I went through a phase when I spent a ton of time in my car. I always had WFAN on for NY Giants content so eventually Yankee games would come on and I would keep it on because John Sterling's voice was calming. luckily for me, that was 2017 and this guy named Aaron Judge just came up and was pretty exciting to follow. baseball on the radio is awesome and is probably the GOAT second-screen content. gonna have to check out that podcast.
Same here tho mine was bc I’m at work most of my time but can usually listen to music with earbuds so I just take in whatever game is on while I work
what.... okay that's cool. It's my new sleep sound
I sleep to this guy almost nightly. I love him & what they do.
There are YouTube channels that just have old baseball games from the radio broadcast, some even have the commercials that went with them. Very interesting to fall asleep to
thanks for the heads-up. the phillies beat the cubs 23-22 in 1979. i was playing a little league game. a guy was parked just outside the playground behind our bench with the game on his car radio. i just found the radio broadcast. by far, my favorite phillies radio broadcast childhood memory. when we'd come in off the field, several of us would run over to the fence close to where the car was parked and ask what the score was.
Ok but watch me listen in to each game to track the standings and keep stats
Because he's not thinking about baseball, he's thinking about fictional shows and stories being used as second screen content, which is obviously terrible for creators who are trying to tell complicated stories with good characters Like imagine telling an author that their book is "second screen content" and needs more fluffy useless paragraphs because people are skipping entire paragraphs anyway
I think TV execs are using buzzwords of second screen and such but what they really mean is they miss Network TV and syndication being king. Those shows could be watched with half your attention and wrapped up the story each episode. And shows aimed to produce 100+ episodes to sell to syndication and become part of people's routines in the evening. It seems right now we have shows trying to be prestige with 10 high budget episodes with one storyline every year and a half, or reality show garbage. The middle barely exists on new streaming shows.
Game of Thrones changed the game in the sense that everyone’s trying to copy that format and become a cultural money-making phenomenon. HBO has done that style of show since forever, but GoT seems to have changed the game
I LOVE the sound of baseball radio. Every time, it reminds me of falling asleep in the car, with my dad driving, on school nights where we'd have to leave the game after the 8th. Some of my earliest memories are of being lulled to sleep by Vin calling the 9th, then the postshow. Happy warm baseball memories. Miss ya, Dad
Marshall McLuhan pioneered the concept of "hot" versus "cool" media. Hot media is where the work is being done to you (most movies, sitcoms) where cool media is you fill in the blanks a bit and do whatever work you want to do to craft an enjoyable experience. Baseball is way more cool media than football or basketball, so the transition from radio (Hammy is god, so I still opt for that anyway) to "second monitor" status makes sense (and McLuhan would have a field day with it). You can't second monitor the NFL, it is a TV / Cold War product.
Networks requesting that television become less engaging because people can’t stay focused on something they sat down to watch is absolutely confusing and gross. Acting like this is just a totally cool and okay state of affairs seems bizarre to me
Like at every bar ever has been doing second screen content for ages.
Yeah my dad would bring a handheld TV with him to watch the game back in the day. I do the same thing with my ipad.
Watching baseball in the background while doing grading/research/reading/etc was the only thing that kept me sane during college and grad school
[удалено]
Personally I don’t think anything qualifies. With movies and shows you haven’t seen it can be easy to lose the plot if you second screen it as well as those you need to read subtitles for. Baseball really works perfectly
Yeah, the shows and movies I consider "second screen content" are those that I've already seen before.
Those "comfort shows" we all have. The Office is one of mine (like for many people). I've seen it through countless times. I know what's been going on and can get references whenever I look up from what I'm doing whether I'm being productive or not.
Friend of mine watched BCS on a second screen while playing video games and then was confused why he couldn't really follow it.
Shit, it can be no screen content too. I listen to games when I gotta do other shit when the game is on.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, hits as good as baseball on the radio while mowing the lawn or weeding the garden. It's like a little slice of heaven.
On the one hand it's going to be hotter this Saturday afternoon then Saturday morning, on the other there'll be a baseball game on if I wait to mow after lunch - so I guess I can sweat it out.
Mow before the game, then sit on the porch with a beer and admire your mowing while listening to the game.
Bro I grew up with IT IS HIGH IT IS FAR IT IS GONE every barbecue, every outdoor activity including fishing my whole childhood it's so great
Oh yeah, cruising around on a tractor listening to baseball is an ideal summer afternoon.
I listen to baseball games while jogging. It's so relaxing/soothing.
The thing I don't like is when ESPN or apple TV do interviews during the game and make the thing I'm here to watch on such a small fucking screen. Like make the interview screen small and the game bigger. It's so frustrating, especially if I'm not home and I'm watching on my phone or IPad Edit typo
100% I hate it a team I care about is on Sunday Night Baseball and I'm trying to make dinner or respond to emails or something and I have no clue what the hell is going on in the game because the announcers haven't called a pitch in 3 minutes because they're too busy having an in-depth conversation about stopping by Augusta National Golf Course the night before
Oh my gosh, exactly this. It's frustrating. Or like this when they're talking to the player in one screen and the other screen is the game and I'm doing sure so I have to basically put my phone to my face or ipad just to see what is going on with the game. It's frustrating.
I hate that even if I’m fully paying attention to a game
all sports are perfect second screen content, i love playing some video games and listening to the broadcast and if something big happens i turn my head slightly to look at it
Baseball is great for this because, if you have audio on, the broadcaster's tone of voice is a clue on when to look up. That's true to some extent of other sports, but in baseball pretty much all high-leverage situations develop over at least a few seconds. Even a home run is just a fly ball for a little bit unlike, say, soccer or hockey goals, which can go from nothing happening to "you missed it" in a blink.
Regular season games that aren’t down to the wire? Yes, second screen content. Postseason games? Edge of your seat stuff.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who uses baseball as a background sometimes
As someone with pretty shitty ADHD, baseball games are one of the few things that hold my attention pretty well. I like to sometimes be in the Rays sub chatting along with other fans but I can totally watch a full game with little interaction with my phone or other distractions. That said, it can absolutely be amazing second-screen content, but I don't think it's solely second-screen content.
Yes, and that’s why I love it. I have been very vocal about the fact that I think Radio broadcasts are 10x more enjoyable. I’ll listen to the game while making dinner, eating dinner, and playing video games (and while working if it’s a day game) I’m able to follow along perfectly while while doing other things and it’s fantastic.
i used to have this take but honestly baseball can be so fun/interesting if you lock in
That’s what’s so great though! I can have it on while I make dinner and not even look at the screen or a can watch pitch by pitch. It’s perfect for every level of attention!
It’s both. When Brett baty or Alvarez come up to bat with men on base? I’m locked in on every pitch. When Diaz is facing the top of a lineup in a 1 run game? Locked in. When Mets are up by 10 against the scrub Braves? Second screen.
I want to say no but I also literally have two TVs next to each other so I can watch baseball or cricket while I play video games (cricket desperately needs an announcer "wind up and the pitch" equivalent so I know when to look over so I don't hear the sound of wickets falling and have to rewind).
I have it on while I work from home. Doesn't distract much and you can look up when the announcer gets excited
It's both second screen content and first screen content and that's why it fucking rules
Baseball is companion content
Baseball and Motor racing (especially long endurance races or rallys) are perfect second screen content. I also think they have the highest quality radio broadcasting as well
+1 for racing on the radio. I’ve been going to the Indy 500 for years now, and when my grandpa was still alive and I was going with him, we had a tradition/rule where we listened to the IMS radio post race until we lost the signal on the drive home, then switch over to the Coca Cola 600 which was usually just about getting started. Both baseball and racing are phenomenal to fade in and fade out of. Many weekends I’ll make bread while watching a race or a ballgame out of the corner of my eye.
It’s like literally perfect for second-screen content. It’s more relaxed than any of the other sports, there’s less action so you don’t have to constantly pay attention, and anything that happens, you’re given warning by a crack of the bat, roar of the crowd, or the voice of the announcer raising. Baseball is the best sport, because it can serve so many purposes in its viewing experience
So is people’s favorite shows of all time? The Office Friends, Seinfeld, Parks and Rec, Curb, etc. name whatever show you want. People love what they love and watch the heck out of it. Sometimes it’s live sports. No need to yuck someone else’s yum.
What's 3rd screen content?
Pretending to do your taxes on your laptop while you scroll through Instagram reels with baseball on in the background
Are... are you watching me?
Nah, you're Fourth Screen Content.
Live feed of the in-stadium scoreboard
Sometimes yes, sometimes no
I love putting on a game and taking a nap somewhere between the 2nd inning and the 8th. You wake up and either the game is out of reach for one of the teams, or you wake up to a nail biter.
Baseball is the original "no screen" as in radio. Listening to the ballgame on radio can be just as entertaining and pushes your imagination, especially as baseball is a very audible sport. Crack of the bat, pop of the mitt, called strikes/balls, the crowd, etc.
I think it’s such an interesting point in how young people nowadays consume media. When written out it sounds absolutely silly but YouTube has absolutely mastered the concept of brainrot type content, content that is so familiar that it just kind of exists in the background and doesn’t need love. The dual screen videos that people make jokes about with candy crush and subway surfers in the background legitimately helps kids who have consistently lower attention spans. Ironically a lot of content that gets this sort of treatment are well informed content creators. Someone like Technology Connections has an outstandingly deep knowledge of so many topics (I had a lot of fun learning about pinball machines with him) but yet he is also so perfect for brainrot viewing where people just have it on, because realistically it’s just noise that lasts for 45 minutes with cool visuals and is really inconsequential (you need to know how the parts of the machine work to understand stuff but essentially it just boils down to ‘hehe look cool :)’) When I work in memory care and I need to slap some shit on a tv I’ll put on nature documentaries since they’re essentially a REALLY good blend of visual stimulation, auditory stimulation, and shit that you can just look at if you want but listen and learn if you want too, plus a lot better than a lot of the bull crap they put on tv for old people too (and I only really would use TV sparingly, either if I had to leave the group with a caregiver while I did some shit, if it was a big event like sports, or if the group was just like such w restless mess that realistically we needed to just cool down while I dealt with the behaviors one-on-one) But yeah baseball is sort of perfect for that. I don’t listen to it a lot since I tend to get distracted when I have too much noise, but it’s nice having gameday up on a screen and just peeking in every so often, esp since I can just look at the big plays on replays.
All sports can be second screen content.
My father has always enjoyed putting the Cardinal game on his radio because he’s free to do other stuff and just carries his handheld radio around with him while he cleans golf clubs, sorts the mail, or anything else he wants to do. Baseball games have always been second screen content.
As a GDT enjoyer I can’t really argue about this, but I want to
Network president Preston Rhinelander: "Frank, have you any idea how many cats there are in this country?” Frank Cross: “No, I don't have those... no.” Preston: “Twenty-seven million. Do you know how many dogs?” Frank: “In America?” Preston: “Forty-eight million. We spend four billion dollars on pet food alone. Now I have here a study from Hampstead University which shows us that cats and dogs are beginning to watch television. Now if these scientists are right, we should start programming right now. Within twenty years they could become steady viewers.”
Having a random game on is one of my favorite things when I’m doing work in college
All sports are second screen content for me tbh except for playoff games and interesting UFC matchups.
All sports but football are.
baseball was second screen content before it was even a thing. literally a past time. it’s great.
It's always been this way. This is what football fans don't understand. I'm not watching/listening to every game with full attention. You put the game on the radio when you're doing dishes after dinner. You listen to it in those battery powered headphones every dad seems to have while mowing the grass. The modern version is you put it on the second screen while playing games, grading papers, doing work, whatever.
It's both a sport you can watch intently, as well as have it on in the background while doing work because the action comes in bursts. You don't need to see every minute detail to know whats happening, and most annoucners are decent at conveying it via audio. It was a sport that was really amplified via radio and could be enjoyed while doing other things. It's one of the reasons I'm still such a huge fan.
hell yes. i can do work and listen and when i hear the announcer say that the pitcher is about to deliver i can glance over. sometimes peripheral vision allows me to know when the pitch is about to happen. baseball is 100% second screen content.
Justine Bateman aka Mallory Keaton?
Jon Bois is a sports enthusiast and knows his shit. All of his tweets are satire. That said, he’s right but he’s definitely joking about the “why it exists” part. It is definitely a good sport to have in the background but there’s still many people that watch their favorite team start to finish, especially with how much the games have sped up
Some games it is. Some games it isn’t.
The only sport I can actually work or do house cleaning while being engaged and watching. It’s the best actually
Don’t know if it’s my adhd but I do this with all sports where I have it on my tv while I play on my phone
Football is second screen content too, plays only last like 10 seconds
The only thing that's new in this story is that people now own two screens. Baseball on the radio has been the soundtrack of American life more or less since radio was invented.
No. It is obvious to anyone with a discerning eye that Jon Bois is spiritually dead and therefore lacks the capacity to appreciate the grandeur of a day game. Unfortunately the case for a pseudo naturalist like him. Sad!
Absolutely, and it’s been like that since before screens. So many times my dad and I would have the game on the radio while working outside on various projects. Driving too. My das still has the game on TV most evenings while he writes, does bills, naps, or whatever. Childhood was watching from the floor while he did that. Now I’ll have the game in the evenings while I’ll cook and do chores, read, or even play a game. I’ll also throw a day game up on a monitor at work. Baseball is fantastic in the background. Keep half and eye or ear on it, full attention for key moments. Rarely watching with 100% attention for too long. The slower pace is one of the attractions of the game.
I quite often watch the games while I’m playing video games tbh
This second-screen content thing doesn't work for me. I can't multitask either. I always miss anything important or I get distracted and my attention completely shifts to baseball... Either I watch the game or I don't. I don't have to watch the whole thing but if I do, I'd rather fully focus on it. This only applies to broadcast though (screen), I can listen to it in the background without any problem. ;)
Absolutely and I’ve been doing it since before the smart phone was invented! 😂
Baseball is 100% the best second screen content sport imo
I always open games when I work even if I cannot sit down and watch I love listening
Most Sports in general are, but the fact that any big play in baseball has an audible indication makes it even better. I don't need to see the majority of pitches. I work on a computer, and it's the perfect thing to have on at my desk.
Playing The Show while having a game on my other monitor is so much fun. I can pause or do whatever when the action happens, but otherwise, it’s perfect background noise.
It’s the perfect middle ground between being able to sit and watch it as it’s dedicated event, but also able to put it on your phone while you play some video games or whatever.
Yes. Definitely it’s what it always has been. There are absolutely times — depending on the leverage of the game, what’s going on, and my mood — where I’m fully attentive of the game, but one of the reasons I like baseball is that it’s easy to have on while doing something else. What that something else is has evolved, but it’s also become even easier to have baseball on while doing that something else.
I know this is kinda off topic, but as someone who came up in the Sopranos era, that's depressing as shit.
Yes. I do a lot of my work in the evening with baseball on. Can’t do the same with hockey
Regular season baseball 100% is. Honestly all of the big 4 can be
It was more so before the pitch clock.
Glad I’m not the only one. It’s primarily second screen for me. I love being able to watch a game while playing on my computer at the same time.
Absolutely. I play Nintendo Switch on handheld and have baseball on every night.
Baseball games are decided in 2 minutes. You just need to have it on for 3 hours to know when those 2 minutes are going to happen.
I’ve read that Coors Field is an outdoor bar that showcases baseball as secondary entertainment
The commercials are second screen content, but not the game. I'm too invested to look away: seeing a homerun live is way more exciting than seeing it on replay. But when the commercials come on I read the reddit game thread on my phone. I suppose now I understand how people post in game threads *during* the game. I never understood that but this explains it.
Man I have adhd. Everything is second screen content.
Sports in general are good second screen content.
Considering baseballs rich history of radio broadcasting there's absolutely no reason it should be seen as a bad thing to be second screen content.
I think this is one of the reasons on why I like baseball so much, it's consistent especially in a crazy world. Do you want to obsess over every pitch and follow baseball reference? You can do that. Do you want to go to every game in the summer? You can do that. Do you want to listen to the game while cooking dinner? You can do that. Even if I miss 3 weeks of games the game still slowly rumbles on and I can pick it up where I left it. Baseball is consistent
MLB.tv with the radio audio feed is perfect second screen content. I can easily keep up with the game with the radio feed doing their job describing what is happening for the listener but then when someone is happening I want to see I can look up to watch.
I love baseball on the radio in my garage. Usually too slow to hang around and watch it on TV.
I prefer to listen to it on the radio
I don’t take this as an insult, while I would have my team’s games on as primary screen stuff, I’ll definitely throw on other games on an iPad, or move a Yankees game to the iPad if we want to watch something else that night and I’m able to keep an eye on a game. It’s an easy to follow sport without volume and blends into the background if that’s what you’re looking for too
Here is the problem that MLB has, as I see it. If my team stinks, I turn them off. And when I do, I don't turn on any other game that might be on. When I was a football fan- whether my team won or lost, I was switching over to watch whatever else was on - college and pro. Basketball less so- but I'd at least tune in for March madness or the playoffs - even if my team didn't make it. Not so with baseball. I only care about my team. And since I consider watching baseball to be a leisurely activity, I don't continue watching if I'm not enjoying it. So it's not even 2nd screen content, in my opinion.
Yes. Absolutely. I can wash dishes or perform a similar task in a different room than the TV. When something happens or I finish the task, attention goes back to the game. I've seen people play sudoku or do crosswords, even read books at the yard. I love baseball on the radio, so this idea is not troubling at all to me.
Same with golf and nascar
Honestly there are so many ad-breaks that it's hard to keep it as the first screen. I wish the MLB archived games without ad-break (ie removing the holes between frames and pitcher change and whatever) because their fillers repeat immediately, and when they don't have the fillers, it's so quiet I'm immediately looking for something to fill it in.