A news report I'd like to read:
A sports reporter, after attending meetings of all the baseball leagues, announced that all owners, coaches, managers, and team members are presently discussing having a "No Spitting" rule while a game is in progress (other than in a spittoon).
Quotes the reporter, ". . . we've all known that for some sports fans spitting is repulsive to watch—to which we have non-verbally replied by hocking yet another disgusting loogie, with the implied, 'If you don't like—don't watch.'" Over the years dozens of health professionals have generously taken time to write about the bacteria growing in the dugouts.1 We have of course self-righteously ignored their free counsel.
We've known that spitting is a learned (mimicked) behavior, that it's a choice; the majority of other athletes do not. I'd like to say that our new policy of no spitting evolved organically from a sense of what's next in terms of manners, however, it's more likely that we have been inspired by confident professional non-spitting Olympians who have no need to demonstrate how tough they are. The bottom line truth is that we are presently driven by greed. The more people who refuse to watch macho men spit the less potential viewer revenue.
1 Taking off ones shoes is incredibly unhealthy.
Update: 7/30/21: Looks like COVID-19 does not support that result; players are still hawking where others walk and touch (including where balls roll).
Last edited 7/30/21
