Baseball

While I do not enjoy too many sports, one I can get into is baseball.
Baseball evolved from old British folk games. The earliest known account is in the early 1800's, but it can be traced back even further to a game called "stoolball."
Many of the earlier games were similar to each other, but there certainly were local, regional and national variations, both in how they were played and what they were called: names included "stoolball", "poison ball", and "goal ball". Few details of how the modern games developed from earlier folk games are known. Some think that various folk games resulted in a game called town ball, from which baseball was eventually born. Others believe that town ball was independent from baseball. Other games, such as cricket, evolved from the same series of games.
A number of early folk games in the British Isles had characteristics that can be seen in modern baseball (as well as in cricket and rounders). Many of these early games involved a ball that was thrown at a target while an opposing player defended the target by attempting to hit the ball away. If the batter successfully hit the ball, he could attempt to score points by running between bases while fielders would attempt to catch or retrieve the ball and put the runner out in some way.
Since they were folk games, the early games had no 'official' rules, and they tended to change over time. To the extent that there were rules, they were generally simple and were not written down. There were many local variations, and varied names.
Many of the early games were not well documented, first, because they were generally peasant games (and perhaps children's games, as well); and second, because they were often discouraged, and sometimes even prohibited, either by the church or by the state, or both.
Baseball, while considered and American tradition, is not isolated to our nation. Japan too has a very high baseball fan populace. Europeans have their own leagues as well. It's practically world-wide.
The thing I like most about baseball is that I, with my limited sports knowledge can still sit down and watch it. I don't have to necessarily understand fully what is going on. I can just enjoy it.
I wasn't really into the sport when all the accusations of steroids began and it's not a major issue at the moment. However, i feel that it does not present itself as sportsmanlike conduct. Athletes should be on their own abilities, not some from a bottle. While not everyone will be on an equal playing field, merits alone should be what counts. Training and practicing and getting better is what it's about.