Remember the olden, pre-social media days when people enjoyed life at a leisurely pace?!

Vacations are on steroids these days. The goal is to experience everything in the least amount of time and post heavily edited photos of themselves.

We met a couple at the airport who were jetting off to Jamaica again because last year they took so many excursions they never took the time to relax and enjoy  the resort and beach.

Now baseball, probably the most languid sport other than cricket, just got a huge kick in the ass.

Apparently viewership is down so the powers that be are injecting the game with steroids.

Baseball players, who just commenced spring training, are in for some harsh realities.

• A pitch clock so pitchers (and hitters) can’t loaf around in between pitches…personally, I won’t miss the outside of the batters box excessive spitting, crotch and batting glove adjustments.
• The elimination of extreme defensive shifts to encourage more offense…remember when a base hit was just that and infielders played their designated positions.
• Bigger bases to boost the number of stolen bases…is that because players are aging and as with large print they need bigger bases?!
• Limiting the number of mound “disengagements,” like pickoff throws…this will radically cut down on home team fans glee at being able to joyously boo the opposing pitcher for an extended period of time.

Will there be a time exemption for the seventh-inning stretch or will the YMCA song accompanying the raking of the infield by the grounds crew and the Take Me Out To The Ballgame song be eliminated for the sake of saving time?

In case you are interested, the tradition of singing this baseball anthem in the seventh inning first took place in 1946. The band struck up the song during a game while fans stood for the seventh-inning stretch.

The new swing in structure is aimed at reducing the game clock to under two and one half hours and enticing younger, attention deficit fans.

It will be interesting to see how beer and concession stand sales are affected. Will fans drink twice as much, twice as fast?

In a spring training game last weekend San Diego Padres star Manny Machado became the first MLB player to begin an at-bat down 0–1 in the count for stepping into the batter’s box too late.

Batter up…quickly!