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This question is a no brainer, of course.

But a friend recently gifted me an original of a January 18, 1987 Washington Post article by my sports’ writing diety, Thomas Boswell, on this very subject. I don’t remember having seen this particular article and thought I’d pass it along.

“Let Me Count the Ways,” Boswell wrote more than a quarter of a century ago, and then continued:

Some people say football’s the best game in America. Others say baseball.

Some people are really dumb.

Some people say all this is just a matter of taste. Others know better.

Some people can’t wait for next Sunday’s Super Bowl. Others wonder why.

Pro football is a great game. Compared to hockey. After all, you’ve gotta do something when the wind chill is zero and your curveball won’t break. But let’s not be silly. Compare the games? It’s a one-sided laugher. Here are the first 99 reasons why baseball is better than football. (More after lunch).

Now the list of his first 99 reasons.

My favorites are: 11 (especially if you add that Weaver was once thrown out of a game before the game even started), 21, 25, 54, 60, 64, 69, 70, 72, 91. And those don’t include the ones Boswell must have listed after lunch.

Which ones are your favorites? (List them in the Comment section below.)

Or even better, list your own reasons why Boswell is correct.

And while I’ve never claimed MillersTime is either fair or balanced (as far as my views on baseball are concerned), you can see this lame list of 25 Reasons Football Is Better. (Some of these seem to make Boswell’s case even stronger.)

Finally, Frank Deford, someone I had also held in high esteem in the world of sports’ writing, at least until I came across this article, sees it differently.

What say you?

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