--Where I grew up, a man's word was his bond. All you needed was a handshake and look into the eyes and the deal was done. Now it seems that routinely athletes disregard their contracts and obligations as easily as taking out the trash. Players constantly threaten to sit out the season and hold out if their contracts are renegotiated. UFC Heavyweight champion Randy "The Natural" Couture recently "resigned" from his contract and walked away leaving 2 fights unfinished that he signed up for. A-Rod walked away from a fortune because he "opted" out of his Yankees contract in pursuit of even greater riches. Now I don't begrudge any athlete making whatever he can in his chosen sport. The life span is short and injury can end a career at any given moment. But if you sign the deal, be a man and finish what you start.
--Endzone celebrations. Remember Billy "Whiteshoes" Johnson or Icky Woods and the Icky Shuffle? Remember the Smurfs from the Washington Redskins? Now, don't even think about doing much celebrating or else you'll find yourself picking up an unsportmans-like conduct penalty and more than likely a fine from the NFL conduct police. And that's not even the worse part of this. The NCAA has for the most part completely banned any type of endzone celebration that lasts over 2 seconds. Now I'm not saying it should go on for 5 minutes but 95% of these kids will never play in the NFL. They're playing for the love of the sport and to represent their school. A defensive lineman who picks up a fumble and rumbles into the endzone SHOULD get to dance, jump up and down or whatever he wants to do. C'mon NCAA, you make millions of dollars off these kids, let them have a little fun.
--The brushback pitch. Back in the day, Bob Gibson was the most feared pitcher of his time. If a hitter was stupid enough to crowd the plate, or in any way try to show Gibson or his team up, you can bet the next pitch would be a well-placed 90mph fastball right under the chin. The batter would get up, dust himself off and get the message: back off. Nowadays, you try that and you will have a 10 minute bench clearing brawl that will be the lead story on ESPN for a week.
--Two-way players. I know that we live in an age of specialization and occassionally we will see someone playing both ways on offense and defense but it use to be a lot more common occurance. You always hear during the NFL draft all the so-called experts talking about "the best available athlete". Well, if they truely are, get out onto the field as much as possible then.
--1-0 hockey games. I will admit, ever since the NHL strike I haven't watched much hockey. I was soured on both the players and the owners and the fact that they are slowly killing the sport as a major player in the U.S. market. But I remember those old games in the Checkerdome in St. Louis, 2-1 slugfests with lots of great goalie saves, hard hitting checking in the corners and tough guys on the ice to police the action. I'm sorry but I just don't enjoy watching a 7-6 shootout result.
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Good Ole Days....Contracts dont mean crap anymore. All they have to do is say I'll sit out until I get what I want. I like the good ole days where you got paid for what you did the prior year. I still feel thats what should happen and I bet you would see much better games because of it.
Good Ole Days.....ya I remember the games with Gibson and Drysdale. You did anything to show them up and the next pitch you were drilled. The batters knew better not to show them up after that.
Nowadays you can hit a HomeRun and stand there and raise your arms and stare at your HomeRun before you even start to round the bases. Ya I can understand you dont throw at someones head....but a 95MPH in the ribs will send a hurtful message. All it would take is a little thing called a good "commissioner" which Baseball hasn't had for seems like decades.
Good Ole Days.....Baseball officials wonder why youngsters aren't interested in baseball like they once were. Well take the World Series for instance. I remember in the ole days when I was a youngster we would be at school and the World Series was played during the day. I have many memories of sitting in school with my transistor radio plugged into my ear listening to the game while in class lol. Nowadays with the games starting at 8:30pm ET how many young kids can actually stay up till after midnight to watch these games? Not many. Even on the weekends they have the games at night. The all mighty dollar is all that matters anymore.
I do wish some of those days were like they use to be.
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