Armadillo Sports
Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Major League leaders in ERA (starting pitchers)
0.84— Shota Imanaga, Cubs
1.36— Ranger Suarez, Phil
1.54— Reynaldo Lopez, Atl
1.70— Javier Assad, Cubs
1.79— Seth Lugo, KC
1.80— Tarik Skubal, Det
Quote of the Day
“And yall still wanna know why I would foul up 3 EVERY SINGLE TIME??”
Lebron James, after the Celtics tied the game with a 3-pointer Tuesday nite.
Wednesday’s quiz
Who was manager of the New York Mets, last time they were in the World Series?
Tuesday’s quiz
Frank Vogel was coach of the Indiana Pacers, last time they were in the Eastern Conference finals, ten years ago.
Monday’s quiz
1993 was the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, when Montreal won.
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Wednesday’s Den: In a perfect world, where I make all the decisions…….
Baseball:
— I’d eliminate the American/National Leagues and go to geographic realignment, which would reduce travel costs and invigorate regional rivalries. Going to 32 teams (which will happen soon) will make scheduling a lot easier.
— Baseball managers/coaches shouldn’t wear uniforms, there is no need for it. Players wear uniforms, coaches wear pullovers or sweatshirts or whatever products their corporate sponsors are trying to sell.
— Baseball’s All-Star Game should be US against the World; that would make the game a lot more competitive, maybe too much so, but doing it once would at least spice things up a little bit.
— Baseball needs to market the game better. How?
a) Create an NFL Films-type group that produces a Hard Knocks show where we can see some of the inner workings of baseball. It would be great.
b) Imagine last cuts in spring training? Would be good television.
c) Trade negotiations at the deadline? It would be like watching Moneyball all over again.
Show Winter League games from Central America.
Get rid of all TV blackouts; you WANT people to watch baseball.
Football:
— NFL would have an 18-game regular season, only two preseason games; Super Bowl would be Sunday night of Presidents’ Day weekend. This will probably happen in the league’s next TV contract.
— Add the old AAF’s onside kick rule, when instead of an onside kick, the kicking team gets the ball on their own 35-yard line, 4th-and-15. They get the first down the keep the ball; the onside kick rule they use now isn’t good. Too hard for a recovery by the kicking team.
These days, NFL teams almost never recover onside kicks; with this rule, it would add a little more excitement to the game.
— I’d scrap Thursday night NFL games, except for Week 1 and Thanksgiving; I’d replace them with Monday night doubleheaders. Football wasn’t meant to be played on three days’ rest.
Famous birthdays for May 22nd:
Frank Converse, 86
Tommy John, 81
Walt Hriniak, 81
Dre Bly, 47
Eric Sogard, 38
Lauri Markkanen, 27
Isaiah Stewart, 23
Anthony Richardson, 22
NBA
— Long time ago, the early 70’s, the NBA held a 1-on-1 contest, and aired the games at halftime of regular season NBA telecasts. This was in the early 70’s; I think they had two tournaments, then some of the better players refused to play, and the idea died.
They need to bring back a 1-on-1 tournament; it would be wildly popular.
This should happen in the summer, with each player designating a charity he is playing for. They would make lot of money for various good causes.
64 players; games would be up to 20, have to win by 3 points.
Lot of wagering opportunities, bracket pools, it would be fun.
Each NBA team would have to be represented by one player; the other spots would be determined by fan voting on the Interweb.
— Would definitely move the NBA Draft Lottery back to a half hour before the actual draft; imagine the drama then? Lot of executives would have to think on their feet.
— Kids should be able to go straight from high school to the NBA, the way Lebron James, Kevin Garnett did; players going to college for one year is a farce.
— NBA playoff series should be best-of-5; fewer games, more drama. More drama, more TV $$$, and that is what team owners care about.
The fact that no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series tells us that the series are too long.
— Higher seed in playoffs chooses their opponent in playoffs; they do this in the G-League and it is a good idea. Would make for a good TV show when they choose their opponents.
— One weekend a year, the NBA uses red, white and blue basketballs to honor the old ABA; the four ABA teams that still exist (Nets, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets) would play against each other that weekend, alternating arenas every year.
College sports
— ESPN has gone way downhill the last few years; one thing they can do to improve would be to bring back their college basketball marathon, where games aired for 28-30 straight hours.
Apparently this marathon didn’t bring in as much $$$ as their stupid early morning talk shows, but promoting college basketball would help recoup the $$$ lost there.
— Might be too late to correct this, but could college leagues go back to being remotely made up of teams from the same area?
Cal/Stanford/SMU in the ACC? Seriously?
UCLA/USC in the Big 10? It is nonsensical.
— College football teams wouldn’t play I-AA opponents; SEC teams do this a lot. Last year, Alabama played The Citadel, Ole Miss played Southern Illinois, South Carolina played Tenn-Chattanooga. Seriously? Go play a MAC team or a Sun Belt team, at least.
— College players/teams need to sign contracts, the way pro teams do, then players couldn’t just transfer every 10 minutes. Contracts could have no-trade clauses, but there needs to be some continuity from year-to-year.
General stuff
— Daytime TV needs more game shows/televised poker and way fewer talk shows, which are wastes of time. Watching people make decisions/play games is way more interesting than listening to overpaid nitwits in contrived arguments.
— I’d get rid of the Electoral College in our presidential election; whoever gets the most votes wins, just like in all the other elections.
— Would like to people to be happier; nowadays, there is so much anger in the world. There is a lot less tolerance of others than there used to be. You be you, and let others do what they do. Cheer the bleep up!!!!
