Over the last few years we've seen a lot of rules changes go into effect in the NFL. Most of these have to do with the league trying to make things safer for the players and cut down on injuries. Opinions certainly vary on how effective, much less wise they are. Even a few players themselves have come out and said the NFL has become the No Fun League.
You know what I'm talking about. No more contact "in or around the head and neck area". No more crack-back blocks. Defensive backs have to treat opposing receivers running their patterns like they're on a first date with one of Obama's daughters. Talk about a hands-off policy. Touch them and the defensive back will likely get busted for interference. Merely BREATHE on them, and they might well get flagged for "holding" them up with their halitosis. This is out of control.
But word has it Major League Baseball is considering a rule change that defies the imagination. It involves plays at the plate where a runner is barrelling home, and the catcher blocks the plate attempting to keep the runner from scoring, while also tagging him out. We've seen such collisions many times over the years and sometimes one or the other, or even both participants have been injured when the inevitable impact occurs. Though it's an infrequent happening, MLB wants to eliminate it from their game. Yours truly has just one question.....
How do they intend to do that?
True, just because something has always been a certain way doesn't necessarily mean it was right to begin with and, as times change, and various sports evolve, common sense rule changes are occasionally needed to accommodate them.
But in this case, yours truly is totally at a loss on how MLB plans to go about enforcing such a possible rule change to their game. During the course of some baseball games, this situation is going to arise. The base runner is sprinting towards home, and the throw comes in to the catcher. The catcher has the ball in his mitt, the runner is still a short distance away from home plate and ---- freeze it right there.
What's supposed to happen next?
Will the catcher be mandated to NOT block the plate and give the runner the "ole" treatment toreadors do with their red capes to the bulls? That doesn't seem right. And what if the catcher stands in there anyway and the crash occurs? Will he be thrown out of the game? And will the run count even if the runner was tagged out? That would seem to defy logic.
Or will they put the onus on the base runner and make him slide rather than barrelling over the catcher? That would seem to make more sense. But if he doesn't, and runs over the catcher anyway, will the runner be ejected and called out, even if he was safe? Rule or not, yours truly can only imagine the "rhubarbs" that would ensue with managers running onto the field as their neck veins bulged and spit started flying everywhere.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for safety. I even fasten my seat belt these days before I drive (though I never did quite understand why they're so picky about it on airplanes. If that plane goes down, being buckled up isn't going to make any difference).
But somewhere along the line, the common sense baby seems to have been chucked out with the politically correct bathwater. In the NFL, would-be tacklers, knowing they'll get flagged and/or fined for "going high", are now "going low". Knees are getting blown up right and left. Which is the lesser of two evils is a good question, but perhaps a former NFL player put it best. When asked if he had to choose between a concussion or a serious knee injury he replied, "As a player I'd rather have had a concussion. As a man, I'd rather deal with a knee injury". It doesn't take much imagination to read between THOSE lines.
And hey, let's get real. The guys that play these sports always knew what they were getting into. Nobody made them do this. If you're good enough, you can make a boatload of money and maybe even be famous. But the possible rewards come with certain risks as well. The players not only do it willingly, the competition amongst them is ferocious to even GET to the highest levels.
Football players know they're going to get hammered every game by a lot of guys. Hockey players know they're going to get cut and maybe even lose a few teeth along the way. And MLB catchers knew there might come a time when they would get bulldozed while protecting the plate. Heck, for that matter, yours truly continues to slave away under the proverbial sword of Damacles, knowing full well the boss/editor might jump in any day now and communicate something to me like, "I have no idea why I keep putting up with you". Or even worse, the dreaded, "we need to talk". I hate it when that happens.
Nevertheless, talented people do such things because they want to. In the end, if something bad happens, they knew the risk and reward factor going in, but did it anyway.
And that's just sort of the way it goes. Even if it was possible, removing all the risks likely equates to removing all the entertainment value as well.
Some things are supposed to be inherently dangerous. The world of sports is vastly different from, say, quilting bees or dinner at grandma's house. There's a reason fans pony up big bucks to see race cars flying around a track at 200 MPH, the violence that goes with the NFL/NHL, catchers getting knocked into next week, or editors recruit lunatics such as myself to write for them.
You never know what's going to happen next.
And I, for one, think it's all a lot more fun that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment