Random thoughts: baseball, NCAA & more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Is it winter or spring? It’s been hard to tell since late March. Is there a solution to avoid or at least cut down on sports postponements and cancellations? Those topics and more are addressed below.

Rain (and snow) go away

It’s certainly nothing new, especially in Ohio – unpredictable and inclement spring weather. It could be 65 degrees one day and 27 the next. But conditions have been awful for the still new spring sports season.

Let’s look at what’s happened: rain and/or wet conditions and snow have forced coaches and athletic directors to cancel or postpone a number of games and events. For example, Crestview and Van Wert have each lost five baseball and softball games to the weather, while Lincolnview’s baseball team has somehow managed to play three games – two last Saturday and one on Monday. Lincolnview’s softball team has yet to play a game.

Tennis, along with track and field have been affected by the weather as well.

Here’s hoping outdoor conditions improve soon, which would allow area spring sports athletes, coaches and fans to enjoy the games and events.

Move high school baseball season?

In the past, the suggestion has been made to move Ohio’s baseball season to the fall. Imagine starting baseball season in mid-August, the same time as golf and girls’ tennis seasons, with the end coming in mid-to-late October. It may not be a bad idea, but it won’t happen for a number of reasons, with the main one beginning that football is king in Ohio during the fall sports season, and at many schools, football players also play baseball.

I don’t recall hearing a suggestion to move softball to the fall, but just like baseball, that would likely never happen, simply because a lot of softball players participate in other fall sports.

Extend the high school baseball season?

Last year, the Ohio Baseball Coaches Association approached the Ohio High School Athletic Association with a proposal that would extend the season, sort of.

While the regular season wouldn’t necessarily be longer, the Association suggested moving the state tournament to mid-June, partly due to new pitch count rules and because of typical bad weather in April and early May. Several states, including Indiana, hold their state baseball tournaments in the middle of June.

It seemed like a fairly logical request, but it also led to some questions. What about things like Legion or other travel ball leagues, AAU basketball, family vacations, etc? Ulitimately, the proposal was voted down by an OHSAA board. It wouldn’t be surprising to see another push in the future.

NCAA basketball

With Villanova’s national title win over Michigan on Monday night, the 2017-2018 collegiate basketball season is over. It was a matchup of the hottest team vs. the best team, and the best won. As an Ohio State fan, I wasn’t rooting for Michigan, but I wasn’t rooting against them either, if you know what I mean. A national title for the Big 10 would have been nice.

Penn State won the NIT title, which furthered claims the Nittany Lions should have qualified for the NCAA tournament. I personally think they should have been one of the 68 teams in the NCAA field, which leads me to this – why not open the NCAA tournament to all Division I schools?

I can’t see it happening anytime soon, but it wouldn’t be that difficult, and it really wouldn’t extend the season. Here’s how it could be done: eliminate conference tournaments, and replace those games with opening round expanded NCAA tournament games. Top seeds would get a bye, and higher seeds would host the first round and perhaps second round of games, before moving to regions and neutral sites. Within two games, the number of teams left would be not far off from the current field of 68. Of course, there are some details and issues that would need to be ironed out, none of which would be insurmountable.

A change like this would allow more mid–majors like Loyola-Chicago and MAC schools to play, and it would solve the problem of teams with 20 more more wins getting left out. It could also lead to more “Cinderella” stories.

TV times

To show you how much television rules athletics – Monday’s national title game featuring two teams from the eastern time zone tipped off at 9:20 p.m. EDT. Why? TV ad dollars. The powers-that-be want to cater to the entire nation, which means starting the game after 9 p.m. to accommodate west coast viewers.

I have to ask: how many people on the west coast actually cared about a Villanova and Michigan game, and given the late start time, how many people here actually stayed up and watched the entire thing?

It just seems a little silly to start a national title game that late on a weeknight/school night.

If you have any thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.