Random Intelligent Baseball Fans?

[SOXintheBURGH]

Ever meet a random dude that really, actually knows what he's talking about? For me, its becoming harder and harder.

After the win tonight, I went down to the local watering hole for a pint. Since you cannot smoke in bars in my county, I had to go outside for a Camel. So I sit there and start BSing with this guy who works at the bar, hardcore Orioles fan. Notices my Sox hat and says "Hey man, nice win today. I hate the Cubs. We had these two guys in here yesterday from Illinois that were Cub fans. I said that they were down 4-0 and they didn't even know the Cubs were playing, typical right? Well you know, you're a SOX fan.. and I'm still mad we got Sosa, I will always hate that prick."


I say "Oh yeah? (I live in Maryland now) Sounds about right, typical Cub fans, love their team and have no clue whats going on. Big O's fan?"

He says "Yeah dude.. by the way, good series between us, I was surprised we split with you guys, I was anxious about it. That dude Garland is amazing and Buehrle is always good. I was really surprised we got to Garcia, since I know he can be lights out."

Me, in astonishment, almost fall to tears. A random human actually knows who Garland, Buehrle, and Garcia actually exist? And how good we are? AND knows Sosa sucks?

Then me and this dude proceeded to buy eachother a beer and talk baseball for a good 30 minutes. It made my day.

Anyone else ever had an experience like this?

[RKMeibalane]

Ever meet a random dude that really, actually knows what he's talking about? For me, its becoming harder and harder.

After the win tonight, I went down to the local watering hole for a pint. Since you cannot smoke in bars in my county, I had to go outside for a Camel. So I sit there and start BSing with this guy who works at the bar, hardcore Orioles fan. Notices my Sox hat and says "Hey man, nice win today. I hate the Cubs. We had these two guys in here yesterday from Illinois that were Cub fans. I said that they were down 4-0 and they didn't even know the Cubs were playing, typical right? Well you know, you're a SOX fan.. and I'm still mad we got Sosa, I will always hate that prick."


I say "Oh yeah? (I live in Maryland now) Sounds about right, typical Cub fans, love their team and have no clue whats going on. Big O's fan?"

He says "Yeah dude.. by the way, good series between us, I was surprised we split with you guys, I was anxious about it. That dude Garland is amazing and Buehrle is always good. I was really surprised we got to Garcia, since I know he can be lights out."

Me, in astonishment, almost fall to tears. A random human actually knows who Garland, Buehrle, and Garcia actually exist? And how good we are? AND knows Sosa sucks?

Then me and this dude proceeded to buy eachother a beer and talk baseball for a good 30 minutes. It made my day.

Anyone else ever had an experience like this?

My parents live down the street from a Dodgers fan. This guy knows a lot about baseball. He's one of the people who originally got me interested in the game. I had a French teacher in high school who's a Red Sox fan, and he knows as much about baseball as anyone. In my final semester in college, I had an Ethics professor who is a huge baseball fan. I don't know what his favorite team is, but he said several times that when the Sox and Cubs play, he roots for the Sox.

[NDSox12]

This is a very interesting topic. I agree that it is not easy to find people who know what they are talking about when it comes to baseball. But they do exist...

In fact, a lot of them happen to be White Sox fans. I was in Tampa a couple weeks ago for the first of the Sox/D-Rays games. I talked to a whole bunch of Sox fans who were at the game and every one of them had interesting and insightful comments about the Sox. I love chatting with Sox fans at road games because I know a lot of those people are die-hards like myself.

But to the main point of your post, I agree that these people are hard to find. You can't expect to have many worthwhile baseball discussions at a bar, party, school or work.

[Jurr]

During our down time at the clinic, we all talk baseball. There's me (Sox fan, of course), two knowledgeable Cubs fans (huh?), and three Cards fans. The on-duty supervising docs know their stuff as well. One of them actually roomed with Phil Garner at UT. It's a lot of fun talking baseball with people that know about the game and who's playing it.

[soxfan26]

Anyone else ever had an experience like this?

I live in Northern VA and have had several similar experiences. You find people from all over the country around here, so I've run into really knowledgeable fans from a bunch of different teams.

It was best at my old job, there was a Tigers fan, a Marlins fan, a Pirates fan, then there was myself and another sox fan. Each one of those guys really knew their stuff, it was great.