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1. Alien Tour
As a human interpreter, I am responsible for explaining our human ways on
earth to alien visitors. On a blimp excursion with a group of extraterrestrials, we
floated over a professional baseball game and one alien became confused. This left
many explanations (that lead to even more alien questions) to me.
First, they had had no idea what baseball even was. Therefore, I had to start
by explaining that baseball is a game between two teams. One team puts nine
players on the field- three in the outfield (the green grassy area) and six on the
infield (the brown dirt area). The pitcher, who is on the center of the infield, throws
the ball to the catcher who is squatting behind home plate, which is on the corner of
the infield. The other team is “batting” which means one player at a time stands next
to the catcher and swings a metal rod that is just barely smaller than his leg and
tries to hit this ball before the catcher catches it. Then, after he hits it, he runs to the
base (the raised white lump on the field) closest to his right before a member of the
other team gets the ball and beats him to the base. After the people in the field beat
the people batting, they switch. The do this nine times and the team that went to
every sing base the most times, wins.
This was difficult for them to understand because they had never even heard
of a game. They did not understand what winning or losing was, so I had to explain
to them that this was a competition. The teams want the most runs, so they can win.
The aliens did not understand why the humans cared about runs or wins or losses,
so I told them that the teams provide people across my nation a sense of community
and togetherness, and how if the team the humans support wins, they feel great
pride, but if they lose they feel disappointed because the sense of community causes
the humans to be emotionally attached to these teams.
However, they were still confused. The aliens wanted to know why the
people who were so passionate about watching the game were not jumping down
onto the field and getting involved. First, I said that everyone understands that the
people on the field are who play, and the people who are watching the game have
actually paid money to watch the game. Secondly, the players on the field are being
paid to play (This was also a confusing concept because money is not an alien
thing.), and are considered to be the nation’s best at baseball.
Finally, they continued to wonder the ins and outs of the game by asking why
there were no female players. I told them that women played a different version
called softball that has a smaller field and a bigger ball that is pitched at the batter
under handed rather than over handed. This is to make the game fair because men
are genetically engineered to be bigger and stronger. Only playing against humans
of the same gender levels the playing field more.
I hope my thoughts helped the aliens learn what American baseball is. It is
hard to imagine not only a culture, but an entire species that does not know sports
or even competition. I am glad that the aliens could see this because I feel like
sports are a healthy and vital part of human life. Although it is not necessary for
survival, I feel like professional sports teams promote community and encourage
fitness as people train to be or be like the athletes.