Some of lukekohler.com’s most popular posts and personal favorites.  Enjoy…

• Major League Baseball Blackout Policy

  The ridiculousness that is the Major League Baseball blackout policy. Here is my best attempt to explain to you why you do not get to watch the game you want to watch, and why teams that are 500 miles from you are considered the “local market.” Try as I do, it is still impossible to understand the logic (or lack thereof) behind baseball’s blackout policy.

• In Defense of Barry Bonds

  When nobody else will, I will offer a defense of Barry Bonds. As the Mitchell Report went on to support me, people like Roger Clemens were just as “guilty” as Bonds. And for all that the Rocket gets, he too never failed a test, nor broke a MLB rule. Did they cheat? Perhaps — but no more than spitballers, bat-corkers, game-fixers, or the many other ways of cheating that baseball has come up with. Just wait until Red Bull is considered performance enhancing…

• 17 Ways to Fix Boxing…And Counting

  Contrary to popular opinion, boxing is not dead. It’s not dying, nor is it even threatened by the rise of the UFC and mixed martial arts. But things could be better. The sport itself needs some major fixing, and I’m here to offer 17 things that could be done to better the sport.

• Rating the MLB Announcers

  As a self-professed expert on Major League Baseball announcers (meaning I have the DIRECTV Extra Innings package, and make good use of it), I offer up my rankings of the best and worst announcers in the league. This was a list inspired by the great and awful (simultaneously) “Hawk” Harrelson.

• Ways to Fix Baseball 

  Similar to my ways to fix boxing, but with baseball. Of course, baseball is not nearly in as much need of fixing as boxing is, but there are always things that could be improved upon.

• How to Make an NCAA Football Playoff

  This is something that I have been working on since the inception of the Bowl Coalition, and through the life of the Bowl Championship Series, and likely into the next thing the NCAA chooses over a playoff. This one is my baby. There are so many reasons why a playoff is the right option, and nearly zero reasons why bowl games are preferable. Of all the things I have ever written, if you like this piece, please pass it along. I want to see a college football playoff in my lifetime.

• On NCAA Preseason Polls

  As you may have realized, I have a passion for college football. It is one of the greatest sports in the world, but with so many terrible flaws. Other than the postseason fiasco, there is the preseason fiasco, where mostly unqualified people determine who should be the best team, and rather than observing them in actual games, rank them accordingly. This set of rankings then dictates the next week’s, and so forth until the end of the season. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to overcome a low preseason ranking, so these rankings often determine who will play for the national championship. All without playing a single game.

• Major League Baseball and Race

  Examining the racial structure of Major League Baseball. Yes, the number of black players is down in recent years, and MLB may not get straight A’s from the affirmative action folks, but is the problem as bad as people want to say? Baseball is not a typical workplace, and should not be treated as such as far as diversity programs are concerned.

• The Changing Sports Media

  There is a civil war in the world of sports media, and it’s taken three sides. It used to be simply the athletes against the media. Now, not only is it still the athletes against the media, but there is also now the traditional media against new media. Examining the blogosphere and where it fits in today’s sports media.