Games of Inches: Three Changes That Could Make Our Favorite Sports Better

When the New York Giants won three straight road playoff games, and then defeated the beast that is the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, they were crowned champions of the football world—that makes sense.

When the Boston Red Sox overcame a three games to none deficit and defeated the beast that was the New York Yankees, they were crowned champions of the baseball world—that makes sense.

When the best statistical quarterback in the game, Peyton Manning signs a 15 million dollar a year contract due to his greatness on the field—that makes sense.

All these things uphold the integrity in the sports we love, but here are the things that just plain old don't make any sense.

Matt Ryan makes more money than Tom Brady:  Ok, you've seen on ESPN the graphic that shows this eye-opening figure, but why on earth does someone who threw 19 INTs in the not-so-spectacular ACC make more money than a three-time Super Bowl winner?

Oh, yeah, I think Tom Brady broke some records this year as well. It's not Ryan's fault or even Arthur Blank's fault, it's the league itself. Players are being rewarded to play better in college than in the professional league. When you look at annual pro-bowlers, most of them were not from the first round and definitely not the first ten picks.

What should be done: Obviously, a rookie salary cap needs to be in place, as we all know this is the right thing to do. The NBA has it right. Shine in college, get your decent pay-check, perform, then really get the big bucks. Never should someone who hasn't strapped it up on Sunday make more than someone who has not only been strapping it up, but doing it well for five years. It's stupid!

Major League Baseball doesn't use replay: All you baseball lovers out there, I'm not talking about ruining the integrity of the game and huddling up in front of a camera every time there is a bang-bang play at first. But, for no reason should home-runs be turned into foul balls, or vice versa.

In a few months, all but the Mets and the Bronx Bomber fans will forget about Delgado's and A-Rod's home runs that were overturned, and I don't blame them. We have two-thirds of the season left, why worry about one at bat during one game.

But, all those home runs that turned into walks back to the batter's box did was foreshadow something bad in the future. Imagine yet another great Red Sox comeback being stopped short when a David Ortiz blast rings off of Pesky Pole and gets called back during a crucial game in the playoffs or your favorite team's playoff hopes being shattered when the opposing team's meaningless foul ball gets rewarded with four bases.

What should be done: Just use 20th century technology, and install video-replay on foul balls and homeruns. This will be a speedy way to keep the game fair for both teams, and their fans along with not tarnishing the tradition of the game whatsoever. The original rules say over the fence is a home-run, right?

College Football is still using the BCS:  The college football playoff haters out there are thinking that without the BCS, the importance of regular season games would be lessened, and not as many fans would tune in.

My answer to that is to look at college basketball.

It's obviously not big revenue producer like college football, but when two good teams face off even in November, people tune in. The BCS is flawed when an undefeated team isn't rewarded with the chance to play for the National Title. Division I college football is the only collegiate sport to not determine a champion via playoff or tournament. Something is wrong here.

What should be done: A plus one system, have all the teams face off in the blah blah blah.com bowl and then display the top four teams in 1 vs 4, and 2 vs 3 format. You can call these bowls the Rose, and the Orange, for example, and then have the National Title game which would showcase the winners. This way, conferences and athletic directors can still rake in their money, and the players and fans at the end of the season will know who the true college football champion is.

We all know these things should be done to justify the integrity in the most watched sports in America. Will they be done? Possibly, maybe, if we're lucky.