Is This Really Necessary

Last week Major League Baseball felt it needed to post a new sign in every team's clubhouse. The sign stated that items such as guns, explosives, daggers, metal knuckles, switchblade knives or knives with blades exceeding five inches are prohibited from the clubhouse. My question is wasn't this obvious in the first place? It is like having to put a sign over a tailpipe saying do not suck on this, especially when the vehicle is running. I am really glad that they put explosives on the list because I wasn't sure that they would be banned, it seems like such a normal thing to bring to work. Of course the all stems from the incidents that occurred with Plaxico Buress and Gilbert Arenas in the last couple of years. MLB, I assume, felt it was better to be safe than sorry and put up the ridiculous signs. I'm also curious to see what the next sign will cover. Will it be please do not urinate or defecate on the floor of the locker room please use a toilet or urinal that is provided free of charge. Or maybe it will do not stick objects, your fingers or any other body parts in the electrical sockets or you may end up with hair like Oscar Gamble's in the mid 70's. These things seem like no-brainers to me, but then again I am not a professional athlete.

The Song of the Blog: Black Label Society's Just Killing Time is this week's song of the blog. A slow, dark kind of song and I absolutely love the beginning. It is also cool seeing bands of this kind occasionally use a piano in their music.

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Not Wild About Another Wildcard

If you watched any of the morning shows on ESPN today you heard about a new idea that Hall Of Famer Peter Gammons has thrown out about adding one more team to the playoffs in each league. I respect Gammons more than I could ever say in just this short blog, but I really think he has missed the mark on this one. The beauty of the 162 game marathon that is the baseball season is that only the best teams get rewarded by making the playoffs at the end of the season. My question is do we really want to dilute the regular season anymore, to the point that it is like the NHL and NBA and just about anyone with half a pulse makes the post season. Also with five teams making the playoffs that would mean you would have to have byes for the first round for some teams and I just don't see that working in baseball. Having 4-6 days off after the season will do more to hurt the bye teams than help, because baseball players really do cherish their routines and this would wreck havoc with them. Just because this season doesn't have any nail biting chases to the end doesn't mean we need to hit the panic button and scrap what has really worked well for 15 years. Also the American League Central race between the Tigers and Twins might just develop into a good fight to the end so it may be too early to say that the last week of the season will be completely devoid of drama. If this becomes a problem for a few years than I would be happy to reevaluate the situation but for now this falls under the old adage if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Be sure to check out the first few chapters of my baseball novel 33 Summers at www.darrenpare.com Just click on the announcements tab.