Five Changes that Need to Take Place in Sports
5. Get rid of the designated hitter: It is time for all of professional baseball to play by the same rules, so let's get rid of the DH in the American League. Almost every change Major League Baseball has done in the last 50 years has been in favor of the hitter. Lowering the mound, smaller ballparks, and tighter strike zones are just some examples. Let the pendulum swing back in the other direction and get rid of the DH. If you can't field a position you should be no more than a pinch hitter. Letting the pitcher hit adds more strategy to the game and forces the manager to make tougher choices. It is time for the player's union to let the overweight, past their prime sluggers retire rather than clogging up a roster spot and the base paths. The union will probably never let this happen, but I can still dream.
4. No more in between period interviews: It is bad enough that the coaches rarely tell us anything during the post game press conferences, now we have to endure coach-speak in between periods too. In the 2010 NBA Finals each time Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson was interviewed between periods he looked like he was passing a kidney stone. The coaches are just going to use a bunch of cliches, so just skip the whole thing. Use the time for a public service announcement, injury updates, or a Charles Barkley T-Mobile ad.
3. International draft: It is time for baseball to go to an international draft. This move would go a long ways toward more parity in Major League Baseball. Many people think a salary cap is a cure all, but there are other smaller moves that could help lessen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and this one the union might approve. I see no reason why the latest hot shortstop from the Dominican Republic can't be in the same draft as the high school phenom from North Carolina. That way smaller market teams can compete for the best foreign talent.
2. Let the kids play: It is time for adults to step back and let kids play sports without any interference. Why is it that you very rarely see kids just playing a game of football or baseball with no adults around? We schedule our kids to death and then embarrass them by yelling at coaches and referees. It is important for kids to learn the rules of the game and structure, but it is also important for them to just be kids. Let them get a game together by themselves, like most of us did when we were kids. In those kind of games statistics and playing time aren't issues, and parents don't get it fights with officials.
1. No more hero talk: This rule is for announcers. Please stop describing a player's accomplishments as heroic. A basketball player playing with the flu is not heroic. Neither is the wide receiver that cuts across the middle knowing he is going to take a brutal hit. Heroes are the police officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical technicians who rushed into the Twin Towers on 9/11. Heroes are the soldiers fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locales around the world so we can live our lives as we choose. Using the word heroic to describe something as trivial as a game, just cheapens the word. There are many other words you can use, gutsy, daring, and determined are just a few. Leave the word heroic for those that really are.
Published by Darren Pare - Featured Contributor in Sports
I am an author from Orono, Maine currently working on writing my second book and promoting my first one, 33 Summers. I am married and have two children. I am a freelance writer who has a passion for sports... View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentMy White Sox are hoping to do away with the DH, so they can get more offense, with the pitchers hitting(instead of Dunn).
The strategy is just different with the DH. Many times the decision to pull a pitcher is easier without the DH.
Pitchers need to be taught to field their positions, before someone gets killed.
The MLB All Star game needs to be for fun. Home Run contest for any player on the All Star team or with over 20 home runs, who wants to try.
Use interleague records to determine home field.
Remove steroid records for the good of baseball.
We need the DH... What the hell is an overweighted best days behind baseball player going to find a job?????
I'd rather watch a power hitter hit, than a fat manager think. Long live the DH.
I can give you one more change needed in Baseball. Larry Dolan sell the Indians to someone outside of his family.
Good list. I don't have as much hatred for the DH as most people, since I find the extra offense entertaining. However, I fully support an international draft for the reasons you mentioned.
Part III ... and games.
Anyway, Have a great weekend - Dan ....
Part II:
... teams, back to back, again and again. This will allow for you to have enough important divisional games, and there will never be a need for a divisional tie breaker game. Who won the season series? Each year you alternate homefield advantage. 4 teams w/15 games is 60 games.
Next step, you play each team in the other 2 divisions 6 times. 3 at home, 3 away. 10 teams w/6 games is another 60 games.
Finally you play each team in the other league 3 times. Alternating home field advantage from year to year. This way the players have more familiarity, and fans get to see stars from both leagues more regularly. If you're Milwaukee, you're guaranteed to get big draws like the Red Sox or the Yankees each year. 15 teams w/ 3 games, is 45.
So 60 divisional games, 60 inter-divisional league games, and 45 interleague games is 165 games. You'd have to strike a deal with the players union, surely to add 3 games to the schedule. But it could really make for more interesting schedules,
Darren, nice list. #1, you nailed it. Gutsy thing to choose for #1.
As for the DH, even though it goes against the baseball purist ideals, I think they should be all or nothing. If you allow it in the AL, allow it in the NL so there is an even representation of talent. Then all the over weight, past their prime sluggers can rust away in the NL also.
The one thing I'd do to change baseball would be to even out the schedule, for the sake of symmetry and to allow for fans to more regularly see different teams play in their home field. Also, for small market teams it would mean better ticket sales for a few weekends each year.
First, a couple of minor league and division reallignments. Move Houston to the NL West. Move either Colorado or Arizona to the AL West. This will give you 2 leagues, with 3 divisions, of 5 teams each.
Second, Each team plays its 4 division rivals for 15 games per year. And those series have to be spread out over the season. I get sick of always seeing the same
Excellent list and I agree whole-heartedly with the entire thing. One comment I have, and this is from a fellow baseball fan, is that while you are correct about the changes in baseball favoring the hitter - the reason this was done was to entice more people to watch. Let's face it...the "average" fan would rather see a three-run homer than a no hitter...