the absurdity of sports

I love sports. I love playing them. I love watching them. But have you ever sat back and thought about how ridiculously absurd sports are? I mean, let's face it. The only reason we love them and get excited about them is because we love competition. We love the idea of it, the feel of it, the adrenaline of it. But the sports themselves are pretty absurd when you look at them. Let's take a closer look to see what I mean.

• Baseball - You hit a ball with a stick and run around bases. That's simple enough. But there are so many rules. Who decided that 4 balls makes a free pass to a base whereas only 3 strikes are needed to get you out. Why not 3 balls and 2 strikes? Why not 5 and 4? Why not 3 and 3? Why can't a pitcher pretend like he's going to throw home and throw you out if you're too far off the base? Why are the bases 90 feet apart? Why not 100? Why not 80? Why is the guy to the right of second base called the second basemen and the one to the left called the shortstop? It's all random and silly. If 100 and how many ever years ago Mr. Doubleday decided that there should be 5 bases counting home, we would think it was normal.
• Football - If you throw the ball forward and the guy misses it, it's an incomplete pass. If you throw it backwards and the guy misses it, it's a fumble. Why does it take 10 yards to get a first down? Why do you get 4 downs during a drive? Why can't the ground cause a fumble? Why do you kick the ball through the uprights for a point after the touchdown?

In my opinion, hockey and soccer are the least absurd. Still, when you really think about it, sports are odd. The rules are odd. They are competitive though, and that's what drives us. So no matter how odd sports are, we'll keep watching.