By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw
I hadn’t done one of these for a while, and I felt like it was time.
I am NOT in charge of sports — any sport. But occasionally I run into things that, in my humble opinion, I would like to tweak to make them a little better.
This is not the same as the series I did this summer on things that need fixing. These things would be more minor.
Hang with me … you’ll catch on.
The NFL’s preseason is now over. Teams are currently releasing players and trimming their rosters down. They are, simultaneously, looking at players who have been released by other teams to see if there is someone available that could help their own rosters.
With the preseason now only three games instead of four, teams are struggling to find balance in getting their starters and regular backups ready for the first game with giving the players who are on the fringe of making the 53-man roster a chance to prove themselves.
So far, teams are choosing to use their fringe players in the preseason games and save the players who are going to make the roster for work in practice.
The preseason games are played like regular games, but most of the time you are not going to see too many players that will play meaningful downs in meaningful games.
And yet, fans who attend preseason games pay full price for their tickets, and those games are included in the season ticket packages—whether you want them or not.
I’d like to see the league adopt a policy that either discounts the preseason tickets or makes the preseason a separate ticket package from the regular season.
I have two things I would like to look at in the Hoosier outdoors.
I would like to see Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources set a daily limit for bluegills on our lakes, rivers and streams.
I understand that the state’s biologists say the numbers and the sizes in their research suggest the population of our most popular fish is very solid. I believe them.
But I think there is another objective that needs to be considered.
My son and my daughter love fishing. Ok, my son loves fishing and my daughter likes catching fish — get the difference?
I just want to make sure that when they become adults, there are still plenty of fish for them to catch with their kids.
Part of the problem ties into my next idea.
Occasionally I go fishing during the day when my family is at school. I stare at my computer too much during a normal day and my eyes need to focus on a bobber instead.
I am 56 and am always the youngest fisherman on whatever lake I go to. The others, of course, are retired.
Good for them! I look forward to a time when I can fish whenever I want and not worry about a schedule.
But I don’t think it’s right that people over a certain age can fish more, catch all they want, and not have to buy a yearly fishing license.
Do you understand my point?
By the way, one of my favorite things to do is fish with older people. Not only do I learn about fishing, but I hear the best stories and get the best laughs out of those times.
Potential solutions could include a reduced license fee for seniors—say 50% of the full price, or a daily bag limit.
The bag limit would be my preference.
Some other mandates I would institute:
I would make the color of the football a lighter shade of brown to make it easier to see on television.
I would make baseball-broadcasting networks use only thin lines in the corners of the strike zone rather than a whole box. The whole box is a little intrusive.
I would create a new media concept for pro football that would allow you to watch your favorite team while listening to the team’s local radio announcers instead of the national ones. For example, I am watching the Bears and Cowboys play, but I can click a button on my TV that allows me to hear the Bears Radio Network broadcast while watching the FOX TV feed.
Since I am the king, “so let them be written, so let them be done.”
