It’s time to ponder questions

Questions, questions and more questions….

. Isn’t it time for the NCAA to include baseball among the sports (i.e. football, ice hockey, basketball) in which players are required to sit out a year if they transfer from one Division I school to another? The Sunbelt schools have a huge weather advantage already over northern and eastern schools so why allow them to pry the top players from the cold-weather schools through summer recruiting out of the prestigious Cape Cod and Alaska leagues? Wouldn’t Steve Richard have been better off as the ace at Maine, where he was the ace a year ago, than a mop-up man at Clemson?

. When is Red Sox manager Terry Francona going to give up on his experiment and realize that the Combustible Cousins/Butane Brothers (Julian Tavarez and Rudy Seanez) can’t be trusted in a close game?

. If a soccer player falls dramatically to the turf as if he was shot, requiring a stretcher to remove him from the field ( or “pitch,” if you prefer soccer lingo), shouldn’t he be forced to spend at least five to 10 minutes on the sideline recuperating instead of being allowed to return to the field immediately by the referee? Haven’t we seen more diving in the World Cup than in any Summer Olympic Games?

. How many soccer players would last more than one shift in the National Hockey League?

. Wouldn’t you rather watch an MLS game (better known as a “match” in soccer lingo) than a World Cup game because goalies actually have to make saves in MLS games?

. Isn’t it time to ditch the offside rule in soccer or, at the very least, eliminate it when a free kick is taken? If you can’t have an offside on a throw-in, why have it on a free kick?

. Why would anyone build a baseball stadium with the bullpens on the field of play?

. Aren’t you tired of seeing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays? (We never get tired of seeing the New York Yankees). Is there any reason to play the teams in your own division 19 times? Wouldn’t you like to see interleague play include a three-game series against every team in the other league instead of the teams in just one division?

. What has happened to tennis in America? Why have we gone three Grand Slam tournaments without an American man or woman in the final? Will TV ratings for the Wimbledon finals dip below the NHL ratings? (Just kidding).

. Everyone is talking about the need for us to get more exercise and watch our weight in this country so why have they added poker, pool and dominoes to the TV sports menu? What’s next? Cribbage? Go Fish?

. Do kids play sandlot baseball any more or do they have to have a uniform to play? I see an awful lot of empty fields and parks that could be used for pickup games.

. Could the signing of 6-foot-9 defenseman Zdeno Chara, who had 43 points for Ottawa a year ago, and center Marc Savard, who racked up 97 points for Atlanta, be the first two building blocks in a dramatic resurgence by the Boston Bruins in 2006-07, one year after they missed the playoffs?

. Have the Celtics improved themselves? Yet?

. Should we keep waiting for the clock to strike 12 or are the Detroit Tigers for real? Is manager Jim Leyland’s middle name Midas?

. Has there ever been a sport as humbling as golf? Has there ever been a sport that sent you scrambling to your high school yearbook to verify that you were, indeed, an athlete at one time in your life?

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.