My Campaign Promises

When I declared on my birthday that I'm now officially able to run for President, Jaden Daly (of "Daly Dose of Hoops" fame) said that I'd only get his vote if I were to fire Gary Bettman.  That would probably require some sort of agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but I think it's one he could easily get on board with.  Gary Bettman is not a good commissioner, and the sport of hockey would be much better off if someone else were running it.  So I agreed to that campaign promise.

That also got me thinking as to what some of my other campaign promises would be.  Here are some that I came up with:

• It will no longer be an NBA rule that LeBron James is automatically in the Finals: The NBA is a star-driven league.  I get that.  But the LeBron in the Finals thing is absolutely ridiculous.  Not because his team is always there, but because the East is so un-competitive that there's not even a team that has a chance at preventing them from getting there.  Why do they even bother with a regular season and Eastern Conference playoffs?  Just have the Cavs sit there and wait for the Western Conference winner.
• No more rules changes proposed by Bill Belichick: There seems to be an abundance of new rules proposed to the NFL's Competition Committee by the Patriots, and virtually all of them are accepted.  Do we really need to give Belichick any more of an advantage than he already has, though?
• Baseball's "pace of play" initiatives will be repealed: Ever since Rob Manfred became commissioner, he's been obsessed with the pace of play, even though it's not actually a problem.  All of his ideas to "speed up the game" haven't worked and need to go.  And, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the no-pitch intentional walk is just stupid.
• Rules that actually will make baseball games better to watch will be enacted: Instead of Manfred's stupid new rules, I'll put in some of my own to take their place (and actually improve the viewer experience).  Those changes would include, but not be limited to, limiting trips to the mound and limiting throws to first.  Both of those things take longer and are significantly more annoying than intentional walks.
• The NHL will be required to take an Olympic break every four years: It's really just ridiculous that they're not going to PyeongChang (which furthers the Bettman-needs-to-go conversation), but plan on coming back for Beijing.  No.  You can't pick and choose.  You're going every four years no matter what.  It's a much smaller scale, granted, but the WNBA has no problem with taking an Olympic break...which is the best thing for the sport.
• Any NCAA conference realignment must make geographic sense: I understand that it's not going to stop.  Football programs are going to keep chasing dollar signs to larger conferences.  But those conferences will be a manageable size and include teams that actually should be playing each other.  No West Virginia in the Big 12 or Boston College in the ACC.  (It would also be great if the conferences with numbers in their name actually corresponded to the number of teams in the conference).
• Update or do away with the Rooney Rule: Yes, I know this one sounds crazy.  But the NFL's "Rooney Rule," which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head coaching or GM vacancies is working counter to its original intention.  Too many minority candidates are getting token interviews simply to satisfy the rule.  I get the idea behind it, and there's no denying the Rooney Rule has opened a lot of doors.  But it seems like an unnecessary requirement, especially since the purpose it originally served isn't as big of an issue anymore.
• Pitchers must wear double-digit numbers: Marcus Stroman, I'm talking to you.  You're not a shortstop.  You're a pitcher.  And the trend he started is very disturbing.  Seemingly every team has the single-digit pitcher now.  If football can have a position-based numbering system, why can't baseball?
• Stop with everybody wearing 42 on Jackie Robinson Day: While I'm at it, please end this whole everyone wears No. 42 on April 15 thing!  The whole point of numbers is to identify people.  If they're all wearing the same number, you can't do that.  Also, how much does it speak to his legacy to send a scrawny white middle reliever out there wearing is number?
• You make the team out of Spring Training, you get a big boy number: For the most part, this isn't an issue.  But there are plenty of cases where the rookies that do make the team keep the ridiculously high numbers that their team gives them at the start of Spring Training.  Unless you have a special reason for wearing No. 78 or No. 83, wear a real number!  Anything in the 60s and higher is unacceptable without a valid reason.
• Do away with "Thursday Night Football": Players hate it, the color rush jerseys are disgusting, and the football is generally pretty bad.  I'm not saying "Thursday Night Football" was a bad idea.  We just don't need a full season of it.  And we don't need a nationally-televised Jaguars-Titans game where the uniforms are blinding us.  (This may actually happen after the contract expires at the end of this season.)
• Different hats for different occasions go away: Major League Baseball's answer to color rush jerseys is a different hat for every day of the week.  I get it, this is an attempt by both MLB and New Era to make more money (which they do very successfully, seeing as suckers still buy these things at $35 a pop), but it's too much.  Memorial Day hats, Fourth of July hats, All-Star batting practice hats, Spring Training hats.  The only ones that can stay are the World Series hats.  All-Star hats are OK, too, as long as it's just the player's regular hat with an All-Star Game logo on the side instead of those monstrosities they've made them wear the last couple years.  (Also, am I the only one who doesn't like the new thing with the New Era logo on the left and whatever specialty logo on the right?)

So there you have it, some of my campaign promises for when I rule the world of sports (pending my election of course).  I'm sure some of them will appeal to some and not others.  Likewise, I'm sure there are plenty more that I could've come up with.  But this is a start.  And I think if we implemented at least some of them, everyone would be a lot happier.