I'm admittedly an old-school, traditionalist kind of guy, particularly when it comes to baseball. I'm not quick to embrace change. Thus I have an appropriate amount of apprehension when considering two changes being proposed in Major League Baseball.
One change will add one more wild card to the playoffs of each league. So each league would have 5 playoff teams under this scenario. Apparently there would be a wild-card round before the divisional round. Whether this would be just one game or more is not clear.
Now to be fair, I wasn't sure I liked it when it was decided that baseball would split into 3 divisions and have 4 playoff teams in each of the AL and NL. I have to admit it's worked out pretty well. To go to 5 playoff teams and extra games, though? I don't think that's really needed. I thought the idea was NOT to push the World Series into November.
The other big proposal would balance the two leagues by taking one team from the 16-team NL and adding it to the 14-team AL. Then there would be either 6 5-team divisions, or two 15-team leagues with no divisions. This would also necessitate one Interleague game per day, meaning Interleague play, love it or hate it, would be here to stay.
At first glance, I imagine that most would be in favor of such a move. People love symmetry. Everything should be equal, or even, as far as most are concerned. It's hard to argue against that point. After all, the NBA, NFL, and NHL are all constructed with two equal conferences.
One thing that makes baseball different, and unique, is the fact that technically these are still two separate leagues. They're not as separate as they once were, but still are two separate leagues with distinct styles of play. I don't have a problem with this. What's more, without getting too much into why,I don't have a problem with one league having the DH and the other league making pitchers bat. I just don't see any real need to make these changes. The last 10 World Series, if I'm not mistaken, have been split evenly-5 wins each for the AL and NL. So I would argue that there isn't a clear advantage one way or the other. The All-Star Game has been a different story, with the AL dominating in recent years, but the NL also owned the ASG from 1960-1982. Sure, one could look at individual stats and point out some hitting and pitching differences that are directly related to the DH (or lack thereof), but so what?
There have been changes in baseball that absolutely were needed. For example, before the splits into 3 divisions, the NL had Atlanta and Cincinnati playing in the Western Division. So that was an example of something being broken. My biggest concern now is this-I fear a slippery slope toward the eventual dissolution altogether of the AL/NL separation. It's already been put forth as idea. Some would like to eliminate the leagues and totally re-align, putting teams like the Yankees and Mets into the same division. I would hate to see baseball sever its ties to the past like that.
Of course my approach is that of the history buff, the person who watches the Ken Burns documentaries on PBS and cherishes the ties between today's game and yesterday's. Baseball, more than the other major sports, is really tied to the history of America itself. I realize that things in life are changing rapidly in this century (and needless to say I'm not favor of a lot of it)and I know that today's game dosen't totally resemble the game in its post-Civil War beginnings, but please-let's not get carried away with sweeping changes.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
High school football season is 9 weeks away, but 2011 schedules can now be found on highschoolsports.net and ohsaa.org. With that in mind, I'd like to take a look at schedule changes and notes of interest for each area team, beginning today with Lake County.
FAIRPORT (Div.6,CVC Valley)-No changes to the Skippers' schedule-they will play the same 10 teams as last year. Fairport last had a winning season in 2003, when they went 6-4 playing in the ESC. A 6-4 record against their current schedule could get them into the playoffs, as they once again play just 3 schools their own size (Newbury,Richmond Hts, and Windham).
HARVEY (Div.2,CVC Chagrin)-One change-out is Conneaut, in is Kirtland. This means the Red Raiders will play 9 of their 10 games against CVC schools, the other being archrival Riverside. Harvey last had a winning season in 2006, going 6-4 in the NEC.
KIRTLAND (Div.5,CVC Valley)-Out are Geneva,Jefferson, and Bay. In are Beloit West Branch, Harvey, and Orange. Like Harvey, the Hornets will play 9 of their 10 games in the CVC. The Hornets have had 5 straight winning seasons, making the playoffs in 4 of them.
LAKE CATHOLIC (Div.3,NCL Blue)-Out are St.Ignatius, North, Holy Name, and Central Catholic. Replacing them are Strongsville, Ravenna, Youngstown Mooney, and Avon. Just 3 Saturday games for the Cougars this year, who once had a schedule full of them. Lake Catholic has had just 2 losing seasons in the last 23.
MADISON (Div.2,PAC)-Gone from the schedule are Normandy, Padua, and Edgewood. New to the Blue Streaks' slate are Cortland Lakeview, Brush, and new PAC member University. The Blue Streaks have suffered only 3 losing seasons in the last 21.
MENTOR (Div.1,NOC Valley)-The Cardinals have made the only league change in Lake County, going from the LEL to the NOC. Mentor will trade St.Edward, Massillon, South, Warren Harding, Shaker Hts., and Cleveland Hts. from the schedule for Youngstown Ursuline, Mayfield, Parma, Brunswick, Medina, and Twinsburg. The meeting with Mayfield will be the first since 1992. Brunswick, Medina, Solon, Strongsville, and Twinsburg are the Cardinals' Valley opponents. Mentor has had 3 losing seasons in the last 31.
NORTH (Div.1,PAC)-The Rangers will no longer play West Geauga, Bishop Ryan Catholic, or Lake Catholic. Midpark is on the slate for this year, along with new PAC teams University and Geneva.The annual Civil War with South will played in Week 10, on a Thursday night. North last had a winning season in 2004, finishing 6-4.
PERRY (Div.4, CVC Chagrin)-The Pirates make just one schedule change-replacing Jefferson with Lakeside. Perry, who will play 6 home games this year, has had a mere 2 losing seasons in the last 31. The D4 Pirates will play 7 games out of their 10 against teams that are either D1 or D2-Riverside,Lakeside,Madison,West Geauga,Harvey,Kenston, and Aurora.
RIVERSIDE (Div.1, PAC)-The Beavers, in Year 2 of the Dave Bors era, will also make just one schedule change-Austintown Fitch is out and new PAC member University is in. Riverside once again will play 5 Lake County schools-Perry,Harvey,North, South, and Madison. The Beavers last had a winning season in 2007, finishing 7-3 before suffering a first round playoff lost to Mentor.
SOUTH (Div.1,PAC)-Alliance, Euclid, and Mentor are no longer on the Rebels' schedule. On the schedule this year are NDCL, West Geauga, and new PAC member (but longtime Rebel foe) Geneva. South plays 2 Thursday night games this season-at Lakeside and at home against North. 8 of the last 10 seasons have been winning ones for South, including 5 trips to the playoffs.
WICKLIFFE (Div.4, CVC Chagrin)-Instead of Castalia Margaretta and West Geauga, the Blue Devils will face Brooklyn and Hawken this season. The struggling Blue Devils, who haven't had a winning season since 2003 (6-4), hope to move to the CVC Metro in the near future. Meanwhile, they will continue to face 3 D2 schools (Aurora, Harvey, and Kenston). On the other hand, they will also play 3 D5 schools and a D6 (Brooklyn,Chanel, Hawken and Richmond Hts).
There will be 15 Lake County intra-county games this year:
Week 1-Fairport at Harvey, Riverside at Perry
Week 2-Kirtland at Harvey
Week 3-Harvey at Riverside, Madison at Perry
Week 4-None
Week 5-Harvey at Wickliffe, North at Riverside
Week 6-Perry at Harvey, North at Madison
Week 7-Madison at South
Week 8-None
Week 9-Kirtland at Fairport, Wickliffe at Perry, South at Riverside
Week 10-Riverside at Madison, North at South
FAIRPORT (Div.6,CVC Valley)-No changes to the Skippers' schedule-they will play the same 10 teams as last year. Fairport last had a winning season in 2003, when they went 6-4 playing in the ESC. A 6-4 record against their current schedule could get them into the playoffs, as they once again play just 3 schools their own size (Newbury,Richmond Hts, and Windham).
HARVEY (Div.2,CVC Chagrin)-One change-out is Conneaut, in is Kirtland. This means the Red Raiders will play 9 of their 10 games against CVC schools, the other being archrival Riverside. Harvey last had a winning season in 2006, going 6-4 in the NEC.
KIRTLAND (Div.5,CVC Valley)-Out are Geneva,Jefferson, and Bay. In are Beloit West Branch, Harvey, and Orange. Like Harvey, the Hornets will play 9 of their 10 games in the CVC. The Hornets have had 5 straight winning seasons, making the playoffs in 4 of them.
LAKE CATHOLIC (Div.3,NCL Blue)-Out are St.Ignatius, North, Holy Name, and Central Catholic. Replacing them are Strongsville, Ravenna, Youngstown Mooney, and Avon. Just 3 Saturday games for the Cougars this year, who once had a schedule full of them. Lake Catholic has had just 2 losing seasons in the last 23.
MADISON (Div.2,PAC)-Gone from the schedule are Normandy, Padua, and Edgewood. New to the Blue Streaks' slate are Cortland Lakeview, Brush, and new PAC member University. The Blue Streaks have suffered only 3 losing seasons in the last 21.
MENTOR (Div.1,NOC Valley)-The Cardinals have made the only league change in Lake County, going from the LEL to the NOC. Mentor will trade St.Edward, Massillon, South, Warren Harding, Shaker Hts., and Cleveland Hts. from the schedule for Youngstown Ursuline, Mayfield, Parma, Brunswick, Medina, and Twinsburg. The meeting with Mayfield will be the first since 1992. Brunswick, Medina, Solon, Strongsville, and Twinsburg are the Cardinals' Valley opponents. Mentor has had 3 losing seasons in the last 31.
NORTH (Div.1,PAC)-The Rangers will no longer play West Geauga, Bishop Ryan Catholic, or Lake Catholic. Midpark is on the slate for this year, along with new PAC teams University and Geneva.The annual Civil War with South will played in Week 10, on a Thursday night. North last had a winning season in 2004, finishing 6-4.
PERRY (Div.4, CVC Chagrin)-The Pirates make just one schedule change-replacing Jefferson with Lakeside. Perry, who will play 6 home games this year, has had a mere 2 losing seasons in the last 31. The D4 Pirates will play 7 games out of their 10 against teams that are either D1 or D2-Riverside,Lakeside,Madison,West Geauga,Harvey,Kenston, and Aurora.
RIVERSIDE (Div.1, PAC)-The Beavers, in Year 2 of the Dave Bors era, will also make just one schedule change-Austintown Fitch is out and new PAC member University is in. Riverside once again will play 5 Lake County schools-Perry,Harvey,North, South, and Madison. The Beavers last had a winning season in 2007, finishing 7-3 before suffering a first round playoff lost to Mentor.
SOUTH (Div.1,PAC)-Alliance, Euclid, and Mentor are no longer on the Rebels' schedule. On the schedule this year are NDCL, West Geauga, and new PAC member (but longtime Rebel foe) Geneva. South plays 2 Thursday night games this season-at Lakeside and at home against North. 8 of the last 10 seasons have been winning ones for South, including 5 trips to the playoffs.
WICKLIFFE (Div.4, CVC Chagrin)-Instead of Castalia Margaretta and West Geauga, the Blue Devils will face Brooklyn and Hawken this season. The struggling Blue Devils, who haven't had a winning season since 2003 (6-4), hope to move to the CVC Metro in the near future. Meanwhile, they will continue to face 3 D2 schools (Aurora, Harvey, and Kenston). On the other hand, they will also play 3 D5 schools and a D6 (Brooklyn,Chanel, Hawken and Richmond Hts).
There will be 15 Lake County intra-county games this year:
Week 1-Fairport at Harvey, Riverside at Perry
Week 2-Kirtland at Harvey
Week 3-Harvey at Riverside, Madison at Perry
Week 4-None
Week 5-Harvey at Wickliffe, North at Riverside
Week 6-Perry at Harvey, North at Madison
Week 7-Madison at South
Week 8-None
Week 9-Kirtland at Fairport, Wickliffe at Perry, South at Riverside
Week 10-Riverside at Madison, North at South
Monday, June 20, 2011
College Football Conferences-Some New Looks
For the past 22 years it's been an annual tradition of mine to buy the Sporting News College Football Preview Magazine. I look forward to it at the beginning of each summer, or at the end of spring, as the case may be. It seems to be in stores a little prematurely this year, as the local cover features one Terrelle Pryor. The magazine ranks the Buckeyes number 8 to start the year. Do the writers still feel this way now?
Today I'd like to take stock of the changing college football landscape and review what the conferences in Division 1-A (or FBS, if you prefer) look like now, in the wake of some movement of teams. Some of these line-ups are pretty curious, so we'll have to do our best to make some sense of the situation.
ACC-No changes here, still 12 teams in 2 divisions of 6. A simple North/South Division set-up would have worked nicely here, but the ACC apparently believes that it is in the league's best interest to have Florida State and Miami potentially meet in a conference title game as often as possible. People evidently love rematches, as those teams meet every year anyway. People love rematches. I don't.
Big East-Still 8 teams. The league recently replaced departed members Boston College,Miami, and Virginia Tech with Cincinnati, Louisville, and South Florida. At least these teams are more or less in the 'East'. The plan to bring in Texas Christian in the near future makes less sense to me than anything that I've ever seen in college football.
Big Ten-With the addition of Nebraska, which broke long ties with the likes of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, this is now a 12-team, 2-divison conference. Was the conference split into East and West Divisions? No. Let's just say that I don't like the final decision that was made for team placements and we'll leave that discussion for another day.
Big Twelve-Lost Colorado and Nebraska and now stand as a ten team conference. One would think that a league called the Big 12 would want to have 12 teams in it. Texas Christian, anyone?
Conference USA-Still a 12-team, 2 division set-up, with East and West Divisions. Some leagues could learn something here.
Mid-American Conference-13 teams, 2 divisions. Why an unwieldy 13 teams? Because the Big East decided to kick Temple out a few years ago, and so the Owls needed a new home which they found as the MAC's 13th team. For football only. My guess is Bill Cosby wasn't consulted about this.
Mountain West-Lost 2 teams (BYU and Utah) and added 1 (Boise State). So now there's 8 teams. Pretty good league, and if you have Versus, you can actually watch their games.
Pacific 12-Added Colorado and Utah, neither of whom is anywhere near the Pacific Ocean. I guess Arizona and Arizona State really aren't on the coast, either. At least their new divisions make sense, I'll give them credit for that.
SEC-The gold standard in college football conferences. No changes, and none needed.
Sun Belt-The same 9 teams. That is, the same 9 teams that really ought to be in Division I-AA (or FCS).
Western Athletic Conference-Down to 8 teams from 9 with the loss of Boise State. The loss of the Broncos will undoubtedly be a gain for the rest of the league, which will finally have a shot at a conference crown.
Independents-Still Army, Navy, and Notre Dame. Oh and now BYU, too. Why BYU? I'm not really sure.
So that's it. There wasn't enough room here to list all the teams, but they can easily be found somewhere on the Web. Or buy the TSN Preview Magazine, which I highly recommend. To sum up, there are still 120 teams. There are 11 conferences, 6 of which are 12-team, 2 division set-ups (Except the MAC which has 13). One league has 10 teams, another has 9, and three others have 8. And there's 4 independents. We have a league called the Big Ten which has 12 teams, and a league called the Big Twelve which has 10 teams. Maybe one day we'll get this all figured out.
Today I'd like to take stock of the changing college football landscape and review what the conferences in Division 1-A (or FBS, if you prefer) look like now, in the wake of some movement of teams. Some of these line-ups are pretty curious, so we'll have to do our best to make some sense of the situation.
ACC-No changes here, still 12 teams in 2 divisions of 6. A simple North/South Division set-up would have worked nicely here, but the ACC apparently believes that it is in the league's best interest to have Florida State and Miami potentially meet in a conference title game as often as possible. People evidently love rematches, as those teams meet every year anyway. People love rematches. I don't.
Big East-Still 8 teams. The league recently replaced departed members Boston College,Miami, and Virginia Tech with Cincinnati, Louisville, and South Florida. At least these teams are more or less in the 'East'. The plan to bring in Texas Christian in the near future makes less sense to me than anything that I've ever seen in college football.
Big Ten-With the addition of Nebraska, which broke long ties with the likes of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, this is now a 12-team, 2-divison conference. Was the conference split into East and West Divisions? No. Let's just say that I don't like the final decision that was made for team placements and we'll leave that discussion for another day.
Big Twelve-Lost Colorado and Nebraska and now stand as a ten team conference. One would think that a league called the Big 12 would want to have 12 teams in it. Texas Christian, anyone?
Conference USA-Still a 12-team, 2 division set-up, with East and West Divisions. Some leagues could learn something here.
Mid-American Conference-13 teams, 2 divisions. Why an unwieldy 13 teams? Because the Big East decided to kick Temple out a few years ago, and so the Owls needed a new home which they found as the MAC's 13th team. For football only. My guess is Bill Cosby wasn't consulted about this.
Mountain West-Lost 2 teams (BYU and Utah) and added 1 (Boise State). So now there's 8 teams. Pretty good league, and if you have Versus, you can actually watch their games.
Pacific 12-Added Colorado and Utah, neither of whom is anywhere near the Pacific Ocean. I guess Arizona and Arizona State really aren't on the coast, either. At least their new divisions make sense, I'll give them credit for that.
SEC-The gold standard in college football conferences. No changes, and none needed.
Sun Belt-The same 9 teams. That is, the same 9 teams that really ought to be in Division I-AA (or FCS).
Western Athletic Conference-Down to 8 teams from 9 with the loss of Boise State. The loss of the Broncos will undoubtedly be a gain for the rest of the league, which will finally have a shot at a conference crown.
Independents-Still Army, Navy, and Notre Dame. Oh and now BYU, too. Why BYU? I'm not really sure.
So that's it. There wasn't enough room here to list all the teams, but they can easily be found somewhere on the Web. Or buy the TSN Preview Magazine, which I highly recommend. To sum up, there are still 120 teams. There are 11 conferences, 6 of which are 12-team, 2 division set-ups (Except the MAC which has 13). One league has 10 teams, another has 9, and three others have 8. And there's 4 independents. We have a league called the Big Ten which has 12 teams, and a league called the Big Twelve which has 10 teams. Maybe one day we'll get this all figured out.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Time to turn attention to the 'other' finals series
Now that the NBA Finals are over, and the villainous Heat have received their come-uppance, it's time to turn our attention to the lesser-followed but equally deserving of attention Stanley Cup Finals. While most of the country has been busy rooting against the Heat and/or speculating on whether or not LeBron is a true superstar, many have likely overlooked an intense hockey championship series. Game 6 is tonight in Boston, and the homestanding Bruins are on the brink of elimination, trailing Vancouver 3 games to 2. As of this writing, Boston has so far risen to the occasion, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead.
The interest in the goings-on in Dallas and Miami is understandable, but the lack of interest in the NHL product is not, at least to me. This series has featured a fierce defense of home ice by both teams, some real tight games that have gone into overtime, and a team (Boston) in the Finals for the first time in 21 years. The NBA Finals has as much off-court drama as on, and endless media speculation on the team that ended up LOSING the championship. In the NHL, nearly all the drama is on the ice. Goals have been, for the most part, hard to come by. Each score has been so difficult to get in some of these games, to score has been cause for real celebration.
I'm not sure what the ratings actually have been for these two finals, but I will make an educated guess that there's a big gap there. I would like to take this opportunity to implore people to take in Game 7 on Wednesday (assuming Boston holds on tonight) to see the culmination of another grueling NHL Playoffs. Yeah, I know the puck can be hard to follow, and the terminology can be unfamiliar, but it stands to be well worth your time, if you're a sports fan. The championship celebration with the Stanley Cup is always really something to see. It's also on NBC, which everybody has, not hidden on Versus!
The interest in the goings-on in Dallas and Miami is understandable, but the lack of interest in the NHL product is not, at least to me. This series has featured a fierce defense of home ice by both teams, some real tight games that have gone into overtime, and a team (Boston) in the Finals for the first time in 21 years. The NBA Finals has as much off-court drama as on, and endless media speculation on the team that ended up LOSING the championship. In the NHL, nearly all the drama is on the ice. Goals have been, for the most part, hard to come by. Each score has been so difficult to get in some of these games, to score has been cause for real celebration.
I'm not sure what the ratings actually have been for these two finals, but I will make an educated guess that there's a big gap there. I would like to take this opportunity to implore people to take in Game 7 on Wednesday (assuming Boston holds on tonight) to see the culmination of another grueling NHL Playoffs. Yeah, I know the puck can be hard to follow, and the terminology can be unfamiliar, but it stands to be well worth your time, if you're a sports fan. The championship celebration with the Stanley Cup is always really something to see. It's also on NBC, which everybody has, not hidden on Versus!
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