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Comment by sampo | Hacker News Reader

As someone who recently moved to the US, should I first try to learn about American football, or about baseball?

Definitely football, it's more popular (unless you're in St. Louis).

Baseball games are really fun to watch in person though, more so than football in my opinion. It's just an excuse to drink and shoot the shit while hearing a bat crack every once in a while, always a great night out

Also checkout basketball, especially if you're in the bay.

That's why I hear some people say that Wrigley Field is Chicago's largest bar, and it happens to have a game field in the middle of it.

They must have reasonable prices? Here on the west coast its probably now $15 per shitty light corporate American beer. It was $13 last time I went about 4 years ago.

So, I couldn't imagine going just to have a few beers, in fact more likely to abstain on principle.

Depends on where, I guess. AT&T Park (SF Giants) serves decent beer (Guinness, among other things) for either $11 or $12 (as of last fall). Still highway robbery, but better than $15 for piss water.

I had a good time at the last baseball I went to (company event).

Didn't even see a minute of baseball.

Where do you live? First of all, we need to get around the inaccurately named regions of the US.

If you live in the midwest (the middle of the country; from top to bottom) or the south (southwest of the country), football without a doubt.

If you live anywhere else, you can pick and choose. To me, baseball is a lot more intellectually stimulating and has a lot more interesting strategy, but the more I learn about football, the more I see how much goes into it as well. I was a rabid baseball fan as a youth, but these days can't be bothered to spend the time required to watch a game (let alone 160 games a season). As such, I'm more of a football fan now-- frankly, there is more action, and there are fewer games per year so it's easier to follow a team.

"If you live in the midwest..."

Unless you live in St. Louis, then it's baseball.

"...or the south (southwest of the country)"

I think you mean the southeast?

> I think you mean the southeast?

Texas?

Doof, correct. Planning a SW roadtrip so that's on the tip of my fingers.

I think that statement requires more clarity. There are parts of the SE, like where I live (NC), where basketball is heavily favored over football. Even with the success of the Panthers this year, when it's ACC basketball season that's what people talk about.

Ironically, many former football players will never be intellectually stimulated because of CTE.

Start with baseball. Season starts April 3. Football season ends this Sunday with the Super Bowl. You can pick up football in August.

Why not try both? The vibe and culture surrounding the two sports are totally different I find. Baseball teams, for instance, play almost every day as opposed to once a week for football. I think at least partially because of that (each game is less consequential), it's more common to casually watch baseball games as opposed to football where it's a proper event and people get really into every game. Depending on where you are, it's probably easier and cheaper to get tickets for a baseball game.

Two totally different sports, really. Buy some tickets to some games and see what tickles your fancy.

If you do go to a baseball game though, I recommend at least once getting bleacher seats (basically equivalent to general entry). That's where the fun happens!

Probably football if you're interested in contemporary culture, baseball if you're more interested in U.S. history. Baseball has more history and tradition associated with it, football is currently much more popular.

To be fair, the MLB is wildly popular.

73.7 million attendance last year, by far the world's most attended league. There isn't a close second. To pull 30,517 fans per game to 2,417 games is truly astounding.

To put it into context, the MLB is almost as popular as the NBA and NHL combined.

NCAA March Madness is coming up - it's probably the most exciting event in basketball, possibly all of US sports. There's always surprises, some team that comes out of nowhere to make a big run, some heavy favorite that goes down in flames, buzzer beaters, human-interest stories, the minor gambling aspect of filling out a bracket in the office pool.

College basketball can also be some of the most entertaining basketball to watch. There's a lot more variation in style and strategy than you typically see in NBA or international ball. As long as you don't get stuck seeing too many Big Ten style grind-it-out defensive slugfests.

It's kind of like the World Cup, with less flopping.

If you are in a town with soccer (football) then you might follow the local team rather than learn about the other sports.

College sports are also fun to follow.

Football. But only if you like sports. If not, just forget it and tell people you don't watch.

How about neither? Pursue what you enjoy and find meaningful.

Football is great for tailgating and then watching on TV. Baseball is fun to go to in the summer and maybe watch on TV when the playoffs are on.

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