As we come to a close in our NFL regular season games ,we look at the teams that jumped in and were popped out of the playoff bubble. There are teams that should have made it and in many opinions teams that shouldn't have. The latter happens alot in all sports, including baseball and basketball.I think we need to make some urgent changes to out playoff systems, to reasonablalize the format for getting in and how we should determine the winner. I will cover baseball today, and college football and basketball tomorow,along with pro football. Here we go.
Baseball- This past season in baseball we had many close races in all divisions. 4 out of the 6 divisons were decided by less than 5 games and all of them were decided by less than 10 games. In the NL West, what some call the best division, there had to be a playoff to determine who would get a spot in October ball, and they werent even fighting for the division title. There could have easily been three teams from the NL West that could have been championship contenders, while in the NL East or NL Central, there might as well been no team that made it, seeing as none of the teams won 90 games, what I consider to be a benchmark for success. So here is what we should do.
1) Abolish the division system in determining playoff rankings. Why should the Cubs make it even when the Padres, who had a better record by 5 games, didn't? Sure, you can keep the divisions to preserve rivalries, such as Red Sox-Yankees, but this would take out the problems we have every year of complaints that their division was to hard and someone elses was to easy. The Top 5 teams from each league would make the playoffs. The format would be, 1 has a bye, 2 plays 5, and 3 plays 4. Then the winners would play each other in a semi-final game to determine who would play the first seed, with that game finding the league champion.
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2) Another option would be keep the divisions and instead set a benchmark on wins-losses to determine playoff teams. With a 90 win benchmark, this would allow in the teams that deserved it and again, end the controversy of weaker divisions being easier. Luckily with this year, no team that had 90 wins was shut out of the playoffs. But teams like the Cubs and Phillies had less than 90 wins and still got in. With a benchmark win total, it would allow only the best clubs in.
In light of the Michael Vick debacle, I have heard numerous opinions on the values of a dogs life over a humans, how killing a dear is different than killing a dog, and many more. I have come up with some questions for you all to see where your sould lies.
Is a dogs life worth less than a humans? What if the human is blind, deaf, and a quadrapaligic who is also mentally retarded?
Is hunting a deer the same as killing a dog? What if you also eat the dog and use the parts, Native American style?
Like in the first question, if you murder the disabled person should you get 20 more years in prison than you would get for killing dogs?
Since so many of you say people hunt deer to control the population, if there was a spike in the dog population, is it humane to let them run wild and hunt them with guns or bows?
Here are some that don't have to do with sports.
Which is worse? Driving while talking on a cell phone or smoking crack? They're both illegal.
Which should get the longer sentence? Child abuse or abuse on an adult?
Now I for one am not an any side int his argument except that what Vick did was inhumane and cruel. I would just like your insight on these scenarious. Thanks.
I, bubbB, would like to issue a formal appology for my posts saying that marijuana smoking was harmful to the human body. I had not done my research and I was confused by the propaganda issued by anti-marijuana groups. I would also like to thank UltraMega, for being the one to link me to some research being done by professionals. For that I thank you. Sorry to all of you who I have confused or angered in my blatant ignorance of the subject on which I was speaking.
If any of you are interested in writing a petiton to the goverment demanding regulations on painkiller sales and usage just comment on the page with your name. I will be sending a letter with the names to Capitol Hill and try to get some regulations on these dangerous drugs.
All the time people go down to the pharmacy, you know, pick up some painkillers. It'll be just one bottle to relieve the pain. That's fine. Then you get some more. Then after your third time your wife asks you where the hell you were. You lie and get some more. All over the country men and women are being addicted by the masses to painkillers. They seem like candy, just going to get a candy bar. Then like a drug (which they are) you get more and more until you are hooked on the line of death and despair. So I asked myself, why do we continue to allow these killers in our society? Why do we damage not only ourselves but our children, the people who live after us and will have to live on this earth the way we left it; full of drugs. Listen to this story about a little boy and his father that was on the New York Post........
"A local boy has died from painkiller abuse. Thomas Miken,10, apparently had some pain in his back. His father had had the same kind of pain only two weeks before and brought home some painkillers. He used them in front of Thomas so Thomas got the idea that they were okay. He started to use the painkillers every day. He was hooked on the drugs and couldn't stop. Before he told his parents it was too late. A day after he confessed to his parents little Thomas had a stroke and died."
That is just one of the horrors that arise in our communities today. All this happened on my street. I saw Thomas a couple days before he died. He looked fine. This is why we must join together and ban all sales of these child-killers. These life-ruiners. These drugs. The are just as bad as smoking. They make you feel good but then your hooked. They damage your body so much that once you realize what's wrong, it's too late. If any of you haven't heard about the WWE wrestler Chris Benoit and his tragety he used steroids and painkillers before killing his wife and son. This is what happens. It ruins lives, families and whole communities.
I'm just another guy with other opinions. If you like my style, go for it and read. If not, yell at me and I will yell louder. I'll throw the race card into your face. I take a hard look at sports and try to find the real meaning for NASCAR, which is just an advertisment for beer.
