Heads Up!

HEADS UP!

The top sports you should watch from the couch not the stands

By: Caleb Odom

The whole point of watching sports dating back to the days of gladiators and other death sports was for entertainment. But when the entertainment flies up to your seat and smacks you in the face, maybe it is a good time to find a new form of entertainment. Here are some sports you might prefer to watch from the couch.

Baseball is a beautiful game full of timeless memories like a father and son watching their favorite player hit a home run while eating  hot dogs at the ballpark. But in the technology driven age of almost everyone having a smart phone and almost everyone having to check it every five minutes it comes as no surprise when a foul ball flies into section AA row 12 seat 3 and clocks 14-year-old Becky right in the nose Marsha Brady-style that baseball might be better on the couch.

I'm not even going to get into when a sweaty Brian McCann steps into the left handed batters box. Let's just say the Braves power hitter has been know to literally "let loose" on his swing so much that the Atlanta catcher frequently launches his bat into the crowd. A flying bat into the crowd is reason enough for a more cautious fan to enjoy the game at home.

A similar sport where danger can be avoided by planting yourself on your couch is hockey. Yes the addition of netting has tempered the volume of stray pucks reaching the seats but the threat is still there of being beamed by an errant puck to the melon. At the beginning of the season or lack there of, the NHL kept the threat of hockey fan related injuries down to just the occasional fans who were in depression from the lockout but now that hockey is back in swing fans needs to stay awake if they venture to a game.

The biggest sport that fans who are concerned about their safety should maybe watch from the couch is NASCAR. At the super speedways like Daytona and Talladega, cars reach speeds of 190 mph but are still clustered together because of restrictor plates that limit the cars' horsepower. With the cars bunched together in packs it leads to more wrecks.

With the cars going at such high speeds when the big wrecks occur, they are more likely to get airborne becoming a threat to fans in the grandstands. A prime example of this happened on this past Saturday, Feb. 23 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona. On the final lap, a cluster of cars became a 12-car wreck that sent driver Kyle Larson's car flying into the front stretch fence. When Larson's car hit the fence, it sent debris raining into the stands.

Larson's number 32 Clorox car on impact sent its front tires and engine flying into the stands and when the smoke had cleared, at least 30 fans were injured by the horrific scene at Daytona. The injured fans were taken to nearby hospitals and two fans were listed in critical condition but stable with one sustaining life threatening injuries. All of the drivers involved were fine but when interviewed after the race they voiced their concern for the safety of the fans and even the race winner Tony Stewart hardly celebrated the win because of what had just taken place on the final lap.

So where is the line of being entertained by something in-person or being entertained by something in the comfort and safety of your own home? For some sports being part of the action is putting yourself in the danger zone and at the end of the day is it really worth it? As for myself, I'm going to continue to bring a glove to the big league games I go to and sitting in the nose bleed seat at a hockey game is a safe and cheap way to go. When it comes to watching NASCAR, I feel like I can enjoy it just as well or even better at home on my couch away from the flying Good Year tire looking for my head.