Hello readers, welcome to the latest issue of O For 4. Thank you if you are a returning reader. The college football season has reached its halfway point and the NFL is in week 6. So I figured it would be appropriate to completely ignore football for this issue, and I mostly do that. In this week’s edition, I am talking about a new (and improved?) version of baseball, Rafael Nadal announcing his retirement, students running onto the field of play after games, and some scheduling conflicts. Without further delay, let’s get to this week’s topics, and as always, please leave your comments at the end.
1. Savannah Bananas: Baseball’s Saviors
I had mentioned in my very first O For 4 issue that I would probably never discuss baseball in this space. And for nearly five months, I kept true to that. Not even the improbable run of my hometown Tigers to the divisional round of the playoffs made me stray from that claim. But a recent story I saw online about an exhibition baseball team has inspired me to step up to the plate and offer up these words. The team is the Savannah Bananas, who can best be summarized as baseball’s Harlem Globetrotters. They are not a member of any league, and as such, they get to play by their own rules.
Back to me for a moment, the reason for my aversion to the sport of baseball is I do not find it enjoyable to watch. The game is too slow and the action is minimal, especially when compared to the sports I do devote my time to. Now, I have heard from friends that MLB has made some changes to the rules in recent years to address these issues; apparently others shared my opinion of the sport. They have made a concerted effort to speed the game up and reduce down time between plays and pitches. I was pleased when I heard that, but it was not enough to get me watching games.
Then I came across this article about the Savannah Bananas and my initial reaction, which I even shared with a couple friends, was that I want to see this team in person. I was shocked myself. What exactly are the unique rules of “Banana Ball”, as it has become known? Here’s some of the main ones.
-Two-hour game time limit
-Each inning is its own entity, with the winner of each inning getting one point
-Batters can’t leave the batter’s box
-Foul balls caught by fans count as outs
-No bunts
-Batters can steal first base
-No mound visits
And then there are the Banana Ball rules for extra innings which I don’t fully understand. But basically every variation they have come up with to the traditional rules of baseball were made with the design of making the games faster and more exciting. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that each year, the Savannah Bananas are adding more and more games to their “World Tour”; the 2025 tour will feature over 100 games, some of which will be played in MLB stadiums and even a few in NFL and college football stadiums.
So here’s my take as clearly the Banana’s version of baseball is proving to be commercially successful. I want Major League Baseball to adopt the Banana Ball format. Baseball has long been the sport most resistant to change. Basketball has added the shot clock and the three-point line since its creation. Hockey originally did not have blue lines (no offsides) or penalty boxes (no power plays). And football seems to have a few rule changes each season. But baseball is largely the same as it was when rules were first created around the time of the Civil War. And while it still maintains the nickname of “America’s Pastime”, it has clearly been surpassed in popularity by several other sports.
So I say go for it, MLB. Install all of the Bananas’ rules for the 2025 season. If you are going to talk about making rule changes to be more geared toward the modern sports viewer, then go all in. Major American cities often used to host their baseball and football games in the same season. Part of the reason for the move away from that is that baseball was not drawing the same sized crowds. Well, maybe baseball could start seeing football-sized crowds again with the full conversion to Banana Ball rules. I know I would even buy a ticket.
2. Rafael Nadal Retiring: The King Of Clay Is Hanging Up His Racquet
This past week, Rafael Nadal announced he will be officially retiring from tennis in a little over a month, with the Davis Cup Finals being his final event. Appropriately, that competition is being hosted in Nadal’s home country of Spain this year. Nadal’s career accomplishments are second to none. Of course, he is most famous for winning the French open an astounding 14 times, a record for any Grand Slam tournament, man or woman. His tallies of total Grand Slam titles, ATP titles, and weeks ranked #1 are right near the top of each of those lists.
Rafael Nadal will forever be linked to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, a trio known simply as tennis’s “Big 3”, three contemporaries who are the only men who can objectively stake a claim to being the best tennis player in history. He will now be the second of the trio to call it a career, joining Federer and leaving Djokovic as the last one still competing. Like Federer before him, Nadal’s final years on tour were impacted by injuries and he has not been a regular participant on the tour, even missing Grand Slam tournaments. And like Federer, Nadal has selected a team event for his final professional appearance.
This is the age-old discussion that sports fans argue about, and which we have absolutely no say in. Should professional athletes retire at the first signs that their peak is behind them or should they continue playing until their bodies are completely broken down and they no longer resemble their former selves? For many athletes, the choice is not theirs. The average player gets pushed out when enough younger guys come up who are just as good or better. But for the top players, of which Nadal clearly is one, they get to control the narrative of their eventual retirement, often at the disapproval of their adoring fans. In the question of walking away sooner or later, I think I lean with sooner. Again, I have no say in the matter, but as someone who enjoyed watching Nadal and generally cheered for him in his matches (other than the ones against Federer), I will say that I do not enjoy this part of the story. I did not enjoy seeing Nadal lose a first-round match at this past French Open, winning only 13 matches in his final two seasons on tour, and ending up as an unranked player. I had a similar opinion of Federer’s final years.
Father Time is undefeated, but some athletes have a tough time admitting when they have lost that fight. I wish there was some way we fans could help them know when it is time. Congrats on an all-time great career, Rafa. If only I could have said that to you a year or two ago.
3. Storming The Field: The Price Of Celebrating
In week six of the season, college football saw a pair of top-five teams lose on the road to unranked teams. First, top-ranked Alabama lost at Vanderbilt, a result which had not occurred in 40 years. Next, #4 Tennessee lost at Arkansas. These two games had two things in common. First, as soon as each game ended, the fans of the home teams rushed the field. Second, both of these games were SEC games. Put those two things together and you end up with fines being levied on the home team. For Vanderbilt, the fine was $100,000. For Arkansas, since this was their second infraction of the rule, they were slapped with a $250,000 fine.
These fines are a new element from just a few seasons ago, originating after a few incidents of injuries occurring to players or team personnel, not to mention some altercations between fans and visiting players. Let me be clear, the safety of players and the other people who are supposed to be on the field needs to be the top priority. But that does not mean that court/field-storming cannot also occur. There is no reason why protocols can’t be put in place to ensure that the visiting team is given the chance to get to the tunnel prior to the mayhem beginning. Because here is what I want to see: college kids having a good time. I don’t subscribe to the adage “Act like you’ve been there before.” I don’t care if Alabama had beaten Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa. I don’t care if Duke defeats East Carolina in front of the Cameron Crazies. If you are in the student section at your home stadium or arena, I want you to go celebrate with your team after each win.
I do not like this rule of fining teams whenever their fans take the celebration onto the field or court. I am just glad that these fines do not seem to be doing anything to curtail this timeless celebration.
4: NFL Trade Deadline: Not A Good Date
This came up while I was talking to the co-host of my podcast, dOllar betZ, earlier today. We were discussing what the Detroit Lions are going to do in the wake of the season-ending injury to Aidan Hutchinson and I looked up the date of the NFL’s trade deadline to see how much time my team has before making their trade decision. If you don’t know what that date is off the top of your head, it is Tuesday, November 5. And in case you do not know what else happens on November 5, that is election day. Yep, the NFL placed one of the most attention-drawing days of its calendar on a day when it has no chance of getting much attention at all from the public. I have to say this is some really poor planning on the NFL’s part. It’s not like the trade deadline is locked in to being in a certain week of the schedule each year. This year it falls after week 9; in 2023, it fell ahead of week 9. This means that the NFL considered its options and decided to bury the high-stakes drama of its trade deadline beneath the even more high-stakes drama of the nation’s presidential election.
Any trades that happen on that Tuesday, or even in the few days ahead of the deadline, are not going to receive the attention they deserve. This entire country is going to be so wrapped up in election coverage that everything else is going to be a significant afterthought. This was a bad business decision by the NFL. The league earns its money by having eyes on it, and this scheduling blunder guarantees that it will not have nearly the number of eyes on it as it is accustomed to at the trade deadline. I know the Lions will most likely be making a deal in those last few days, but even my hardcore fandom will be paying attention to more significant issues that week and my positive or negative reaction to that move will be remarkably restrained. For a league that does not get a lot of things wrong, this feels like a massive miscalculation.
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