Great Catch

I'll admit up front that it's a bit odd, but one thing I'll say for listening to baseball on the radio is that there's an added dimension of the game when you can't actually see what happened. Two dimensions, really.

I was listening to yesterday's Detroit Tigers game (Bally Sports and Xfinity don't appear to care whether I can watch live baseball) and, at one point, Tiger outfielder Riley Greene made a spectacular catch to save, the announcers felt, two runs. 

It was euphoric to hear. Dan Dickerson, the play by play man (who has a great announcer's voice by the way) described the action. He sounded excited and concerned all at once as the ball fell to earth, telling his audience about Greene's rush towards it, and exploding himself in happiness when the catch was made. I about jumped from my seat too.

This leads to the first point: having the play told to you adds more excitement than seeing it. Secondly, I actually felt greater relief at hearing about the ball caught than seeing it done. It's almost like reading a book rather than watching a movie or TV show. You interact more profoundly when you have to invest yourself in the process. You don't have to pay as much attention when you see something. You have to hang on each word as you read or have a description delivered to you.

I found I had a greater satisfaction for the result hearing it instead of seeing it. Imagination can be better than reality I suppose. At least at certain times with certain things.