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This Christmas season, I'm going to have a talk with the big guy with the red suit to see if he can do something about the state of sports, namely major league baseball and college football.
Things have gone a little haywire with these two pastimes.
Santa Claus wasn't particularly good to two Ohio teams with red uniforms in 2021 -- namely the Buckeyes from Ohio State and the Ind…er Guardians from Cleveland.
By the way, will the Guardians still be wearing red in 2022, if there is a 2022 season. Santa, what can you do about getting that lockout fixed?
Don't you have a reindeer or two that can break down those gates at the ballparks?
I know the baseball commissioner went before the microphones last week after MLB's latest basic agreement with players expired and told the media this move to lock out the players from participating in any offseason drills or the general managers from making trades or signing free agents was a tactic to get the stalled negotiations off center. MLB boss Rob Manfred hopes to keep the 2022 season in tact with no games lost.
But didn't this lockout tactic just make the players and fans angry?
In the last 50 years, the love of the game has waned for many in the Mahoning Valley. In 1971, I remember having no trouble getting two teams of nine players each together to head for the overgrown fields above Brier Hill on the northside of Youngstown to play all day until the street lights came on.
But the kids today are more interested in manipulating online video games and spinning something called Beyblades.
Santa, by the way, my two grandsons want as many of those spinning tops that you can get your hands on! To me they remind me of old spinning tops that circus clowns used to juggle!
As far as the Ind- er, Guardians, Santa, I won't ask you for more understanding fans for this team. I don't understand all the bluster over the nickname change. They should have seen it coming when we buried Wahoo a few years ago.
As for the baseball owners, you thought they had enough of shortened seasons and no fans in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now an oldie but goody bug has hit both players and owners -- the love of money.
My Sunday School lessons tells me what the love of money is … but Santa, you gotta tell these barons of baseball you are gonna put them on the naughty list like you did back in 1994 when they killed the World Series.
Thanks, Santa, for keeping me from seeing red on this issue.
Speaking of red, the scarlet and gray is absent from the college football playoff this Christimas season. It wasn't easy losing to Michigan on that fateful Turkey Day weekend. But, Santa, you had to expect a loss sooner or later!
Tell those rowdy Buckeye fans they can't win them all.
But I'm still puzzled. Back when I was 12, I used to get all excited when the Buckeyes would beat Michigan, win the Big Ten and land a spot in the New Year's Day "Granddaddy of them All" Rose Bowl.
Now I guess you have to lose to Michigan, finish as a Big Ten also ran and still get to Pasedena on New Year's Day. Santa, I'll still be rooting for the Buckeyes to get a big win Jan. 1 against Utah.
But I keep wondering what would that big guy -- no, not Santa -- but Woody Hays, say about this? Hey, Santa, is he taking off that ballcap with the big O on it and scratching his head?
Now Santa, I'm asking you to give me a new college football system.
Take the current SEC and add about eight to 10 teams and give us a superconference with the four division winners making a new playoff. Hey, the Southeastern Conference already invited Oklahoma and Texas , why can't they add a few more like Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, USC and UCLA?
The little old ladies in Pasedena may not like what we are doing to their big game, but I'm sure the fans, the television people and the sports betting parlors will love it.
By the way, Santa, have a nice trip this Dec. 24.
But don't bother landing at Progressive Field or PNC Park… they won't let you in.