Some Regulation in Baseball?

[rockdog]

Looks like the NCAA may finally address this issue:

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - An N-C-A-A committee on baseball is proposing a uniform calendar schedule to resolve an inequity in the sport. Currently, some teams in Florida, California and other warm-weather areas already are practicing and beginning their seasons by the first week of February. Teams in northern areas can't even practice outside at that time because of cold weather.

The committee is proposing February first as the first practice date, with games to start around March first. The soonest that could happen is 2007 because the N-C-A-A Management Council won't take up the proposal until next January. The plan proposes pushing the College World Series back a week, which means in certain years it would stretch into July.

Courtesy: Associated Press

[Dwayne From Minden]

I'm all for it -

Maybe I could get more use out of my ticket if the bulk of the schedule wasn't in February, March and April -

[DJDAWG]

This is just the northern teams whining about the weather! I have always thought that baseball practice should start on January 1st.

This Dallas Morning News article on 7/15/04 says it all.

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spt/...col.13ff0.html

All cold and bothered
Outshone by Sun Belt teams, Big Ten just can't accept that baseball's a warm-weather game

09:13 PM CDT on Thursday, July 15, 2004

The challenge today is not so much to identify the speaker of the following quote, but to guess where the man works.

"Twenty percent of the country controls the national championship. It's not fair. It's time we make a stand."

Could it be Tulane? Scott Cowen, the school president, has led the criticism of the Bowl Championship Series, and that quote would seem to fit comments he has made.

But no, this one comes from Ohio State. Yes, powerful Ohio State, which is part of the BCS coalition that effectively excludes the majority of Division I-A schools from competing for the national championship.

Conveniently, Bob Todd was not talking about football. Todd is the Buckeyes baseball coach, and his comment to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune was about the inequities of college baseball.

The Big Ten is unhappy about the weather. Sun Belt teams can begin practicing in January and play games in February, but Northern teams cannot – at least not at home. So the Big Ten, whose last national champion was Ohio State in 1966, wants games to begin no earlier than March 1. And if the administrators don't get their way, they have suggested they might conduct separate playoffs and their own national championship.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told the Star-Tribune that if the March 1 starting date is not adopted, he could ask the NCAA "for legislation that would allow us to explore an alternative type of championships for schools in different climates."

How absurd is that?

Also, to get a full schedule in with a March 1 starting date, the College World Series would have to be pushed back two weeks, with the title series played about July 4.

Most colleges have final exams in mid-May. So that would mean that baseball players would continue to play for six weeks after school ends.

In keeping with our policy of trying to enlighten purveyors of higher education, the Morning Line would like to make a few points to Messrs. Delany and Todd.

1. Baseball is a warm-weather sport. That's just the way it is. Live with it.

2. Even if the date for opening the season changed to March 1, high school kids from warm-weather states are not going to flock to the North. Texas kids will go to Texas schools, not to the Big Ten.

3. Baseball isn't the only sport affected by weather. When is the last time an NCAA hockey champion came from Texas, Florida or California?

4. If you are going to campaign for fairness in deciding national championships, do not limit it to baseball. As the Big Ten commissioner, Mr. Delany, if you are consistent, you will strive to eliminate the BCS, advocate a more equitable share of football revenues and open the possibility of winning a national championship to all 117 Division I-A football schools.

5. And finally, as Charles Barkley once said about an overmatched opponent, why don't you take your whuppin' like men and go home.