BASEBALL

What's in a name?

We have basketball.  A game with a ball you put through a ... hoop, not a basket.  Why don't we call it hoopball?  That would make more sense.  Is a basket still a basket when it has a hole in the bottom?

We have football.  A game with a ball you try to put across a goal?  Why not goalball?  There's much more throwing and catching with the hands than there is kicking and punting with the feet.  I suppose handball was already taken?

We have tennis.  A game with a ball you hit with a racquet over a net.  Why don't we call it netball?  I guess racquetball was already taken.

We have golf.  A game with a ball that you hit with a club into a cup.  We could call it clubball or would this be confusing for those who go clubbing?  Cupball is too hard to say.

And then we have baseball. A game with a ball that uses bases. Yes it does.   But, of course, you hit the ball with a bat so we could have called it batball.  Are we afraid some old bat would take offense or that it would be confused with those trying to catch bats? 

Okay, we'll leave the names as they are.  Here is my brief impression of these sports.

Basketball is a hectic race against time; football is a demolition derby; tennis is a metronome; golf is a lazy walk in the park; baseball is a sunny Saturday afternoon with a cold bottle of beer and nothing to do.   You can learn to love it.
:-)