Football and baseball can't be compared when it comes to contact; however, if you get hit by a 100 mile per hour pitch, it can be pretty painful at times. In the offense, one team throws a ball while the other hits the ball. Football is a timed sport while baseball has no time limit as they play until the ninth inning. But one area where both sports are somewhat similar, are the players that pay the most attention on the field. Those players are the quarterbacks and pitchers. What's similar is that they take the spotlight of the field, because of the pressure the have to go through in order to get the victory.
Of course in football, every player's job is to memorize the plays by heart. The only thing is that each position needs to remember their own plays and the quarterback needs to remember all of them. What people mostly expect from them are great plays and touchdowns along with a hopeful victory. The one thing that keeps quarterbacks under pressure are the last minutes of the game when the team is down by three and the two choices are to make a touchdown for the win or tie the game with a field goal and move onto overtime. It can get pretty hectic when the fans are looking at them throughout the whole game. Quarterbacks are the ones that primarily make the choices not just on the field, but also off the field. Coaches position them as the team captain and to be the leader of the team. Whatever choices quarterbacks make, it will judge them on who they are to the community. For example, once Johnny Manziel was chosen as the Heisman trophy winner, people were expecting great things from him. But everything started going down south when he started to get out of hand by partying all night before game time. Even though he has gone through rehab, it hasn't changed Manziel's attitude to be accountable.
The other position that also holds this kind of pressure are pitchers. Think of an inning of the game, where the home team is up by one run and the visitors are up to bat. All the pitcher has to do is to hopefully strikeout all three batters and take the win. One huge hit can change the game and the home team then loses their momentum. The pitcher always has to not only focus on the batter, but also the runners on base. The biggest mistake a pitcher can do is a balk, which allows the runners to advance one base. I remember one game when the Dodgers were taking on the Rockies. It was the bottom on the tenth inning and one runner was on third base. The pitcher flinched as he was about to throw and the umpire caught him causing the game to end with a 4-3 victory.
When it's a close game, the one thing both the quarterbacks and pitchers are thinking is to not give away the win. Plays that can cause a devastating loss are an interception or a home run. Both positions can be hard to deal with, but it shows they are fit to do the job and to keep the momentum going. Who do you think has it harder?
