If I Were King Of Sports, 2022 Edition
March 2, 2022 at 4:16 a.m.
If I Were King Of Sports, 2022 Edition
By Roger Grossman-
Struggling to lock into a subject to write about this week.
Honestly, I poured so much energy and effort into last week’s column that I just didn’t have a lot of motivation to write about much of anything.
Oh, sure, there are no shortage of topics.
I could write about how the players and owners in major league baseball are ruining their chance to usher us into the end of a worldwide pandemic with the joy and hope that baseball brings us.
Nope. Too painful.
I could write about how I think it’s equally wrong that teams cut players under contract and that players engineer their exits from organizations.
Nope. Too selfish.
I thought about writing about the boys basketball tournament draw.
Nope. Too late. By the time you got to read it, over 100 teams already have been eliminated.
I even thought about writing a scolding article about how Notre Dame fans should really be packing Purcell Pavillion for basketball games this winter because, out of nowhere, their men’s and women’s teams are really good.
Or should I get on Purdue fans who chose not to celebrate perhaps the best team that school has ever produced, but complain about what their beloved Boilers are missing instead.
Nah. You hear that from me a lot.
OK, so what about we do some “if I was King of Sports” stuff?
That’s it…let’s go!
If I were King of Sports, I would limit or ban alcoholic beverages inside sporting venues.
Most conflict in the stands happens because at least one person is liquored up to the point they aren’t thinking clearly and make a comment a lot louder than they realize. It’s heard by someone else who is feeling more sensitive than normal because they also have been drinking, and the next thing you know there is a 6-foot tall man with his pants down too low and his shirt up too high falling over the row in front of him after taking a full swing at someone…and missing.
Especially at football games, people are “well lubricated” before they walk through the gate.
Eliminate alcohol, eliminate most of the problems at sporting events.
If I were King of Sports, I would institute the NBA and college basketball’s rule into high school sports about stopping the clock after made baskets in the final minute of the fourth quarter and any overtimes played.
The purpose is to not let a team that’s leading not take the ball out of bounds in a fair and appropriate manner.
You see it all the time: the trailing team scores but has no timeouts left, and no one from the leading team makes any reasonable effort to take the ball out of bounds. It takes almost 10 seconds to get the ball inbounded.
The response, of course, is “too bad…don’t be behind and save your timeouts for the end of the game.”
OK, sure, but at the same time there is no reason for the rules of the game regarding this stalling tactic not to be followed.
If you don’t like stopping in the clock in the final minute, would you consider a rule that says that, in the final minute of a fourth quarter or overtime, the team that’s scored on has eight total seconds to get the ball inbounded. So, as soon as the ball hits the floor on a made basket while the clock is running, the official under the basket starts counting. If they get to “eight” it’s a turnover.
If I were King of Sports, I would not allow college coaches to have any contact with any parent or player before the first contest of their junior season.
We have freshmen and sophomores who are making verbal commitments to colleges before they can even drive a car!
We, as a sports society, have to keep kids from making choices so soon in their lives. It’s just too much to ask of a kid and their family.
One last thing: If I was King of Sports, I would never let betting be such a major force in sports.
Sports collectively saw a big pay day and they took the money and didn’t think about the long-term effects. Someday, the leaders of the major sports leagues and the gambling companies will be sitting at a long table on Capitol Hill explaining to everyone how it’s no big deal that gambling is choking America.
And they will be wrong.
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Struggling to lock into a subject to write about this week.
Honestly, I poured so much energy and effort into last week’s column that I just didn’t have a lot of motivation to write about much of anything.
Oh, sure, there are no shortage of topics.
I could write about how the players and owners in major league baseball are ruining their chance to usher us into the end of a worldwide pandemic with the joy and hope that baseball brings us.
Nope. Too painful.
I could write about how I think it’s equally wrong that teams cut players under contract and that players engineer their exits from organizations.
Nope. Too selfish.
I thought about writing about the boys basketball tournament draw.
Nope. Too late. By the time you got to read it, over 100 teams already have been eliminated.
I even thought about writing a scolding article about how Notre Dame fans should really be packing Purcell Pavillion for basketball games this winter because, out of nowhere, their men’s and women’s teams are really good.
Or should I get on Purdue fans who chose not to celebrate perhaps the best team that school has ever produced, but complain about what their beloved Boilers are missing instead.
Nah. You hear that from me a lot.
OK, so what about we do some “if I was King of Sports” stuff?
That’s it…let’s go!
If I were King of Sports, I would limit or ban alcoholic beverages inside sporting venues.
Most conflict in the stands happens because at least one person is liquored up to the point they aren’t thinking clearly and make a comment a lot louder than they realize. It’s heard by someone else who is feeling more sensitive than normal because they also have been drinking, and the next thing you know there is a 6-foot tall man with his pants down too low and his shirt up too high falling over the row in front of him after taking a full swing at someone…and missing.
Especially at football games, people are “well lubricated” before they walk through the gate.
Eliminate alcohol, eliminate most of the problems at sporting events.
If I were King of Sports, I would institute the NBA and college basketball’s rule into high school sports about stopping the clock after made baskets in the final minute of the fourth quarter and any overtimes played.
The purpose is to not let a team that’s leading not take the ball out of bounds in a fair and appropriate manner.
You see it all the time: the trailing team scores but has no timeouts left, and no one from the leading team makes any reasonable effort to take the ball out of bounds. It takes almost 10 seconds to get the ball inbounded.
The response, of course, is “too bad…don’t be behind and save your timeouts for the end of the game.”
OK, sure, but at the same time there is no reason for the rules of the game regarding this stalling tactic not to be followed.
If you don’t like stopping in the clock in the final minute, would you consider a rule that says that, in the final minute of a fourth quarter or overtime, the team that’s scored on has eight total seconds to get the ball inbounded. So, as soon as the ball hits the floor on a made basket while the clock is running, the official under the basket starts counting. If they get to “eight” it’s a turnover.
If I were King of Sports, I would not allow college coaches to have any contact with any parent or player before the first contest of their junior season.
We have freshmen and sophomores who are making verbal commitments to colleges before they can even drive a car!
We, as a sports society, have to keep kids from making choices so soon in their lives. It’s just too much to ask of a kid and their family.
One last thing: If I was King of Sports, I would never let betting be such a major force in sports.
Sports collectively saw a big pay day and they took the money and didn’t think about the long-term effects. Someday, the leaders of the major sports leagues and the gambling companies will be sitting at a long table on Capitol Hill explaining to everyone how it’s no big deal that gambling is choking America.
And they will be wrong.
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