The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

For as much as I enjoy sports, there are times I'll be watching a game, hear a call made by a referee, and think to myself, "Well, that rule's stupid. Who came up with that in the first place and why's it still around?" On that note, here are the top five rule changes I'd like to see in the four major sports (in random order): 5) Hockey: Offsides - I still think approximately 50% of hockey players don't yet understand this rule. What's the point of it really? If a team is offsides, does it significantly improve their odds of scoring a goal? Does it place the defense at a great disadvantage? Or is it just one of those pointless rules that's been around for so many years, no one thinks to say, "WTF is this rule anyway? Let's do away with it!"? I'm guessing it's that third and final option. If one team is always offsides, then they'll be at a disadvantage defensively when their opponent has the puck, so again, what's th...

The NHL champ Boston Bruins went to the White House yesterday to meet and be honored by the president, Barack Obama. MVP goaltender, Tim Thomas, was a no-show due to politics. He's a devout member of the Tea Party and released this statement regarding his absence, "I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People," the message read. "This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. "Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL. "This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT" I thought abo...

At seemingly every sporting event in this country, the game is preceded by a singing of the National Anthem. I've often times wondered, especially in baseball (162 game season), if players and/or coaches either get sick of hearing the song or if they learn to just drown it out and focus on what they need to do that day to help their team win. I guess my question is - is it too much? When something is spoken too frequently, it begins to lose meaning. The word, the phrase, may have been magical at the start, but with each and every repetition within a short duration of time, that magic slowly starts to fade. Often times the magic of the holidays is because a group of people get together for the first time in a while. That's what makes that day (those days) stand out from the rest. If every day were like that, Christmas (or another major holiday) would be just like any other day. The word "love" can begin to lose significance if spoken too frequently, especially if t...