Baseball
1. What are the rules of baseball?
The object of baseball is to score more runs (lượt chạy đủ 4 gôn của 1 cầu thủ là 1 run) than your opponent. The idea is to hit the ball thrown at you as far as you can before running around 4 bases (4 gôn) to complete a run. Once a player manages to get around the four bases before being tagged out, (bị loại khỏi lượt chạy vì đối thủ bắt được bóng và chạm vào người trước khi chạy đến gôn) then another batter (cầu thủ bóng chày-người cầm gậy đánh bóng) steps in. (from www.rulesofsport.com)
2. Do you like baseball?
Not really. The sport is completely exotic (ngoại lai, lạ lẫm) to me and I guess I will not love it till I lay my hands on the bat or catch a ball with the gloves to feel the sport. But for sure, that’s the sport of both personal excellence and team work. The personal excellence is shown in strike out,(ném bóng khó làm đối phương đánh hụt bóng 3 lần liên tiếp và bị loại), fly out,(chụp bóng bổng để loại đối phương) or tag out (lấy được bóng và chạm vào người của runner – người vừa đánh xong bóng và đang chạy về gôn – base), and the team work is demonstrated in ground out (lấy được bóng và ném được cho người thủ gôn)
3. How many players are on a baseball team?
There are 9 players in each team. They take turn to be defenders and attackers. The defending team has a pitcher (người ném bóng) who try to strike out the opponent batter, and other defender protect the bases and try to out their rivals (đối thủ) in other ways. After 3 outs, the two teams reverse roles. The defending team becomes the offending one and vice versa. (và ngược lại)
4. What position do you think is the most difficult?
I think the batter has the hardest job of all. Striking a ball thrown at him at a very high speed and it may be a curve (đường bóng cong) or a spliter (bóng bay quặp xuống khi đến gần batter)
5. Who is your favorite baseball player? Why do you like him?
I do not watch baseball that often to have any favourite player. I just know that the sport is popular in the US and Japan.
6. Does baseball look like a fun game to you?
Kind of. It looks pretty cools when people can throw the ball and swing the bat quite freely. It is kind of stress releaving activity for me.
7. What qualities do you think of baseball player needs to be good at?
I guess it is the accuracy (sự chính xác) in both swinging angle (góc độ vụt chày) and timing for batting.(thời khắc đánh bóng) Also, he needs to be good at sprinting, (chạy nhanh quãng đường ngắn) you know, short distance running is of utmost importance for the defender to come to an appropriate spot to catch the flying ball. Finally, it is the calmness that is of great importance because, you know, when the batter get frustrated, it is hard to have the precision that he usually shows.
8. Would you rather watch baseball at a stadium or on television?
I am a silence lover, so the noisy and bustle atmosphere at stadiums is kind of hostile (không thân thiện) to me. Therefore, I would prefer to laze on my couch (nằm lười trên ghế) and watch a sports match on TV rather than joining the crowd screaming and drumming (khua trống) out in the sun and even the rain.
9. Do you think baseball will ever be a worldwide sport like soccer?
It can hardly be that popular because of the strict conditions it requires. How can one play baseball in the park and avoid hitting people jogging by? Or how can one avoid breaking the windows of their neighbours playing baseball in the back yard? It requires a stadium to play; therefore, it cannot be as popular as football which people can play even in a quite section of a street or on the beach.
10. Do you consider baseball to be a slow game?
It may be because I do not expect every batter rushing to his home plate ready for a strike or any pitcher rushing to his mound ready for a throw. However, 9 innings (1 lượt chơi-1inning có 6 đợt out cho cả 2 đội, tức là mỗi đội out 3 lần) in 3 hours is not too slow. There should be lots of movement in the game that makes it so attractive to baseball lovers.
