Caught in the Hype

4 PM Eastern Time on July 31st was the trade deadline in Baseball. And for some reason I got caught up in the hype and watched a show on the MLB network most of the afternoon dealing with the deadline.

It was a show of rumors, possible trade stories and in some cases actual trades. In reality just a bunch of unemployed baseball experts talking about the deadline.

Sometimes it seems as if the sport networks create excitement about the simple little things. It happens in all of the sports. Drafts being the biggest.

Nearly all of the sports have a yearly draft and sports networks, ESPN is a prime example, has tried and in some cases made draft day as big of a day as an All-star game. Some have made it seem as if it’s a bigger day than the Championship. I guess that’s could be true since every team is involved and one can cheer the selection of your home team.

This year Baseball has joined the NFL and NBA (and to a lesser extent the WNBA) in making the draft a fan day. And they took it one step further by adding the Trade Deadline.

It’s not like there won’t be any trades between now and the end of the season. Trades after August 1st until the end of the season just have some additional rules to follow.

After watching the show for a number of hours, before and after the deadline, I wondered to myself why did I get caught in the hype?

My team, the Baltimore Orioles, made their only trade the day before and their GM had reported there would probably be no additional action before the deadline. And it’s not as if they were going to make a trade to put them in contention for a playoff spot. It would have been trading current players for the future.