Karl Marx famously said, “Religion is the opium of the masses”. In his writings on the subject, Marx wasn’t indicting religion so much as he was criticizing the powerful in society and their use of religion in controlling the poor and uneducated masses. There is no doubt in my mind that professional sports currently constitute America’s religion. People are passionate and knowledgeable about their sports and, particularly, their teams. Terrible events can be unfolding all around them, but if their team is winning, then how bad can it really be. Sports and celebrityism are two of the main reasons why the American electorate has become so ignorant about politics and policies over the last 50 years. It’s hard to know what the 3rd round draft pick of the Sox is doing in Double A ball and also know what Trump is up to with North Korea.

Enough about that. I was thinking the other day about our 2 favorite professional sports, football and baseball, and their differences and similarities. I came to the conclusion that they have no similarities. None. Now, the slack-jawed among you might respond, “Well, they’re both played with a ball.” Yes, that’s true, both games are played with a ball. (Now, go back to scratching yourself.) But, in every important aspect, these two games are as dissimilar as two games can be. Not only are they fundamentally different in the way the games themselves are played, but also in the organizational structure between the NFL and MLB. Their only real similarity, beyond the fact that they are played with a ball, is that they both generate a lot of revenue.

In 2012, the NFL brought in a total of $9.5 billion, with baseball not far behind at $7.7 billion. Their source of income was dramatically different, though. Most of the NFL’s money comes from national television contracts (about $6 billion), whereas most of baseball’s television money is in the form of local stations broadcasting the local teams. The richest of these contracts in 2014 were in the range of $85 – $100 million per year and included a stake in ownership of the local television network. Needless to say, both the NFL and MLB are doing just fine. There’s plenty of money flying around.

In writing this essay, I’m reminded of the comedy bit on football and baseball by the late George Carlin. If you’ve never seen Carlin’s bit, it worth a look on YouTube. Very funny.

Football is war. Baseball is fun. That’s the fundamental difference if you’re playing the sports. Don’t misunderstand me, professional baseball has tremendous pressures and hitting a ball thrown at 98 mph and moving down and away from you may be the most difficult task in sports. But, at its most basic, throwing, hitting, and catching a baseball is great fun. Baseball is played on fields and every field is slightly different. One may have an ivy-covered wall. One has a Green Monster. One has a short right field porch. One has a center field where home runs go to die. It’s pretty neat that every field has its own personality.

In football, all the fields are identical. Exactly the same. The purpose of the game is to move the ball down the field against your opponents. Their purpose is to stop you. Very much like a battle in war. Football is all about control – control the clock, control the line of scrimmage, control the running/passing game. Football is a violent game, continually requiring one full grown, powerful man to hit another man as hard as is humanly possible. The more spectacular of these hits used to be the highlight of the sport, fodder for the NFL programs on ESPN and the Networks. Since the discovery of the indisputable link between football violence and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, however,  these hits are no longer celebrated on television. Hard hits continue to be one of the main attractions of the sport, however, and football remains a very violent game.

Even the leagues are different. The NFL is an owners league. The Commissioner is hired by the owners and governs the league in a heavy-handed manner. He has the first and last word on all player disciplinary matters. (Also, owner disciplinary matters. Oh wait, there are no owner disciplinary matters.) In all of professional sports, NFL players take the biggest risks with injury, have the shortest careers, play for the least salary, and are the only ones without guaranteed contracts.  The NFL operates under a simple credo: All players, no matter how famous, are replaceable. Step slower – gone. Coming back from injury – gone. Non-guaranteed contract too big – gone. Just like on the field, control is a big issue in the NFL owner’s box.

MLB is more equitable. The Commissioner is not a Czar. He stays in the background. I’ll bet you can’t even name the baseball Commissioner. That’s not a bad thing. An excellent example of the lack of control from the Commissioner’s office is that, in baseball, one league has a designated hitter and the other has the pitcher bat for himself. That’s not really good for the game, but it’s not controlling either. Baseball players make big money and all have guaranteed contracts. Their careers, on average, are the longest in professional sports. And, did I mention, the game is fun?

I think it is fascinating that the 2 most popular professional sports in the US are so different in every way. For over a hundred years, baseball was “America’s pastime”. Now, the NFL is, without doubt, America’s primary sport. Baseball, though still popular, has been eclipsed by a violent, war-like sport. Does that say something about America in the late 20th and early 21st Century? Yes, but the reasons for the NFL’s rise are many, complicated and really not dire. The 2 most important are 1) football is a sport that is almost made to be watched on a television and 2) the NFL has done a fabulous job of marketing its league and teams over the last 50 years. Pretty simple, really.

So, choose your sport. Choose both. Choose neither. It’s all ok. Just remember, there is a real world going on around you which will impact you and the people you hold close. Pay attention to that, too.

Me? I like them both, but baseball is more fun.