Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
October 5, 2007, Washington Post

For Sports, Change Could Be Good

The National Hockey League season has started. I'm not a big NHL fan. The league has too many teams, too many games and too many players, in my opinion. Besides, the Washington Capitals have had losing records the past three seasons.

But this season the NHL is doing something super cool. On Jan. 1, 2008, New York's Buffalo Sabres will host the Pittsburgh Penguins outdoors at Ralph Wilson Stadium, where the Buffalo Bills play football. Other folks must think this a great idea, too: All 42,000 available tickets sold out in 30 minutes.

The NHL Winter Classic, as it's being called, is like the hockey games kids play on frozen ponds all over the coldest parts of North America. And it got me thinking about other unusual games I would like to see.

• If the NHL can play outdoors, then how about an outdoor NBA or WNBA basketball game? Most hoops stars start by playing on the playground. Wouldn't it be fun to see a pro game played outdoors?

• And as long as we're taking games to the pavement, skateboarders could race on actual streets and sidewalks instead of doing crazy tricks in specially designed skateboard parks.

• NASCAR races usually are run on ovals, where the cars just go round and round. I think it would be great to see NASCAR, like some other types of auto races, roaring down city streets. We might find out if Jeff Gordon and other drivers can do more than steer to the left.

• I like field hockey and soccer, but sometimes I think there are too many players on the field. If each team had seven players instead of 11 -- like field hockey overtime periods and some age-group soccer games -- the games would be much faster and wide open.

• Speaking of too many, I think pro golfers carry too many golf clubs in their bags. With 14 clubs to choose from, pros take the same swing over and over, changing only the club they use. That's boring. I'd like to see a tournament where pros such as Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa were limited to four or five clubs. That would make golfers try trickier shots. And I bet their caddies would be happy to carry fewer clubs.

• I would also like to see lacrosse played with old-fashioned wooden sticks, and a tennis tournament where players used wooden rackets that don't smash every shot at more than a hundred miles an hour. Roger Federer would probably still win, but it would be great to see longer rallies.

Sometimes sports are too serious. Games are supposed to be fun. Playing hockey outdoors in the middle of winter in a packed football stadium sounds like a lot of fun.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company