While agonizing over my busted bracket, I decided to compile a list of ways to make sports better.
1) David Stern institutes the “Isiah Thomas Rule.” At the end of the season, the 30 NBA general managers vote amongst themselves on who the worst GM in the league is. The person with the most votes vacates his position, which Thomas automatically fills.
Would fans of the team that gets Thomas be happy? Absolutely not, but the idea would give me six months worth of column material!
2) Fixing the halftime shows. As crazy as this sounds, I don’t need five people telling me what happened in the first half.
3) Have a regular fan look at the NCAA Tournament brackets before finalizing them. Hold on, San Diego State is the best No. 2 seed? And Kentucky is the worst No. 4 seed? It amazes me how often the selection committee overlooks factors any college basketball fan could see.
4) Pay revenue-generating college athletes. Wait, this already happens? I kid. I kid.
5) Eliminate the three-man announce booth. The play-by-play man and color commentator have to develop chemistry, and it’s thrown off with a third wheel.
In the Florida-BYU game, Gus Johnson was announcing with Len Elmore and Reggie Miller. When the game was tied late, Miller continued to constrain Johnson. Gus shall not be restricted!
6) The NBA should award a Least Valuable Player (LVP). Candidates this year would include: DeSagna Diop, Travis Outlaw and Brendan Haywood. Off-the-court problems, ridiculousness of contract and poor play are factors that would be considered.
7) Permanent date for MLB Opening Day. I always thought MLB Opening Day should be the Sunday between the Final Four and the national championship game.
The counter to this argument is that you have to start the season earlier to end it in October. But it just doesn’t feel like Opening Day if most of the country misses the season’s first pitch while at school/work.
8) Changing the rules for fantasy football running backs. Ray Rice and Willis McGahee are examples of a running back platoon that messes with fantasy football owners. I had Ray Rice this year, and I loved it when he would pick up 60 yards on a drive and then be replaced by McGahee. McGahee would pick up the cheap touchdown, Rice would be screwed out of six fantasy points and I’d be left feeling like I’ve just been repeatedly punched in the gut. You should just be able to draft “Baltimore’s running backs.”
9) Getting rid of the NFL Wonderlic Test. The Wonderlic Test is an IQ test administered to prospects at the NFL pre-draft combine. The following is an example from a test (courtesy of ESPN’s Page 2): Paper sells for 21 cents per pad. What will four pads cost? This is by far the most accurate way to forecast how a player will fare in the NFL!
10) No more talk about the NFL lockout, the Barry Bonds trial or the Roger Clemens trial. I don’t want to hear about dividing up $9 billion, and let me know when the verdicts are reached with the trials.
ttomea@theeagleonline.com
