2008 Woodie Awards
What's Wrong With Sports
Jose Ortiz
Issue date: 10/7/04 Section: Sports
For as many things that are right about the games that we love to watch and pass time with, there are a few little things that if changed would benefit the sport.
These are things that we all have a way of forgetting about until the one day the rule costs your favorite team a victory. Here is a small list of things that are wrong in sports:
The biggest problem with the NHL is a lack of scoring. Most games are 2 -1, or 3 - 2. It's hard to get excited about a game when you have to wait an hour for a point. There aren't too many simple solutions to the scoring draught. Maybe without the two-line pass rule there would be more play on either side of the blue lines, rather than in between them.
The other big problem is that there is way too much fighting - not that I don't enjoy a good NHL fight, but it's gotten out of hand. There are athletes taking cheap shots in the backs of their fellow players. Players are premeditating attacks against the other team, and fights break out all the time.
As it stands now, unless someone gets injured, fighting is just a five-minute penalty. And that's the problem; must we wait 'till someone has to be carried out on a stretcher before the NHL decides to start instituting heavy penalties? As much as every fan loves the hits, I don't think that the NHL wants people to tune in only for the hits, and not for the actual game.
Down with the designated hitter! It's not fair to the National League teams. Picture your favorite National League team in a game down by one, in the top of the seventh, with the tying run on base and two outs. The pitcher is up next in the lineup and he's thrown a great game and may have another inning or two left in him. Do you keep your pitcher in and have him bat taking a chance at leaving runners on base? Or do you make the double switch and put a pinch hitter in for him?
This is a decision that American League teams never have to make and one that National League teams make countless times throughout a season. In that situation it may have meant the difference between winning and losing.
These are things that we all have a way of forgetting about until the one day the rule costs your favorite team a victory. Here is a small list of things that are wrong in sports:
The biggest problem with the NHL is a lack of scoring. Most games are 2 -1, or 3 - 2. It's hard to get excited about a game when you have to wait an hour for a point. There aren't too many simple solutions to the scoring draught. Maybe without the two-line pass rule there would be more play on either side of the blue lines, rather than in between them.
The other big problem is that there is way too much fighting - not that I don't enjoy a good NHL fight, but it's gotten out of hand. There are athletes taking cheap shots in the backs of their fellow players. Players are premeditating attacks against the other team, and fights break out all the time.
As it stands now, unless someone gets injured, fighting is just a five-minute penalty. And that's the problem; must we wait 'till someone has to be carried out on a stretcher before the NHL decides to start instituting heavy penalties? As much as every fan loves the hits, I don't think that the NHL wants people to tune in only for the hits, and not for the actual game.
Down with the designated hitter! It's not fair to the National League teams. Picture your favorite National League team in a game down by one, in the top of the seventh, with the tying run on base and two outs. The pitcher is up next in the lineup and he's thrown a great game and may have another inning or two left in him. Do you keep your pitcher in and have him bat taking a chance at leaving runners on base? Or do you make the double switch and put a pinch hitter in for him?
This is a decision that American League teams never have to make and one that National League teams make countless times throughout a season. In that situation it may have meant the difference between winning and losing.