Kuzul

Sports are a quality-of-life issue.

When budgets are tight, which goes first: season tickets or replacing the stove? Well, that depends—does the stove still work?

Keeping your granddad’s seats at The Meadowlands isn’t as important as paying the rent. Starting your own tradition with friends or children doesn’t carry the same imperative as little Joey’s school books.

Nevertheless, season tickets are far more valuable than a new DVD, blouse or video game. Yes, even Madden. In a possessions-obsessed world, it’s time to refocus on giving ourselves real-life experiences rather than merely things.

When was the last time that a new electronic toy let you say, “Yeah, man, I was there!”? The last time that a pair of shoes helped you bond with a relative from a different generation? That “Quest for the Planet Zycor” or “Gunman 14” truly inspired you?

Sports serve a multitude of purposes in our society: catharsis, escapism, motivation. As we head into the Olympics, let’s not forget that sports represent the evolutionary step of cheering our team on to victory as opposed to killing the tribe across the river.

That lesson alone is worth season tickets.

There’s a magical force field around a stadium that refuses to let the real world invade. I defy you to carry daily stress past the ticket-takers—who, by the way, are always smiling. Of course they’re smiling; they work at Tropicana Field.

Forget Disneyland; Dodgers Stadium is the happiest place on earth!

For a couple of hours, all we need to think about is cheering on our Kings/Thunder/Giants. No bills, bosses, laundry or responsibilities. The biggest decision: whether or not to put onions on that dog.

Come on, you know it sounds like heaven.

Remember how it feels getting dressed for a date? Getting the look just right? The tingle of anticipation? Playing out different scenarios in your head as to how the evening will go?

Going to a professional game is just like that.

Making sure your brand new RGIII sweatshirt is ready; worrying just a little bit about Osi Umenyiora. Wondering whether Cliff Lee will finally get a win or if anybody will get a puck past Jonathan Quick.

And then there’s the awe. Maybe we can’t pack up and head to the Grand Canyon, but sheer athletic brilliance can also take your breath away. Heck, Marshawn Lynch’s playoff run activated Richter scales across Seattle.

The hands-down best Super Bowl tweet came from filmmaker Albert Brooks:

“You never watch pro football and think, ‘I could do better than that.’”  

Sports are a showcase for the possibilities of the human body and the human spirit. We can’t do what the athletes do, but we can bear witness to and celebrate the excellence. Much as we may hate to admit it, Al Davis had that right.

And we can celebrate together. Look at the “Jumbotron” during any seventh-inning stretch and you’ll see America displayed at its best as the cameras roam the stands. Men and women; all ages and ethnicities.

“Take Me Out To The Ballgame”* was written as a woman’s plea to be taken to see baseball instead of a show. Females at the ballpark were frowned upon back in 1908. Kind of gives it a whole new meaning, huh? 

Going to “the game” is a privilege and a joy.

If you need any more justification for keeping (or getting) your season tickets, take another look at the Los Angeles Kings’ trip to the Stanley Cup championship. 

What else is there to say? Sadly, some people don’t understand the joyous holiday of attending a sporting event.

Alas, I can’t help them.

It’s like a joke: if I have to explain why it’s funny—it’s lost on you. Give your tickets immediately to someone who “gets it.” Sports outings are too precious to be wasted on the ungrateful.

“Take me out to the ball game.

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack

I don’t care if I never get back.”

Amen.

*Lyrics by Jack Norworth, Music by Albert Von Tilzer

For more sports and football thoughts:

When Booing is Wrong

When Booing is Right

Peyton Manning as Football Experiment

Junior Seau Changes Us Forever

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia has had its fair share of interesting athletes throughout the years. Along with interesting characters, Philly sports figures have also been known for their infamous quotes.

Whether it was directly after a loss, or a miraculous fourth down reception or at a World Series parade, some Philly sports stars really knew how to blow a gasket or pump up a crowd.

No matter if it’s the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, 76ers or Big 5 basketball, these quotes will definitely bring back some memories.

So without further ado and/or eloquence, here are the best/most ridiculous/most passionate quotes in Philadelphia sports history.

Warning: Some quotes have rather distasteful language

Begin Slideshow

Mmm, I don’t like it.

Next!

Here’s the basis; Tom Verducci at SI.com writes an article suggesting a way to improve Major League Baseball’s playoff format and add some revenue. He has an excellent point that recent “win or go home” games have drawn outstanding viewership and the lack of these nail biters have hurt baseball.

Although the former has evidence only in that the National Football League is a behemoth and Major League Baseball is simply puttering along. I’m not sure if Verducci follows the National Hockey League or not, but the Stanley Cup has went the distance in four of the last seven seasons, yet they aren’t doing too hot.

In fact, the NHL Finals have gained little (if any) ground on the NBA Finals despite being drastically more dramatic (the NBA Finals have went seven games only four times since 1988).

Verducci states that teams are content simply making the playoffs in Major League Baseball. Whether factual or not, this is not really a big deal in my opinion given the home field advantages (albeit small) provided to teams.

While Verducci points out that the Rays may sit their staff ace in a potential division winning game at the end of the season, it’s tough to blame the Rays for wanting David Price available to pitch at least twice in the first round of the playoffs.

Further, with injuries being apart of any sport, it’s smarter to keep your best pitcher available for the playoffs rather then risk him getting hurt for home field advantage.

Verducci suggests an idea which I totally disagree with. He suggests that MLB open up two wild card spots instead of the current set up of one per league. He sets up a situation where the two wild card teams play a play-in game, where the winner goes onto the playoffs and the loser goes home.

What this would do is create more meaningful games as teams further down the pecking order would still have a shot at the playoffs. To me, there isn’t anything really wrong with this basis and it’s tough to argue against making baseball more competitive in September. But that’s it.

Verducci writes, “I have a hard time thinking of a down side to this system.” His rationale for said statement is, “It rewards division winners and penalizes second-place teams.“

Okay, that is fair, and Verducci brings up an example of the 2005 Houston Astros who were far out of contention as early as May 7th.

But here is where I disagree. We are giving lesser teams a ridiculous breath of air. Anything can happen in a single game and while this game may have encouraged a few better games on the last day of the season, we could conceivably hurt the playoffs by allowing, for example, the Boston Red Sox (leaving history out of the picture) into the playoffs.

That is, the Yankees and Rays are the two best teams in baseball by a fairly significant margin.

I’m sure the Rays would prefer to win the division, but they certainly aren’t going to kill themselves to get in. They are currently seven games ahead of the Sox and a vastly superior team (owning a +123 run differential to the Sox +68).

Verducci is then suggesting that we potentially kick the second best team in all of baseball (inexcusable) out of the playoffs for a good, not great team in the Sox.

Worse yet, while this system would give the Rays something to play for if they were tied with the Yankees on the final day of the season, what does this do to the fifth ranked team?

A team like the current White Sox, who are out of the playoffs but if the season were to end today would have nothing to play for on the last day, win and they are in, lose and they are in (the wildcard playoff that is).

In fact, I would argue that the Rays would be likely to sit Price on the last day of the season anyways, as they would want him for the more meaningful game against the ChiSox. That is, on the last day of the season, if tied with the Yanks, their destiny isn’t even in their own hands. Whereas against the ChiSox, it would be.

Verducci isn’t wrong to ask the question of how we can improve the playoff format and the last week of the season. He is wrong, however, to suggest a one game playoff. Using the NFL as a barometer in this scenario is not appropriate as the sport is vastly different. The NFL, for example, never uses a “best of” playoff format.

This then leads to the question of how MLB can improve the playoffs and the end of the season. One area I have always been a proponent of is not allowing any division winners into the playoffs based solely on their standings in the division.

Some years this may be unfair as one division may be particularly strong, but even in that scenario, if we go by Verducci’s logic, “just win” and you have nothing to complain about.

For example, this season the American League would be represented by the Yanks, the Rays, the Twins, and the ChiSox, the four best teams in the league. This would satisfy Verducci’s desire for more meaningful and competitive games.

It would make more teams eligible down the stretch as we would have a team like the Jays sitting six games out of the playoffs instead of 12. That would give us four teams fighting to make the American League bracket instead of one.

In the National League, things get even better, where we have three exciting races only involving two teams. My suggested playoff format would invite an additional two teams into the playoff picture.

How would you change Major League Baseball’s playoff format without watering down the competition? Keep in mind, making more teams eligible, while adding the excitement of March Madness, doesn’t always add excitement to the final and could potentially water it down.

That is, while the wildcard has been a good addition, remember the throttling the ChiSox gave the ‘Stros in the 2005 World Series.

I personally like the way things are, I would just like to see an additional bonus for the best team in the league. For example, in Japan, the best team only has to win three games to win the series whereas the underdog has to win four. In Korea, the league winner sits out the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Verducci, you have some good intentions, but your comparisons aren’t accurate. Baseball is not football, and nothing is the NCAA Tournament. Don’t waste your time trying to make baseball like those two events.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com