NFL followers do not obsess and whine incessantly whenever a team with roots in the original NFL, say the Pittsburgh Steelers, play a regular season game against a team from the original AFL, say, the Oakland Raiders. They look at it as a part of the schedule and, in many such instances, they embrace and look forward to such contests.
NFL fans do not feel that the climactic event of its season, the Super Bowl, is tainted just because the two teams in it might have previously played each other in the regular season. In fact, such games hold the possibility of becoming historic in the sport. The Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that followed the 2007 season springs immediately to mind.
The NFL makes rules changes every year, some of them quite significant - there is talk of eliminating kick-offs, although this has not been adopted - and the fans accept these changes as part of the natural evolution of the game and do not rend there garments because the NFL punjabs are tampering with the very heart and soul of the game.
What causes me to mention this are the diatribes that Pirates announcer Bob Walk has been delivering of late against Inter-league play (been with us since 1997) and the designated hitter (been with us since 1973; that FORTY SEASONS now). Now I happen to like Bob Walk a lot. Loved him when he pitched so nobly for the Bucs back in the day, and think he is a very good and insightful announcer, but he really needs to get off of this particular
bandwagon and shut up! I don't think he realizes that with the move of the Astros to the American League next year, two 15 team leagues means that there will be inter-league play every day next year (remember when three NFL teams moved to the "American Conference," which was the old AFL, in 1970 when the leagues merged? Worked out OK for football, I think).
As for the designated hitter, 2012 represents the FORTIETH season that it has been with us. What the American League adopted as an experiment in 1973 is now in use in every professional and amateur baseball league in every country on the globe where the game is played, except, as we all know, in the National League. Sorry, but when it comes to the DH, it is the National League and it's adherents who look like the goofballs by refusing to adopt it, and the completely ludicrous concept of MLB playing it's Championship Event each season under two sets of rules is so completely wrong that I can't even begin to find the words to address it.
Hey, those who know me know I love baseball - and the National League - first among all sports, and I love the "old school" nature of it (for example, I saw nothing wrong in Cole Hamels "welcoming" Bryce Harper to the big leagues with a fastball to the ribs!), but baseball shoots itself in the foot so often by clinging to the past, it sometimes drives me crazy.
Well said Bobby -- I like Walk also but he and "the Rock" have to know when to just shut up for a couple seconds --- yes, they are paid for former player "color" but sometimes too much information is just that -- too much information.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work and have fun watching baseball, my favorite sport as well.