A few weeks ago I saw an episode of Baseball Tonight in which the baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian delivered a segment titled "Seamheads." An avowed baseball loyalist Kurkjian created this segment for die-hard baseball fans in which some of the most arcane tidbits of baseball trivia and lore are thrown at the television audience faster than a Stephen Strasburg fastball and with more guile than a Mariano Rivera cutter. As a long-time baseball fan I decided to watch a little bit of the segment. I was stopped cold when Mr, Kurkjian said, "I can't name any of the Supreme Court justices, but I can tell you which players with last names beginning with the letter "A" hit the most home runs." Impressive feat of recollection, but should he be saying this? In a way he is advertising his ignorance, placing it on a pedestal for all to worship. What kind of message is this? It is ok to be ignorant about how our government, our democracy works as long as you can recite obscure baseball stats? This is disappointing and I really wish Mr. Kurkjian had used a different analogy. In that simple sentence he made two declarations: 1) his ignorance and 2) his incredible knowledge of the game. I respect his dedication to baseball and its vaunted history, but in attempting to use humor to make his point he unwittingly downgraded an important institution in this country and shone a spotlight on a very disturbing tendency in this country: the growing lack of familiarity (sometimes outright disdain) for our historical traditions. Perhaps if he said "I can't name all of the Kardashian sisters, but I can...," the analogy would be much 'cleaner.' In this comparison his baseball acumen would stand on a much higher plateau when compared to the drivel of reality show celebrities.
I firmly believe that we have become too sports-centric in this country. For those of who read history, this is not knew. The great US historian Richard Hofstadter observed this trend years ago in his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. He wrote: "At times the schools of the country seem to be dominated by athletics, commercialism and the standards of the mass media...." He lamented the "cult of athleticism." What would he think now?
