As we sports connoisseurs here at the Tufts Daily prepare to go, well, daily again next week, we've decided it fitting to honor our source of inspiration for this truly necessary change in our weekly Top 10. As the newly inaugurated President Barack Obama took the oath of office earlier this week, it got us thinking: Heck, perhaps we might need some of this magical thing they call change right here in the world of sports! This week's top 10 honors those people, events, institutions et cetera in sports that are seriously in need of a bit of some alteration.
10) The Detroit Lions. In what has been one of the most painful sights in recent NFL history, the hapless Lions have proved time and time again their sheer ineptitude at identifying talent, developing young players and simply winning football games. The Motor-City faithful's hopes ride on the coattails of newly hired head honcho Jim Schwartz (former Titans defensive coordinator) and a refocused front office mentality sans Matt Millen's utterly abysmal football decision skills.
9) ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" booth. Joe Morgan was a great player. A Hall of Famer, in fact, which is something he loves to remind audiences. But just because you can play the game doesn't mean that you are qualified to be an announcer (right, Bill Walton?) When you are so hated that there was once an entire Web site devoted to getting you canned (the late firejoemorgan.com — R.I.P.), maybe it is a sign.
8) The Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl is by far the most worthless of all the all-star games in the sporting world. NFL players go through at least 20 games a season, and then after some have been relaxing for a month, they come back to play a game with no purpose. There is hope, however, as we hear that Sir Goodell has plans to move the contest to the dead week before Super Bowl XLIV next year.
7) The NBA playoffs. Sometime at the end of April, the first round of the NBA playoffs will commence — hopefully. And if they are anything like last season, the last teams standing will be playing well into June. Two months, David Stern? Even the biggest NBA fans think that's a little much. Maybe a a big basketball fan like President Obama can bring back the five-game first-round series.
6) Joakim Noah's face. Yes, Noah is a pretty decent basketball player and led the Florida Gators to back-to-back NCAA championships. But shouldn't someone whose mother is a former Miss Sweden look better than this? Just look at that mug!
5) Jerry Jones. The annual circus and charade that is put on by the Dallas Cowboys' front office staff has led the ‘Boys down the wrong road over the past decade. To be fair, Jones has had his fair share of success (see Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX), but the 21st century has seen him foster an environment that limits power in the hands of anyone aside from Jones himself and encourages players who provide no dearth of media attention. It's time that Jones let football people make the football decisions, as well as allow his coaching staff to have a sense of control over its own players.
4) Football overtimes. The NFL's version of overtime is a disaster. Is it fair to let one team get the ball and have a chance to score without the other team even touching it? And with kickers who can hit 60-yard field goals, offenses don't need to move the ball that far. College rules are better, but starting at the 25-yard line? Even Detroit could move that far.
3) The NBA draft lottery. When a team puts so much effort into tanking the last month of its season only to miss out on a top pick, that just doesn't seem right. On top of that, how did the Knicks mysteriously get Patrick Ewing? It seems that the team with the best shot at the brightest potential star only wins in certain circumstances, like the Cavs fortuitously reeling in LeBron James.
2) The bye week before the Super Bowl. Yes, the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event of the year, but do we really need two weeks worth of stories and inflated media attention about it? How many times can one game be broken down? How many stories have to be written about the resurrection of Kurt Warner or the legacy of great Steelers defenses? Plus, with so much hype, the game itself hardly has a chance to stand up to all the pre-game squabble.
1) BCS playoff system. Note to the BCS Governance Board: President Obama thinks we need change in this area, and the man might be on to something. As he memorably declared on the campaign trail this fall, the BCS playoff system no longer does it job. The system is supposed to declare a clear national champion, yet that is anything but the case. It's quite simple, actually: An eight-team, three-round playoff bracket system easily quells the gripes of those qualified teams on the outside looking in on the BCS National Championship game (Utah, Texas) and will allow for not less but more advertising dollars for all.
