Baseball the game, its players, its fans, its team owners, its history, its statistics, its rules, all is a constant source for generating controversy. Shakespeare in his great writings might have had a notion that baseball would one day be a great game. Shakespeare even had "Hamlet" involved when this young man said, "To Be Or Not To Be That Is The Question" The answer is now abundantly clear. Yes there will always be controversy in our game of baseball as with all sports. Society with human nature by its side dictates a constant controversy, It's inescapable. Pay attention as to how a contest is started. Football games are started by gambling. Do I tell the truth snaggle-tooth? The first thing the head referee does is call the team captains to the middle of the field. He has a coin usually a souvenir type keepsake. At any case the by chance or gamble is right there before our eyes. One captain calls the heads or tails while the coin is tossed in the air. There is no way skill can be involved in the landing outcome of that coin toss. Well! you say, "That was not gambling because the wind was blowing just right to make the flipped coin lay tails down." Gambling on a game is verboten but a coin toss has no value and thus there is no gamble. Now the start of a basketball game is a sporting mans delight. Here we have two jumping jacks all poised to spring into action. Normally the tallest of the two called upon to challenge the tip of the ball will control. Hey, not so fast stud that shorter man just might jump like a gazelle. Perchance the referee dosn't toss that basketball cleanly and perfectly between the two young saplings then immediately the crowd roars. Fans of any and all sports keenly watch every move and every boo boo. So the game of basketball can have controversy even before the game begins. What we are witnessing is human nature and our societies love of sports up close and personal. Without a little difference of opinion as to a call or the performance of the players then the games would not go on. Football has been known to have controversy over gambling. Basketball is constant controversy over every referees whistle. Baseball is immune to all and every controversy. Immune is something every medical professional and research scientist has pondered in an effort to rid mankind of all life stopping threats. Baseball leaders and Commissioners for over 150 years have diligently fought to rid baseball of any life stoppage. Not to worry, sports fans, baseball is alive and well. If we simply keep on keeping on. But here is my controversial topic for baseball. How do we start a baseball game? For all these many years and a couple or three generations we start by having the visiting team always bat first. This then allows the home team to have the last bat in the bottom of the seventh or the ninth inning. This gives the home team an unfair advantage. Here is the solution if we are to make every game straight up fair and square. Could we use bigger crowds at our games? Now we simply vote a rule to allow no game to start until the crowd count reaches a certain level. No crowd, no game, no pain, no gain and it never rains. Let's say for a high school game 100 fans. Let's say for a college game 700 fans. Let's say for a professional A class 700 fans. Let's say for a professional AA class 1500 fans. Let's say for a professional AAA class 2000 fans. Major Leagues "The Big Show" 7000 fans. The fan coming thru the turnstile reaching the starting game attendance number gets to make the decision as to which team bats first. But the home team crowd will naturally have the odds most favorable fan coming at that count. Yes ! But not absolute. Now we have controversy for baseball. Batter Up---Let's Play Ball... |
