Clock - KUfan.Com

This past summer, ESPNs' made for TV "The Basketball Tournament", or TBT for short, had a new twist to the end of the games; with under four minutes to go, the clock was turned off and they added 8 points to the leading team and the first team to reach that score won the game. It changes the entire way a normal game unfolds in the final minutes and theoretically shortens the time that the last few minutes are plated. That is the key. They changed the rules to satisfy television. That's ridiculous.

Baseball is under attack also. They try to speed up the game by limiting the number of mound visits, or some proposed changes like not being able to bring in a relief pitcher to pitch to just one batter (they would have to face at least three), or putting a time limit between pitches. Even with the changes made so far, the time the average 2019 baseball game was up. Networks want to change the game simply to pacify television, to speed up the game, so the end doesn't interfere with the start of the next scheduled program.

Here's a better idea: if a television network doesn't like the way a game unfolds, let someone else broadcast it. Changes to better the game, like replay, is one thing. Changes to better accommodate a TV schedule is dumbfoundedly ignorant.