I’m going to switch things up a bit, start a new blogger dance if you will. We know there’s a recession right now in America. Check that, a huge recession. We’ve read the headlines about Bear Stearns, we know the real estate market is in the tank. So we do what smart citizens would do: we divert the attention to lighter fare.
Welcome back, baseball! Known as America’s pastime, not quite sure why soccer (a.k.a. “football”) never really took off here, our vice is just this: baseball. American pie. Hot dogs. As I entered the colossal Yankee Stadium tonight I couldn’t help but reflect on a book I previously read, You Gotta Have Wa.
Sports are like an anthropological study, a business analogy if you will. For instance, in Japan the game of baseball is played somewhat differently than on this side of the globe. In Japan it’s fine to end a game in a tie; after all, you don’t want to disgrace the other team. If you hit a home run and scurry around the bases, well you don’t exactly want to look too happy. That would – you guessed it – disgrace the opposing pitcher. Yet here in America we have no problem taking the credit, taking that curtain call out of the dugout when fans beckon the player to take a bow.
We play on a team just like in business but the message is this: it’s okay to shine. We also incorporate baseball terms in business; it’s not uncommon to “touch base” in order to communicate or “hit the ball out of a park” with a stellar proposal. It’s ingrained in our culture, it’s a part of our lives, it intertwines with our business, our culture, our being. So on the evening of a monumental Opening Day in the Bronx: play ball!
