Mike Golic, really?

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Mike Golic, co-host of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the morning, saying that he didn't like the idea of the Super Bowl being played in cold weather. If you listen to Mike and Mike even on the occasion, you know that a common theme of the show is Mike Golic's manliness and Mike Greenberg's lack there of. That's why I was so surprised to hear an ex-NFL defensive lineman talking about how he wouldn't want to see the climactic ending of two teams' magical seasons be affected by cold weather. Now I'm not calling out Mike Golic's manliness (well kind of) because I'm pretty sure he could bench press me with ease and beat me to a pulp with even more, but I would've thought that Mike Golic, an "old-school" NFL purist, would've understood more the nature and beauty of football.

Much like my last blog entry, when I talked about how modern baseball fans are more drawn to the home run then ever before, I understand the modern football fan has the same issue. They would rather see the air-attack and a combined 80 point game opposed to a hard-nosed, tough, and physical bloodbath. But guys and gals, wouldn't you love to see the two best teams in football duke it out like they used to in the 60's and 70's? No domes or prevent defenses, but hard-hitting, physical play where the toughest team will ultimately prevail. That's what I want to see, and is there a better way to tell which team is tougher then to play in 20-30 degree weather (hopefully snow)? That's when the greatest games are played!

Cold weather, and all the surprises it brings, are part of the game! Football shouldn't only be played in a giant dome or in 75 degree weather, it should be played rain or shine, sleet or snow because that's how it always has been.

Now, if you disagree, try to tell Ronnie Lott that you don't want to play the superbowl because it's too cold. I doubt he'd understand.

Every baseball fan, young and old, can agree that the game is not the same as it was 50 years ago; whether it is for better or for worse, is up to you. The change in the style of play can be directly attributed to the attitude of the average baseball fan. The majority of baseball fans don't want to see games when the winning team scores three runs off sac flies, they want to see games ending in scores like 10-9 where the 50 HR hitter blasts three out of the ball park.

Teams pay specific players to hit home runs because that is what people go to the park for. The strikeout totals for the league in 2009 were upward of 33,000. This is about how many strikeouts amassed during the entire decade of the 1920's. Players just don't care as much about striking out because they're being paid to hit home runs. For example, if you're averaging 40 HR's and 100 RBI's in the past four years like Adam Dunn is, the 175+ strikeout totals don't get in the way of the paycheck. This is why the DH position is so important in baseball. Why do you think people take steroids and HGH? To hit more home runs. So why doesn't the NL have the designated hitting position? It makes no sense. High schools, colleges, and now the minor leagues are universally playing with the DH because they understand that's where the game has been heading for years now. Why can't the NL?

Without the presence of the DH in the NL, it creates an unnecessary dynamic in inter-league games. People who generally favor the DH discrepancy between leagues can argue that it adds a more strategic feature to the inter-league games. Yes this is true but...does that really take precedence over the health of pitchers? The game has become increasingly specialized in the past 20 years, and will only continue to become even more specialized now that the lower levels of baseball are using the DH, further limiting the pitchers' exposure to hitting. If pitchers aren't training to hit or run the base-paths, and then all the sudden, they get to the big leagues and are forced to run the bases in a meaningless inter-league game, their chances of being injured are greatly increased...Three words-->Chien Meng Wang.

So what's my message to the MLB? Think ahead and adapt now.