"Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It's gossip"

Erma Bombeck’s wry observation draws a subtle yet incisive comparison between America’s affection for baseball and its seemingly greater preoccupation with gossip. The traditional notion that baseball is the country’s central pastime conjures images of unity, nostalgia, and collective engagement. Yet, Bombeck challenges this idealized portrait by pointing out a more hidden, if not equally pervasive, shared activity: talking about others.

Gossip, often dismissed as trivial or even harmful, serves an important social function. It binds communities, enforces social norms, and becomes a tool for exchanging not only information but emotion. It is a mechanism by which people relate to one another, establish connections, and sometimes wield subtle forms of influence or power. While baseball may involve players, fans, rituals, and statistics, gossip operates in a more networked, informal fashion, transcending boundaries of age, class, gender, and even interests. Anyone, at any time, can participate. The activity is not limited to a scheduled season or confined to a specific location; it weaves through lunchrooms, living rooms, offices, and even virtual spaces.

Bombeck's humor rests in the contrast between the wholesome, almost patriotic image of baseball and the often frowned-upon reputation of gossip. By privileging gossip over baseball as the “real” pastime, she invites reflection on what Americans, indeed, humans, do most frequently and perhaps most naturally. The drive to talk about others, share stories, secrets, and opinions is an ancient impulse, deeply woven into cultural fabric. In juxtaposing these two forms of pastime, Bombeck does not just make a light-hearted joke; she subtly critiques the self-image of society. It is an invitation to acknowledge the parts of ourselves that thrive on stories about others, revealing, perhaps, that our need for connection, information, and entertainment is satisfied as much by the shared act of gossiping as by the collective celebration of a national sport.