In the Feb. 18 Daily Egyptian sports column Forget Wrigley in the summer, just give me the United Center, Shandel Richardson ripped Major League Baseball and over-glorified the NBA. I totally disagree with his opinion. Baseball is not a boring sport, nor is it filled with out-of-shape, wannabee athletes.

Baseball is a game that is based on strategy and if you do not understand it, it will be boring. Baseball is much more complex than basketball because it involves more than just hitting a jumper or driving to the basket to score.

It involves getting men on base, stealing bases and driving in runs. It also involves the most difficult thing to do in all of sports hit a baseball. Pitchers hurl fastballs, curveballs, sliders, split-fingers, change-ups and knuckleballs. This variety makes hitting extremely difficult. Just think of how difficult it would be to hit a jump-shot if the rim was constantly moving.

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If baseball is for the athletically challenged, how come Mr. Wonderful Michael Jordan couldn’t hit his way out of a wet paper bag? Give M.J. a bat and I guarantee I could strike him out, and so could my grandmother. M.J. hit .202 at AA Birmingham and was brutal in the outfield.

Unfortunately, you are right. Baseball has taken a backseat to basketball, a game filled with overpaid, selfish prima-donna athletes, who are mainly concerned with getting a shoe named after them rather than winning a championship. I don’t see the excitement of watching a bunch of guys with overactive pituitary glands jump two feet to dunk. The NBA simply has no concept of the word team. Also, if the referees called players for traveling and double-dribbling, the scores would be much lower.

senior, administration of justice