I know most of you like me, probably have your pet peeves about what you'd like to change in the world of sports. If I were the czar of the sports world for a day, here are 10 things I would change:

1.) I would do away with the BCS and have a college football playoff system. This is the best proposal I have seen yet. Division I College football is the only sport I can think of that relies on polls and not on the field performance to determine its national champion. Its an outdated philosophy and its ridiculous. 

2.) Shorten the NBA season. Remember the strike-shortened season of 1998-99? Teams played a 50 game regular season schedule and the 16 teams who made the playoffs played a full playoff schedule? 82 games is far too many for the NBA players, coaches and even the fans. Most teams don't become engaged in the NBA season until after the first of the year anyways. Shorten the season and go with the "less is more" philosophy. I know, I know..............owners will never approve such a plan because this would take away 32 dates where the owners can fill arenas and gain vital revenue streams - ticket sales, food sales, parking sales and merchandise sales. But wouldn't a 50 game regular season be so much better than the current 82-game schedule for us the fans?

3.) Make two of the four NFL pre-season games regular season games. So every NFL team would play an 18-game regular season schedule and there would only be two pre-season games. With offseason training programs being as sophisticated as they are, players don't need 4 preseason games to get ready for the regular season. NFL owners charge the same amount for a ticket to a pre-season game as they do for a regular season game, so they might as well give fans their money's worth and make the games count. This concept is being seriously considered by both the players and the owners so it may become a reality as soon as 2009.

4.) Every single sporting event that's televised should be available on a pay-per-view, a-la-carte basis. Get rid of blackouts and restrictions and allow fans to purchase any sporting event that is televised. Somehow this has to be worked out so whether you're a satellite customer or a cable customer, you can watch the sporting event of your choice if you are willing to pay for it. Here in Portland when the Blazers can only be seen on Comcast Sportsnet next season, people like me who have DirecTV should be allowed to purchase any Trail Blazers I want to watch on TV. Even if I purchase DirecTV's NBA "Season Pass", the Blazers games are still blacked out in my market. So unless I tap into someone's Slingbox who lives outside of the blackout radius (not that I would ever do such a thing!), even if I can watch every other NBA game, I can't watch my hometown team on TV. If I am willing to pay for a game, why shouldn't I be allowed to do so? If someone wants to watch an NFL game that is only being carried on the NFL Network, they should be able to purchase the game they want to watch - much like would have been the case with the New England Patriots vs New York Giants game (regular season) had the NFL Network not allowed the game to be seen on free, network TV so the masses could enjoy. Imagine what a pay-per-view bonanza that could have been for the NFL. I understand the distribution rules with cable and satellite carriers, but the fans are the big losers and get caught up in all of the politics between the mega-companies who are arguing about subscriber fees.

5.) Allow fans to review all referee performance evaluations online within 24 hours of a game's completion. As we learned with the Tim Donaghy scandal in the NBA, there are crooked refs out there. I think the major sport leagues and the Division I college ranks should be as transparent as possible with how officials are evaluated - and a large step in this direction would be to place the referee evaluations online.

6.) Every sporting event should have a ticket available for under $10. Because of increasing player salaries and the overall expenses of running a college or pro sports team, the average fan is being priced out of being able to attend sporting events in person. Most major sports leagues are pretty good about requiring their teams to allot a certain percentage of tickets so the low-income fan can afford to attend a game, but the sports world could still do a much better job of this. If not, with the decline of our economy and the continued rise of player salaries and operating expenses, only the wealthy and corporate sponsors will be able to attend sporting events in person in the future. By the way, people paying $10 for a ticket shouldn't be made to pay more than $10 to park their car to attend the event.

7.) The NCAA rule book should be completely re-written. Talk about archaic. We need to change with the times people. Should today's college athletes be paid? I think the elite football and basketball athletes should at the very least have a trust set up in their name that they can access once they graduate and give up their eligibility. Texas made bazillions off of Vince Young with bowl games and jersey sales - same at USC with Leinart and Bush. And covering these athlete's tuition, books and room and board is a fair compensation? I know that the elite sports pay for the non-revenue generating sports like golf, tennis and softball but there has got to be a way for the poor, inner-city athlete who is making his (or her) school millions of dollars to share in the financial success. And a number of the NCAA's rules are just stupid. Like if an athlete's parent dies and they can't afford a plane ticket home for the funeral they can't accept a ticket from anyone other than a relative to get home. Student athletes don't have time for workstudy or to get a job for walking around money or to pay bills because when they aren't in the classroom, they're at practice. So how are they supposed to have some money to go grab a bite to eat with a friend or to catch a movie? The system is very flawed and that's why we see so many programs cheat.

8.) If you are an NCAA coach and your program is placed on probation, the penalty placed on the school by the NCAA should follow you to your new school if you leave the program you landed on probation. This is one I've been a firm believer in for some time. So if you screw up a program, you shouldn't be allowed to leave the program and go start anew somewhere else, while the program you ruined is in shambles. The coach should pay the penalty for his/her mistakes.

9.) Athlete contracts shouldn't be guaranteed more than 3-years. The NFL has it mostly right with guaranteeing signing bonuses (although those bonuses have gotten out of control) and that's it. The NBA allows 6-year guaranteed contracts and many a team has been handcuffed carrying bad contracts from players who are unmotivated after they get their big payday. I'm not saying team sports should move in the direction of golf and tennis where its players are paid prize money based on their performance, but anything over 3-years guaranteed usually doesn't work out very well.

10.) Get serious with drug testing for U.S. athletes - MLB, the NBA and the NFL need to get serious with their drug testing procedures and policies. Each league has taken solid steps to get tougher in recent years, but these leagues are still not tough enough. Without boring you with the drug testing policies for each of these leagues, I think its safe to say that there are still a number of athletes using illegal drugs to enhance their performance. If I had to come up with an umbrella law for U.S. sports it would this - first time offense - suspended for half a season. Second time offense - suspended for a season. Third time offfense - banned for life. With stiff penalities like those, I can promise you the use of banned substances would be reduced greatly. And the mad scientists who are developing these PED's are several steps ahead of the testers. So how about hiring someone who thinks like one of these mad scientists? Victor Conte anyone? Sometimes if you want to catch a cheater, you have to enlist the services of a cheater to help you.

What do you think of my list above? Do you have suggestions for fixing the sports world? Post a comment to this blog entry and let me know.