This season in MLB there is one new rule that is making at least one coach upset.  The new "Mike Coolbaugh" rule that all basepath coaches must wear helmets when they're on the field has been set.  Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa it against it.

 Mike Coolbaugh was killed while coaching first base for Colorado's Double-A Tulsa affiliate last July 22. In a game at Arkansas, Coolbaugh was hit below the ear and knocked unconscious by a line drive. Coolbaugh was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died. He was 35. In 2008 a new rule makes it mandatory for all coaches on the base paths to wear helmets.

  Dodgers 3rd sack coach said in a story on MLB.com "That's not for me," said Bowa, a former player and manager in the Major Leagues in his first year with the Dodgers. "My question is, how can I be in the league 40 years and the league says who wears a helmet and who doesn't? One guy got killed and I'm sorry it happened. But bats break and they can be a deadly weapon. Do something about bats.

"Umpires get hit with line drives. I've probably seen 50 of them get hit. If coaches have to wear helmets, umpires should. I'll sign a waiver. And there should be a grandfather clause. These are very cumbersome. They talk about delay of game, and when the helmet falls off, you'll have to stop the game. It should be an option. I know I'm talking for a lot of guys who won't say anything. I'll write a check for 162 games if I have to not wear it."

I am not surprised the new rule had a complaint against it.  I am sure many more coaches didn't like it either.  The chances of getting hit and killed by a ball are so small that there isn't another case in the 120 plus year history of MLB. 

  Bowa has actually worn a helmet in the spring but he may just take a little more getting used to it than others.  It could be something much worse to have to deal with at your job like many other Americans are dealing with right now, not having one!

  Begin Rant-  Larry suck it up and forget about it.  Hockey players got used to it real quick and it was a good thing they did.  What he should be upset about is having to wear a full blown uniform with hat and cleats!  How about to add to the coaches looking so much like players they give the base coaches gloves to look like foul 1st and 3rd baseman!  I don't think putting on a batting helmet is going to hurt you!

  Maybe I am completely off base here (pun intended).  Maybe the NFL should make the coaches wear shoulder pads ,cleats, and helmets.  NFL coaches have more of a chance getting hit by someone or something that could severly hurt them than any other coach.  Maybe the NBA should have the coaches wear shorts and tank tops as well!

If you are a member at FANIQ.com than I have a poll in which you can vote on this topic.  FANIQ members can vote here.  If you would like to sign up you can sign up here.

 

    We have entertainers come through our cities along with pro and college athletes.  Most people will think only about how much money someone is making for delivering to us entertainment for our money.  What most people never think about is life on the road.  What good does having all the money in the world if you have to keep working harder and harder at what you do?  So many end up having all the things in life money can buy, but none of the things it can't.

  Let me give you an example of a few types of life on the road.  One is the rock band life on the road.  Life on the road as a rock star more realistically is the everyday grind of travel.  Have you ever been stuck in an airport?  Think about being stranded  20 times in a year or more.   The road traveled between cities can be rough too.  Rock bands don't usually get the best drivers for the tour bus.  Think about how hard it would be to find a bus driver to drive a party bus from city to city for six weeks, away from their family, and free of full-time employment before departure.  At least you party every night and get to trash hotel rooms city to city!   But anyway who cares about rock bands anyway, this is a sports blog!!

Different sports have diffrent types of road trips.  Baseball may be the hardest.  You start off the season with 5 weeks on the road in Florida or Arizona for spring training.  Some teams when they do get back home and get ready for the season they start the season ON THE ROAD!  Baseball also has series when they play someone.  You may end up with a road trip of over a week at a time as a regular occurance.

Football may have the best.  They only play once a week and when they do go on the road, it is only for two days.  They are home a minimum five days of the week.  Hockey and basketball have similar schedules but road trips usually only max out and 5-7 games on the road.

Life on the road as a pro-wrestler is strange as well.  For instance WWE Superstar Ric Flair  said in his biography that he had wrestled Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat over two thousand times in a five year period, most of which were one hour draws.  They were on the road over three hundred days a year and Flair insists he wrestled eight times a week (twice on Saturdays) everyday for two years.  In 1975 in a effort to start to cut travel time down Flair had a guy with a small Cesnna airplane that ended up crashing and breaking his back.  He is still on the road today because his life has been spent on the road.  Life on the road for Flair has been stylin' and profilin'.  Adam Copeland spent a lot of time on the road.  He said part of his yearly trips through Canada included a two hour drive across a frozen lake to get to the next city.  Copeland who is known in WWE as "Edge" has paid his dues like many before him and many after him will do.

Life on the road for me as a wrestler throughout my life has been a great one.  My trips were almost always weekenders.  I loved traveling from city to city and state to state to test my skills and meet new competition.  My type of wrestling in not what you see on T.V. at all.  I was a freestyle wrestler.  The kind you or your buddy was in high school.  I started my adventure at seven years old, a 52 pound grapler, ready learn how to be a wrestler.  If you were a young wrestler in the midwest from 1981 to 1992, wrestled in extra tournaments, I may have twisted your head off or broke your will to compete, I am sorry, yeah right.  Now I spend my time as an adult as an instructor for a wrestling camp hosted by the U.S. Olympic coach Steve Fraser. That is a lot of time away from home but it is a great experience.  Sometime life on the road is great because you get to go away for a while and do what you love to do. 

If life on the road still sounded sweet to you, think about the fact that most athletes don't even live in the city they play.  Remember it is a business.  You don't know if you are going to finish your career with anyone.  So they will get a condo or rent a house and still live where ever they always have.  Look at Roger Clemens.  He lived this way his whole career.  His family in the Houston area and him playing in Boston, New York, and even worse........TORONTO!  When all your toys are at home and you live on the road, what is so great about that?

Hey this is just another way to look at something you may have never thought about.  I didnt even hit on hockey parents life on the road either.