It’s about time! I’ve been waiting for this moment forever. Welcome to the first official “Ramiro Sports Blog.”
There are only a few things I do every single day of my life: eat,
sleep, swear out loud when my alarm goes off at 2:50 a.m. and talk
sports with someone. That’s it. And finally , I get paid to do this. Thank you, NESN!
I was trying to figure out what I should write about first. Should
it be a story about my childhood? A rant against a player? My favorite
sports moment? What?
Then I figured it out.
I’ll write something that describes the type of person I am and the
things I like (but doesn’t make me sound like some creepy dude on a
dating site).
So, I’ll let you form your opinion by telling you the rules that I would change in sports.
Football
The fact that an overtime game can be decided by a coin toss is ridiculous, so I would make it so that both teams get a turn on offense. I’d also make it so that field goals of less than 45 yards are not
allowed once you’re in overtime. That way we’re not cheesed out of a
possible end-zone interception or something cool like that. Who needs a
coin toss?
The visiting team gets the ball first, and the home team gets it
next, regardless of what happens. And — to kick it up yet another notch
— if no one scores in the period, we do it college football style and
take turns at trying to score from the 20. From this point on, no field
goals are allowed at all — you must get in the end zone. The “shootout”
continues — again, the visiting team goes first and the home team
second — until there’s a winner. There will be no ties in my NFL!
Basketball
If the game is close in the last two minutes, say within 10 points,
timeouts will not be allowed. That way we don’t get score, timeout,
foul, timeout, timeout, timeout, etc.
I’m trying to make close games actually exciting at the end instead
of the garbage we get now. I’m still contemplating, though, whether or
not to punish a team that intentionally commits a foul in the last two
minutes by letting the shooter take three free-throws shots. What do
you think?
Hockey
I don’t watch it. Let’s move on.
Baseball
I never understood why a runner is automatically ruled out if he gets
hit by a ball that was hit by his own teammate. Do people think that
these guys are intentionally getting in the way of a screaming line
drive that’s traveling at over 100 mph? Seriously? Calling the runner
out in that situation is the definition of the phrase, “adding insult
to injury.”
I say that play should continue even if the ball takes a crazy
ricochet off the runner and into foul territory. You’ll still have a
chance to get the guy out since he’ll most likely be on the ground
somewhere between first and second base writhing in pain. This would’ve
been more fun to watch in the height of the steroid era, but it could
still work now.
Marathons
I know this isn’t a major sport, but I’d allow marathon runners to get
physical with each other. I don’t mean hitting each other over the head
with chairs like the WWE. I’m picturing something a little more like a
NASCAR race: bumping from behind, blocking other runners from passing
you and running them into the wall if need be. Maybe even toss a few
obstacles in the way of the runners, too. Why not?
Anyway, now you know how I’d “improve” sports. And you also know why I’m only allowed to read e-mails.
Thanks for reading.
