BS: Great Gobs of Spit.

Subject: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: GUEST,John Gray in Oz
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 09:15 AM

I'm watching the Baseball World Series on television. The Phillies v the NY Dodgers. For the first time I notice just how frequently the players spit. Obviously generated by the great gobs of gum they are chewing. The jaw action is not dissimilar to a cow eating grass.
The batters spit, the fielders spit, the pitcher spits the coaches spit. One player, Ibanez, had a wad of gum in his mouth that was so big it looked like he had a malformed jaw. His spit rate is 1 every 3 seconds. ( Maybe this can be a new stats section of the game )His distended cheek reminded me of the Qat / Khat chewing arabs.
Why is it that these blokes need to spit all the time ? It seems to be a feature of baseball. This disgusting habit does not occur in football, basketball, hockey etc.
Now that I've noticed the frequency of men spitting it has put me off this sport. I can't watch it now.

JG / FME

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 09:19 AM

Dodgers???? Dodgers??????

Those are Yankees and fighting words, John. The Dodgers left NYC back in the 50s and we still haven't forgiven them. Ebbett's Field, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium - all gone. I am so old.



Re spitting. They chew tobacco to relieve stress, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 09:20 AM

It's baseball

It's the World Series

It's the greatest sport in the world

If you don't like the gobs of spit ... turn the channel and watch "So You Think You Can Dance"

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: GUEST,John Gray in Oz
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 10:02 AM

Yes - of course I meant Yankees.
Stress ? We had a great cricketer here just before and after WWII.
Keith Miller. During the war he was a Spitfire pilot in England.
In his latter years he was interviewed on TV and asked about the tension and stress of a cricket match. His reply, if I remember it correctly, was ; " Stress ? stress son ? Stress is flying back across the English Channel, out of ammo, low on fuel and two Messerschmitts right up you arse. Cricket is only a game."

Number 6. I agree baseball is a great game but what I'm asking is why spitting is a feature of this sport and not others.

JG / FME

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: jeffp
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 10:22 AM

Spitting is a feature of chewing tobacco. You don't swallow that stuff. I don't know why chewing tobacco is such a big part of baseball, but it probably goes back to the early days when tobacco was very popular and you obviously couldn't smoke a cigar during the game.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 10:25 AM

I remember reading somewhere that managers provided chewing tobacco to their players for just that reason jeff.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM

JG ... spitting and baseball .... I don't think there is a good explanation for it other than it's just part of the game ... came up through the history of the sport and became part of the culture so to speak.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM

And there is the tradition of the Spit Ball.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: SharonA
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 10:31 AM

What's really nasty is when they spit chewing tobacco onto artificial turf. Former Phillie Lenny Dykstra used to be infamous for that.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: Becca72
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 12:08 PM

Football players don't spit because the face masks get in the way.
Basketball players don't spit because they are indoors and the floor would get slippery.
Hockey players don't spit because it would freeze before it got to the floor.

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: Stu
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 12:12 PM

Football (the proper game) players here in the UK spit all over the place, encouraging the impressionable youth to spit all over the place. Apparently Premier League managers are being told to stamp it out as it's spreading swine flu!

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 12:51 PM

Rodeo bull and bronc riders used to chew tobacco. They generally did it only during one ride, though.

I think that they should put cuspidors where the spitters are.

Mouth and jaw cancer, here they come!

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 01:24 PM

I had to have been about 6 years old at most when my older sister and the hired man's two sons came accross my grandfather's new plug of tobacco, opened it and tried a little taste. To this date I can't imagine why anyone would deliberately put that in his mouth.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: gnu
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 01:30 PM

"I agree baseball is a great game but what I'm asking is why spitting is a feature of this sport and not others."

Other sports require attention and a fairly constant level of exertion. In baseball, ya occupy yerself with somethin... spit, scratch yer nuts, spit, scratch yer nuts...

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 01:37 PM

Not only mouth cancer. The juice does sometimes get swallowed.
I used to work in a clubhouse and my ex was sports therapist for Cubs minor league when they were in Midland Texas. About half of them chewed the stuff. It was used by high school baseball players too, in the 70s. I knew a 30 year old chewer died from stomach cancer. He started chewing in high school. Everyone agreed it was the baccy.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 01:38 PM

oops. meant to say it is part of the culture of the game, like the superstitions.

Never, ever cross the bats.

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 02:01 PM

Cross the bats? Heavens no! Especially if they are vampire bats!

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: Becca72
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 03:35 PM

LOL...that reminds me of my favorite Halloween joke:


Two nuns are out driving when a vampire drops onto the hood of
their car. "Quick sister," screams one nun, "Show him your cross!"
So the other nun leans out of the window and shouts, "Oi! You! Fuck off!"

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: kendall
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 09:47 AM

Sigh

Subject: RE: BS: Great Gobs of Spit.
From: Abdul The Bul Bul
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 11:43 AM

Hey...John from Oz not heard that....thanks for the laugh out loud tonight. oops there we go again...

Stress is flying back across the English Channel, out of ammo, low on fuel and two Messerschmitts right up you arse. Cricket is only a game."

Ha ha ha..no, can't stop
Al