The ValleyZen of Baseball
Openness, freedom, no limits on space, no constraints on time, no timeclock. Foul lines shoot and dreams soar towards infinity. Not pinned indoors like basketball or hockey — but unfolding outdoors cradled by an open sky and merging with nature. A game of captivating simplicity —BUT one with nuances that take a lifetime to understand and master. A game where the now stretches out and snaps back – elastic. A game so statistics laden, that it is a paradise of numbers for software engineers. What could be more ValleyZen than this?
On Thursday we went to AT&T Park to watch the Giants edge out the Marlins. From a Fenwick & West Suite we had the relaxing chance to gather some ValleyZen reflections on baseball. We asked Fenwick’s guests to share their thoughts on the quintessentially American sport of baseball in Silicon Valley. What makes it different here? What makes it us?
Casual but Data Intensive
Will Fitzpatrick, Corporate Counsel for the Omidyar Network says, “Baseball, like a lot of things in the Valley might look casual but it is data-intensive. It is highly statistics driven—the more you know the more you like it. There is a big Geekside to it – this obsession with detail. It’s passive but the number crunching side has Valley appeal. The classic software engineer experience is watching baseball with a group of friends, listening to stats, checking historical stats, playing fantasy baseball all at the same time.” The elastic nature and overall structure of the time in baseball allows for this intensive multi-tasking.
Slow game – Fast-Paced Valley
Mike Sands, Fenwick & West Partner and Chair of the Electronic Information Management Group, notes the tech connection, “Just look at the litany of telecom companies that have had their name on the park—Pac Bell, SBC, AT&T. Also baseball here is a way for folks in Silicon Valley to get a slice of normal Americana in a Valley that moves too fast for its own good.”
We vs. I
Geoffrey Jones, General Counsel, KKR Financial pointed out the we/I paradox: “Baseball gives people in the Valley the chance to plug into classic American culture. Like Valley culture it’s both team and yet individual too.”
The Space Between
Robert Brownstone, Fenwick & West Law & Technology Director is qualified to speak on the subject as he “lives eats and breathes baseball.” Brownstone looked over the park and said, “No timeclock.
No matter how far behind you are, you can catch up—-if you don’t give up. Stubbornness, no time limit. You don’t know when it is close to over, you don’t know how long the experience will be.”
“Some people say baseball is boring, but the breaks between action are a nice opportunity to stare, to sit, to have conversation between pitches.” What great commentary on negative space and Zen emptiness in baseball.
Brownstone also commented on the elasticity of time as pitchers intentionally slow down a stressful inning to break momentum of the batting team:
“As an afición of baseball, for me that’s the drama, seeing the pitcher trying to keep himself loose, seeing him stretch out time.”
With the focus and spotlight turning on only ONE person at a time, it is very dramatic, very stark, and Zen.
Jon Stueve, Director of Legal Affairs at Ning, estimates he has attended 75-100 live games in his life. Stueve notes how 9 people are spread out on one very big space. “Baseball evolves slowly. Soccer is slow but involves constant action. Basketball is played by these intense supermen.”
Heroes but Everymen
In a game full of Zen contradictions Andrew Ryan, Manager of Production Operations at Collabnet notes another. “Baseball requires dedication, at the very least 10 to 12 years to be really good at it. And yet there are slightly fat tobacco chewing guys – the everyman” playing the game.
Don’t Rope Me In
Kurt Pletcher, Associate General Counsel at Equinix reflected on Zen freedom: “Baseball moves us leisurely along. Easily digestible bite size pieces. Pitch, hit something happens. It doesn’t rope you in. The manicured lawn, the sky– everything about it says open.”
A Baseball Koan
Baseball has the greatest koans of any sport courtesy of the Yogi Berra, who said
“You can observe a lot by watching ”
What do you think when you watch a baseball game here in the Valley or elsewhere?
Bill Fenwick & Drue Kataoka
Baseball – A different perspective;
To an alien out of space, the game may look like this: somebody hits the ball, everybody runs around and nobody knows
why!