My father was not a sports fan, he was a sports critic with some rather radical rule change proposals. He died 44 years ago but he thought some of his ideas were so good he wrote them down.
Here are two examples:
“Among the basketball games I have seen this has been true: If the winning side had made the free throws they did make, and the losing side had made ALL of their free throws, 90 percent of the games would have scored out differently.”
The team that made the most free throws almost always won, he said.
“So why have all the running up and down the court, calling fouls and delaying the game waiting for a free throw? It would be so much simpler to give each side a basketball and let them take turns throwing free throws and the side who made the most would win the game.”
About boxing, he wrote:
“I am not a sissy or a long-hair.”
“I have engaged in fights in the ring* and was fairly good –not excellent — only fairly good.”
“It seems to me to be a better idea to arm each contestant with a short piece of lead pipe so that the result could be achieved quickly and without argument. This would satisfy the blood-thirsty and let them go in time to get over to the dirt track. Otherwise, some poor boob competing for a couple of hundred dollar prize might run into the fence and they would be too late to see it.”
* Until I read my father’s idea notebook I didn’t know he had fought in the ring. I thought he only fought in the street. Dad had a black jack and brass knucks and liked to fight. Here is a story about one that didn’t last long.
Coming Friday: I Can’t Get Up