| 06 August 2010
We all know sports aren't perfect.Baseball games are too long. College football needs a playoff. The NHL- for some inexplicable reason- still has a team in Phoenix. ESPN continues to show WNBA games.
But what really needs fixing?
Here's a list of a few ways on How I'd Change Sports...
One and Done Rule: When the one and done rule first came into play, I was a big proponent.
After all, it made sense: Go to college for a year, prove yourself, go pro. If not, come back and stay until you’re ready. Easy enough. The NBA would get players who were prepared to be professionals, while colleges would get everyone- even the superstars- for at least year. Everyone’s happy, right?
Just a few years in though, things have changed. And the rule is already outdated.
Early on, it was only the freshman that were destined for the lottery who left after a year (You know, the Greg Oden, Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, Kevin Durant type players). But now everyone who is anyone is gone after a season, even those with crooked jump shots, bad attitudes, and guys that just weren’t all that good to begin with (think Eric Bledsoe or Daniel Orton). Basically, we’re back to the same problem we had five years ago: College basketball is sucked dry of its talent every year, and the NBA is continually getting a younger, and underprepared workforce. Not good.
(I always find it funny that in the current state of the NBA, guys are basically entering the draft and saying, “I’m not ready for your league now, and I might not be ready for two or three years. And even then there’s no guarantee. I hope you don’t mind. But oh, by the way, you’ve still got to start paying me now.”
Would that fly anywhere else in the real world? Imagine if I just walked into Dell or Apple at 18 or 19-years-old and said, “Well I’m not ready to be a productive member of this company yet, but I’ve got big time potential. I got a 1550 on my SAT and was voted “Funniest,” in my high school class superlatives. Give me three years and there’s a reasonable chance that I’ll be the best worker in this place. No promises until then though. Oh, and you’ve to start paying me now. If nobody minds, I want the corner office with the nice view too. See ya on Monday !”
Honestly, how quickly would I get laughed out of the building? Half a second? Except, that’s basically the current structure of the NBA.)
So with the one and done rule no longer being used the way it was intended, it’s time to scrap it and start over. Here’s my proposal, something I’ve discussed for years with friends and family.
If you want to enter the NBA Draft out of high school, you can go ahead and apply, but it’s treated like a real job interview. You go in front of a panel of experts (Ex-players, coaches, talent evaluators, whatever) and plead your case. Bring your game film. Bring your high school stats. Bring in letters of recommendation (Even if they’re from Big Rick from the block). If the panel deems you ready, you go to the NBA. Think the Durant’s, Dwight Howard’s, LeBron James’. These were guys that obviously didn’t need college, and shouldn’t have been required to go.
But if you don’t pass the admissions test, you’ve got to go to college for at least two years. After the second year, you can re-apply, and re-present your case, almost like a parole hearing (Only without the threat of shower rape if you get denied). If the panel doesn’t approve, you stay for a third year. After three years you’re free to do whatever you want. Go pro. Stay in college. Join the Peace Corps. Whatever.
I like this idea for a few reasons. The first of which, is that it’s like a real job interview.
Because here’s the thing: I’ve always gotten a kick out of people who defended players leaving for the NBA right out of high school by saying, “Well, if these kids can fight in a war, why can’t they play professional basketball?” Yeh, because those two things are so similar. Besides, even to fight in a war there are basic requirements. You’ve got to have completed high school. You need to go through basic training. There's a reason we don’t just give 11-year-old kids guns and put them on the front lines in Afghanistan.
And that’s the way it is in the real world too. If I want to work at J.P. Morgan as a financial advisor, I can’t just walk in and demand a job. There are certain requirements of prospective employees, you know, like having a college degree. Why shouldn’t the NBA have requirements as well?
I also like the panel of experts idea, because it really does handle all situations: If you’re Durant, James or Kobe and you don’t need college, that’s fine. Go be a pro. Hang out with professional groupies. You’ve earned it. If you’re a guy who is good, but might need a year or two of seasoning (Say DeMarcus Cousins), then go to college, and if you work hard, you’re out in less than 24 months. And if you’re still not good enough then, stick it out one more year (When most people hit the age of 21 by the way) and you’re free to do whatever you want.
Finally, the NBA gets a ready to produce workforce, college basketball adds a little more luster, and kids get a chance to mature a little more organically.
Essentially, everyone’s a winner.
Baseball’s Divisions: Or as I like to call this, the “AL East Rule.”
Look, whether you love or hate baseball (And judging by the numbers, I’m guessing you probably don’t love it), the game needs some tweaking. The games are too long. The season is probably too long. And most importantly, 75 percent of the league goes into every season without any hope of winning. Why should the people of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Miami, Oakland, Milwaukee and others care about baseball, or pay to show up at the ballpark to see a lousy product?
The bigger problem is that with the way the system is set up, it’s hard to go from perennial loser to winner. Good free agents don’t want to sign with lousy teams, and fans don’t want to pay to see them either. When teams actually develop talent internally, it’s hard to keep it, since there was no revenue produced through all the lousy years. Sure every once in awhile a team- like Tampa this year, or Oakland in the early 2000’s- strikes lightning and makes a run. But even those windows close fast.
Therefore, I think it’s time to go back to two divisions in each league- East and West- with two more Wild Cards going to the two best teams, regardless of division. That doesn’t solve every problem, but it helps.
For starters, it eliminates scenarios like this year, where the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox could end up with three of the four best records in the American League and one of them (Almost certainly the Red Sox) missing out on the postseason. Isn’t the point of the playoffs to get the best teams playing for a championship? If the third best team in the East this year is five games better than the first place team in the Central, shouldn’t they be in the playoffs?
More importantly, it evens out the playing field to a degree. If you’re Baltimore or Toronto in the AL East (Or Washington or Florida in the NL East), in the current market, it’s impossible to compete with the resources of the other teams in your division. At least with my proposal, the margin for error is a little wider. Maybe a team can stay competitive a little later into the season, and offer a little more hope to fans and potential free agents in the off-season.
Sure, there will still be bad teams. And sure, it doesn’t matter how the divisions broke down this year, Baltimore and Washington still weren’t making the playoffs.|
But there needs to be more balance in baseball. And it’s got to start somewhere.
Baseball Hall of Fame Voting- The Best Players Get In, Regardless: I may have already gone on this rant at some point in the past, but looking through my archives, I can’t find it. So if this gets repetitive, my apologies (What can I say, my brain is rotting).
Anyyyyyyyyyyyway, baseball’s Hall of Fame induction was two weeks ago, and for the fourth straight year, Mark McGwire wasn’t voted in. Yes, that’s the same Mark McGwire who is ninth on the all-time home run list. The same Mark McGwire that once hit 70 home runs in a season. And the same Mark McGwire (who along with Sammy Sosa), basically singlehandedly got America interested in baseball again after the 1994 strike. In my book those credentials are pretty Hall of Fame worthy.
Of course McGwire isn’t getting voted into the Hall because like so many of his contemporaries, he’s an admitted user of performance enhancing drugs. It’s the same reason Rafael Palmeiro won’t get into the Hall of Fame. Or Sammy Sosa. Or probably even Alex Rodriguez, who is the most complete baseball player I’ve ever seen.
The system is clearly broken. And while I’m not the first writer to mention this, here’s my beef with why: This isn’t the Hall of Morality. It’s the Hall of Fame. It’s a place where parents bring their kids to learn about the history of the game of baseball, the good and the bad. Didn’t part of that history involve steroids?
Here’s what the Hall needs to do (And I’ve proposed this before): Put a plaque at the entrance of the Hall of Fame that says the following:
Over the course of the last 150 years, a lot of stuff has happened which has impacted baseball’s record books: Segregation and integration, rules changes, guys going to war in the middle of their careers, advancements in weight training, medicine and nutrition, and performance enhancing drugs. Amongst other things. This is an imperfect history of the game. Enjoy your visit.
That’s it. At that point everyone is free to make their own decisions about the validity of those inducted. If I want to hate McGwire for using PED’s, that’s fine. If I want to discredit Ty Cobb because he never played against blacks, Hispanics or Asians, ok. If I want to say that guy is underrated historically because he spent his prime fighting in World War II, or overrated because he played in the 1990’s when expansion watered down competition, that’s my prerogative.
Again, the point of the Hall of Fame is to go and learn about the history of the game. That’s where my parents took me to learn about Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, and where I want to take my kids (If I can ever trick a woman into having them with me), to teach them about the guys from my childhood.
Yes McGwire may have ushered in the era where first baseman looked more like middle linebackers than ball players. And sure, A-Rod may be one of the most socially awkward people in the history of, well, people. But they’re still great baseball players.
And they need to be in the Hall of Fame.
Finally, this last one is a little wacky, but would certainly add some excitement to the NFL offseason…
Sober House: Starring Tim Tebow: I first mentioned this idea right before this past NFL Draft, when I suggested via Twitter that the Pittsburgh Steelers should have drafted Tim Tebow. Even if it was only to mentor troubled fellow quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But why stop with one NFL superstar, when so many need guidance?
The premise of Sober House is simple: Just like the regular TV show on VH1, take 12 of the NFL’s wildest, most rebellious, ignorant and idiotic athletes, stick them together in a house, and with the cameras rolling watch as Tebow offers them the supervision, direction and leadership they’ve never had. Mornings would start with a prayer over Cheerios and orange juice (Hold the vodka!), afternoons filled with teaching points, and evenings spent out on the town, with Tebow showing his roommates how to have fun…Without getting arrested.
Episodes would center around themes like, “Tim takes Vincent Jackson out to a club, orders him a club soda, teaches him the importance of being a responsible drunk driver.” Or “Tim shows Roethlisberger how to open the car door for a young lady, without forcing her into the backseat.” Or even, “Tim faces his toughest challenge yet, when JaMarcus Russell unexpectedly shows up at the Sober House.”
Don’t tell me you wouldn’t watch this show.
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