Except for MotoGP, the only other sport besides F1 that I watch with any modicum of regularity is Baseball (that of the ‘cap’ fame). It occurred to me that our two sports are similar in many respects. The amount of money spent on players, teams, and branding is phenomenal. More interesting is the level of secrecy. As in F1, Baseball teams attempt to maintain the secrecy of their performance as long as possible. I was reminded of this by the new Boston Red Sox signing Daisuke Matsuzaka: apparently he throws a ‘gyro’ ball, but no one has really been able to figure it out yet. Is it a change up? A fast ball? A slider that doesn’t slide? Or a nothing ball? The bluff and counter-bluff that went on pre-season about this seemed pretty similar to some of the stuff we hear from F1 teams. Beside this rivalry, however, is also a friendship between all the teams, in the same way you’ll see F1 mechanics and team managers mingling indiscriminately. Players will leave their dugout pre-game to go say hello to players on the opposing side, and runners on base will chat and joke with fielders in-between pitches. Of course, you could say that all sports are like this, or all people, but then that wouldn’t make a very interesting post. For no other reason than I like the colour green, I support the Oakland Athletics.