I’d hate to pick between baseball and football, and basketball is rising with a bullet in this writer’s pop chart.

You can dance to basketball. (For those of you too young for Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, it’s an old cliché. The crowds of wholesome youths would rate the records by often saying something like, I’d give it an eight, Dick. It’s got a cool beat, and you can dance to it, you know?)

Football players dance in the end zone. Baseball players dance off the base, trying to distract the pitcher. A form of dance is inherently a part of basketball, though. The difference in the NBA is that the dances have a few more steps. I saw a player take more steps than it does to win the All-American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in a playoff game the other night. Sometimes it’s walking. Sometimes it’s traveling. Most times it’s air travel.

Football emphasizes the stern values of discipline and responsibility. It takes boys and turns them into men. Football teams are the teamest because there are so many players separated into so many roles, all of which have to function smoothly and in concert.

Baseball is similarly grounded, often literally, in fundamentals. The greatest virtue of Clinton’s Class 3A state championship was cohesion. The game is also blessed with a touch of religion. To paraphrase the Bible, the Wages of center field is life. My fate in the hereafter is predicated on the belief that the Good Lord has a sense of humor.

”Baseball is like church. Many attend. Few understand.” – Leo Durocher

It is baseball in which a man can watch a thousand games and still see something new twice a week. It is a game of sudden miracles, shimmering in the night air amidst the floodlit glow.

I love baseball right now. Soon I will begin yearning for the wars of autumn, the pompons and the fight songs, the teams dashing onto the field and the yells of “Go Big Red!” and “Go Raiders!” and “FU all the time!”

Basketball is a dance. Baseball is a festival. Football is a party.

I love baseball so much I’ve written a novel about it that is available at many places where books are sold online. Here’s one of them.

A veteran scout stumbles on a raw prospect when sent to take a look at someone else. Clyde Kinlaw believes so much in Taiquon Wattson’s ability that he risks everything to prove he can turn the kid into a ballplayer.