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Which is better: spring training or training camp?

Sporting News, The, August 12, 2005 by Tom Gatto, Vinnie Iyer

Give me sun, sand and a decent ballgame

Football doesn't hit my radar until after the World Series, so of course I'm partial to spring training. But based on what I know about camps, baseball still rules.

In baseball, you know everyone's going to show up ("visa problems" aside). Baseball players don't suffer season-ending injuries every five minutes. Baseball's exhibition games actually look like real games, and you don't pay full price for tickets. There's no way to know if your first-round quarterback is going to be a good pro because training camp action looks nothing like real game action. In baseball, you can get a much better read on a rookie who's facing big-leaguers for the first time.

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And, hey, what's better--being able to stroll barefoot along a sun soaked Florida beach in March after a relaxing day at the park or having to dodge August hailstorms in Nowheresville, U.S.A., after enduring a controlled scrimmage? It's no contest.--Tom Gatto

Everyone knows real men sweat and smash skulls

Baseball has its March spring break in Florida and Arizona, but NFL teams go back to school in July and August for training camp--a true school of hard knocks. Baseball players get to work on their tans in the nice warm sunshine in Florida and Arizona, but NFL players work out during the hottest time of the year, sweating away their entire beings to win jobs. Until MLB holds "late-winter training" in Antarctica, I'm not impressed.

Major league teams split squads, but the bigger, stronger men of summer split heads, smash bodies and spill their guts, all to survive camp competition--from their own teammates. Don't make the big club out of spring? You've got the minors waiting. Cutdown day? Here comes The Turk, and there goes your dream. Pawtucket is a lot better than the street.

You can have your grapefruits and cacti. Give me two-a-dog days and do-or-die.--Vinnie Iyer

Which is better: spring training or training camp?

Sporting News, The, August 12, 2005 by Tom Gatto, Vinnie Iyer

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