Sports Fantasy

Many sports fans probably have at one time or another contemplated what they would do to fix things if they were suddenly made an all powerful commissioner of a professional league. It is an interesting fantasy to think about. Here are my ideas.

League: the NBA

When it was best: 1960-1990.  This period covers the best years of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Jabbar, Rick Barry,  John Havlicek, Sam Jones, Elgin Baylor, Julius Erving, Moses Malone,  Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and others. It was a time after the coming of the modern game but  before the league degenerated into its present  combination of roller derby, professional wrestling, and a remake of The Longest Yard shifted to basketball and filmed by MTV.  

Changes:

1.      Treat all players, even the stars, the same. When the next Michael Jordan comes along, it will be legal to guard him, even in the fourth quarter.

2.      Enforce travelling and palming rules. There will be no more NBA three (or six) step.

3.      Enforce three second rule and restrict wrestling in the paint.

4.      Eliminate the three point shot.

5.    Punish showboating and taunting with technical fouls.

League:  Major League Baseball

When it was best: 1911-1961 (excepting the war years 1942-1945).  This period covers the time when baseball became and remained the national pastime. It covers the great teams and great players from the time of Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner,  and Ty Cobb to the time of Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays.

Changes: 

1.      Eliminate the abomination that is the designated hitter rule.

2.      Eliminate inter-league regular season play.

3.      Completely ban steroids or other such drugs, and really do it.

4.      Enforce the strike zone as defined, i.e. allow the high strike.

5.      Return all fields to natural grass.

6.      Eliminate playoffs and divisional championships. The team in the National League with the best regular season record would meet the team in the American League with the best regular season record in the World Series in the first week of October.

7.      Play Sunday double headers again.

League: The NFL

When it was best: Now. The NFL is probably at this time more exciting, interesting, and dominant  than ever.

Changes:

1.      Vigorously and draconically enforce the rule against head shots. The penalty for  flagrant violations would be thirty yards,  ejection, and  a suspension for the greater of one game or one game more than the victim of the shot misses.  For less vicious hits, a thirty yard penalty plus ejection would be enforced.

2.      Be almost as tough on cheap shots not to the head.

3.      Get more serious on preventing use of steroids and similar drugs.

4.      Restrict taunting and showboating with more liberal use of penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct.

5.      Switch to the college overtime rules, with a three possession limit before a tie in the regular season. 

That’s my list. It's fun to make one up.