aci

Until such time as the MLB inevitably expands, I think the best course of action is to do away with the divisions entirely. By moving to an East/West ?conference? alignment, which I?ll refer to as the National and American Leagues, respectively, and with baseball playing multi-game series throughout the year, divisions really aren?t needed to save on travel costs.

Instead, I?d divide the teams as follows:

National League- Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros, Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, St Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers

American League- New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates

Each team would play each other team in its league 9 times, with either two home series and one away series, or vice versa. It would switch each year for each team, so if the Yankees play 6 games in Boston in 2012, the Red Sox would have to play 6 games in the Bronx in 2013. This accounts for the vast majority of the schedule, and 126 games in total.

The other 36 games each year would be comprised of twelve 3-game series against opponents from the other league. As such, in any given year, each team would play against 26 of the 29 other MLB teams, and by rotating between home series, away series and no series, each city would be visited by each team at least twice in any given five-year period.

As an example, say the Toronto Blue Jays were to play in San Francisco in 2012, then the Giants played in Toronto in 2013, then the Jays played in SF again in 2014, then the teams didn?t play each other in 2015, and then the Giants came back to Toronto in 2016. Which teams do and don?t play would just rotate through until each team has played twice in a given city, had that team visit their city twice, and had one year with no series in every five-year span.

The simplest way to do this to save on travel would be to divide the inter-league games into packages of 9 games for each team. As an example, you could have the Yankees head out West in May and August in two separate road trips, where they'd play 3 games against three teams each time. By doing this, it limits the amount of cross-continental travel, but still creates some variety in the schedule for the fans, who would get to see a lot of different teams.

By doing this, I think there would be a strong balance between travel distances, interleague play and fair competition, and each team would be given a fair and equal opportunity to make or miss the playoffs, with much less emphasis being put on strength of schedule or being in a particularly strong division.

History has suggested that with more divisions comes more unfairness in regards to which teams make the playoffs. For the past 15 years or so, this has occured in the AL East, and at time, it has affected each of the NL divisions. For a very long time, too, the AL Central was terrible from top to bottom, and perhaps none of the teams deserved to qualify for the postseason some years. It certainly appears that over the next 5 years, very good teams could miss the playoffs in the NL East and AL West, too, simply because all the strongest teams are packed into one division.

By returning to single-table leagues, this problem is erased. Blue Jay fans won?t be able to complain that they didn?t get a fair shake against the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox, and a terrible team won?t qualify for the playoffs by winning a division when they?d amass a losing record in a stronger division. Instead, the 8 best teams would qualify for the postseason.

My proposal would include an eight-team playoff, where the top four teams from each league qualify. The playoffs would work just like they did up until and including the 2011 MLB season, with a 5-game Division Series (or League Semifinal now), a 7-game League Championship Series, and a 7-game World Series to decide the champion.

As a side note, it is difficult to divide up the Midwest teams, but I did the best I could. I had to choose between the White Sox and Brewers to be the odd team out, and I went with the White Sox. I felt that, despite being in the same city as the Cubs, they weren?t currently in the same league as the Brewers/Cardinals/Cubs anyways, so they wouldn?t be losing their chief rivals in the realignment.

Also, there is the issue of the Designated Hitter Rule. With a lot of teams crossing 'leagues', but obviously there being a constant divide between NL and AL baseball minds when it comes to the value of the DH, I think the best solution would be to just let each team decide at the time of the realignment whether they want to adopt the DH rule at their home park, and are locked into whichever decision they make.

How is Toronto going to lose the Raptors? Their owners are absolutely loaded AND own their home arena, and they still draw fans despite being a horrible team year-in and year-out.

New Orleans to Seattle. Problem solved.

Alright, I came up with this idea after thinking about how if any sports league overextended itself, it's the NBA. Not only do a lot of teams struggle on-court and lose money off-court, but because the athletes who compete in the league seem to prefer being in large metropolises, small-market teams get doubly-screwed.

Basketball has only recently picked up the idea of having a minor league (the D-League), and while it has proven useful, it's financial success has been mediocre and it's franchises numbers have really ebbed and flowed. Currently, there are 16 teams in the D-League.

My realignment proposal is huge in effect. The NBA would lose 7 of its current teams, the Seattle SuperSonics would return. All teams that end up being cut are in effect demoted to the D-League, which due to the decreased number of jobs for NBA players becomes a true minor league and has a much higher level of play (which hopefully attracts more fans).

NBA

West Division

Golden State Warriors

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

Seattle SuperSonics

South Division

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

Houston Rockets

Oklahoma City Thunder

San Antonio Spurs

Utah Jazz

Central Division

Atlanta Hawks

Chicago Bulls

Detroit Pistons

Indiana Pacers

Miami Heat

Orlando Magic

East Division

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

New York Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers

Toronto Raptors

Washington Bullets

--------------------------------------------

NBA D-League

West Division

Anaheim

Idaho Stampede

Reno Bighorns

Sacramento Kings

San Diego

Vancouver

South Division

Austin Toros

Charlotte Bobcats

Iowa Energy

Rio Grande Valley Vipers

Texas Legends

Tulsa 66ers

Central Division

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dakota Wizards

Fort Wayne Mad Ants

Memphis Grizzlies

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Timberwolves

East Division

Buffalo

Erie Bayhawks

Maine Red Claws

New Jersey

New Orleans Hornets

Springfield Armor

Any of the unnamed D-League teams are ones that don't currently exist. Also of note is that I didn't keep every existing D-League team, as I felt some markets were too small for a more expansive minor league.

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I've heard a lot in recent weeks that "Nobody cares about the NBA til Christmas". I didn't take it literally, but I did factor it in for the scheduling... instead of an 82-game season, from now on, NBA teams would only play 72 games, with the season starting a few weeks later than usual (obviously not on Xmas, but maybe late November).

I also decided to use the new NHL format where each division is essentially its own conference during the regular season: Each team would play all its divisional rivals six times apiece, and every other team twice. In addition, every year there would be a rotation between the divisions where all the teams in one division would play one other divisions' teams an extra time.

For the playoffs, all division winners would be guaranteed playoff spots, and 4 other teams from any division would make the playoffs based on their record. Teams would face off in best-of-seven quarter-finals, semi-finals and a Championship Series to determine the NBA Champions.

The D-League would have a shorter season, but the same playoff style as the big league. Instead of playing 72 games, however, the D-League would play 54: 6 games against each division rival, 2 games against each team in one division (rotating annually), and 1 game against each of the 12 teams in the other two divisions. This schedule would cut down on travel while still allowing each city to see each team twice every three years.

Each NBA team would be directly affiliated with a specific D-League team, though just like most other minor leagues, they would have the option of switching affiliations, owning their affiliate or not, relocating, etc. The NBA Draft would also be slightly expanded (from 2 rounds to 3 or 4) so that the NBA could have a consistent flow of young developed talent on its way up through the system of each NBA team, which could help make drafting, development and trades more important than attracting superstar free agents, who in a smaller NBA would have an easier time teaming up on stacked teams without leaving the smaller teams devoid of talent.

Ottawa Senators: When I was a little kid, I was a Leaf fan by default because my family was, and I live in Leaf territory. My favourite players were Wendel Clark, Felix Potvin and Damian Rhodes, and when all those players had left the team, I started to hate the Leafs and because a Senators fan because that's where Rhodes was playing. I also liked their black jerseys at the time (they were pretty bad-ass).

Toronto Blue Jays: I'm Canadian, I live near Toronto and they won the World Series when I was 4 and 5.

Los Angeles Clippers: I became a fan of the Clippers when Corey Maggette and Elton Brand were on the team... I liked the players, and that they were the underdog, and I actually got to see them on TV on a regular basis because I got their LA-based TV channel on my TV. For some reason, there were almost never any Raptors games on, but I could see almost every Clippers game.

Cincinnati Bengals: I seriously have no idea why I like them... it must be the underdog thing.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats: They're the local CFL team, and my aunt is a huge Ti-Cats fan. She's like 60, and when they play on TV, she always wears yellow and black tiger-stripe socks and jumps around the room for every touchdown. It creates quite the impression on a kid

Texas Longhorns: Colours, logo and King of the Hill. If they're good enough for Hank, they're good enough for me!

McMaster Marauders: They're the closest university to where I live that doesn't suck. I grew up a couple kilometers from Brock University, but anyone from my area will tell you that Brock doesn't exactly inspire respect.

AL East

New York Yankees

Boston Red Sox

Baltimore Orioles

Clevland Indians

AL West

Los Angeles Angels

Oakland A's

Seattle Mariners

Portland

AL North

Toronto Blue Jays

Detroit Tigers

Chicago White Sox

Minnesota Twins

AL South

Tampa Rays

Texas Rangers

Kansas City Royals

Memphis

NL East

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Washington Nationals

Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks

San Francisco Giants

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

NL North

Chicago Cubs

Milwaukee Brewers

Colorado Rockies

St Louis Cardinals

NL South

Atlanta Braves

Houston Astros

Miami Marlins

Cincinnati Reds

Pretty easy switch, I think. And I have to say, Memphis has a badass stadium.

That team needs to move immediately, because what is happening down in St Pete lately is a joke. Hell, if they can still fit a baseball field into BC Place, they should move the Rays to Vancouver... at least we know people like baseball there.

If I were a Stars fan I would be awfully worried right about now....

My link

The contractual facts: The Dallas Stars have a contractual obligation (Non-Relocation Agreement) with the AAC lenders that would prevent the team from being moved until at least 2023. The Stars also have a Location Agreement with the City of Dallas that the team could not be moved until at least 2031. After that, there is a series of 10 one-year lease options that are designed to be attractive enough financially as to avert the movement of the team to a new facility during that period.

In addition, don't the Stars own half of the arena?

Yep. They are probably the most stable Southern team in the NHL, even after becoming a Tom Hicks victim.

And don't forget just plain sucking lately.

Anyway, here's my (and probably other people's) NBA idea. No more conferences, just five divisions of six teams.

PACIFIC

Lakers

Clippers

Warriors

Kings

Blazers

Suns

SOUTHWEST

Jazz

Nuggets

Spurs

Mavericks

Rockets

Thunder

SOUTH

Grizzlies

Hornets

Heat

Magic

Hawks

Bobcats

CENTRAL

Timberwolves

Bucks

Bulls

Pacers

Pistons

Cavaliers

EAST

Wizards

Raptors

76ers

Knicks

Nets

Celtics

Top 16 make playoffs, division champions guaranteed home court advantage in first round. All-Star teams picked same way as in the NHL.

This is how the bracket would look based on this seasons records:

1 Chicago

16 Philadelphia

8 Orlando

9 Denver

5 Dallas

12 Memphis

4 L.A. Lakers

13 Atlanta

6 Boston

11 New Orleans

3 Miami

14 Houston

7 Oklahoma City

10 Portland

2 San Antonio

15 New York

I'd be happy with this. I think the NBA's conference seperations aren't as "sacred" as NL/AL in baseball or NFC/AFC in football (not sure about NHL so I'm leaving it alone.) This gives it more of a tournament feel ala March Madness, though still inferior to the Big Dance.

I really like it, too. Basketball should be all about tournaments... it just fits at every level of the game. With the severely unbalanced conferences they've had in the past, it'd be a welcome change.

Any chance of the old Ottawa Senators' swoosh jersey template?

Real or fake, I'd love one of those Wendel Clark Nordiques jerseys haha

One of my favourite NHL jerseys of all time.

Oh, and I hate grey baseball uniforms.

Alright, massive re-alignment proposal for professional hockey in North America, which intends to focus hockey on locales where hockey is appreciated, while still providing the opportunity for smaller and more southern markets the opportunity to be successful franchises.

I present to you the Northern Hockey League:

League One

Western Division

Calgary (AB) (Calgary Flames)

Chicago (IL) (Chicago Blackhawks)

Denver (CO) (Denver Avalanche)

Detroit (MI) (Detroit Red Wings)

Edmonton (AB) (Edmonton Oilers)

St Paul (MN) (Minnesota North Stars)

Vancouver (BC) (Vancouver Canucks)

Winnipeg (MB) (Winnipeg Jets)

Eastern Division

Boston (MA) (Boston Bruins)

Buffalo (NY) (Buffalo Sabres)

Montreal (QC) (Montreal Canadiens)

Manhattan (NY) (New York Rangers)

Ottawa (ON) (Ottawa Senators)

Pittsburgh (PA) (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Philadelphia (PA) (Philadelphia Flyers)

Toronto (ON) (Toronto Maple Leafs)

League Two

Western Division

Columbus (OH) (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Indianapolis (IN) (Indianapolis Racers)

Los Angeles (CA) (Los Angeles Kings)

Milwaukee (WI) (Milwaukee Admirals)

San Jose (CA) (San Jose Sharks)

Saskatoon (SK) (Saskatoon Blades)

Seattle (WA) (Seattle Thunderbirds)

St Louis (MO) (St Louis Blues)

Eastern Division

Albany (NY) (Albany River Rats)

Halifax (NS) (Halifax Schooners)

Hamilton (ON) (Hamilton Bulldogs)

Hartford (CT) (Hartford Whalers)

Newark (NJ) (New Jersey Devils)

Quebec City (QC) (Quebec Nordiques)

Raleigh (NC) (Carolina Hurricanes)

Washington (DC) (Washington Capitals)

League Three

Western Division

Grand Rapids (MI) (Grand Rapids Griffins)

Kansas City (MO) (Kansas City Scouts)

Las Vegas (NV) (Las Vegas Wranglers)

Minneapolis (MN) (Minnesota Wild)

Nashville (TN) (Nashville Predators)

Omaha (NB) (Omaha Knights)

Peoria (IL) (Peoria Rivermen)

Portland (OR) (Portland Thorns)

Eastern Division

Cleveland (OH) (Cleveland Barons)

London (ON) (London Knights)

Rochester (NY) (Rochester Americans)

Springfield (MA) (Springfield Falcons)

St John's (NL) (St John's Fog Devils)

Syracuse (NY) (Syracuse Crunch)

Trois-Rivieres (QC) (Trois-Rivieres Draveurs)

Uniondale (NY) (New York Islanders)

League Four

Pacific Conference

South Division

Phoenix (AZ) (Phoenix Coyotes)

Anaheim (CA) (Anaheim Ducks)

Bakersfield (CA)(Bakersfield Condors)

Sacramento (CA) (Sacramento Solons)

San Francisco (CA) (San Francisco Seals)

Stockton (CA) (Stockton Thunder)

Boise (ID) (Idaho Steelheads)

Salt Lake City (UT) (Utah Grizzlies)

North Division

Anchorage (AK) (Anchorage Aces)

Fairbanks (AK) (Alaska Nanooks)

Abbotsford (BC) (Abbotsford Heat)

Kelowna (BC) (Kelowna Rockets)

Prince George (BC) (Prince George Cougars)

Surrey (BC) (Surrey Eagles)

Victoria (BC) (Victoria Salmon Kings)

Spokane (WA) (Spokane Chiefs)

Mountain Conference

South Division

Topeka (KS)

Wichita (KS)

Bossier City (LA)

Oklahoma City (OK)

Tulsa (OK)

Dallas (TX) (Dallas Toros)

Houston (TX) (Houston Aeros)

San Antonio (TX)

North Division

Red Deer (AB) (Red Deer Rebels)

Colorado Springs (CO) (Colorado Rockies)

Des Moines (IO)

Brandon (MB) (Brandon Wheat Kings)

Duluth (MN)

Grand Forks (ND)

Rapid City (SD)

Regina (SK) (Regina Patriots)

Midwest Conference

South Division

Tampa (FL) (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Atlanta (GA) (Atlanta Thrashers)

Lexington (KY) (Kentucky Thoroughblades)

Louisville (KY) (Louisville Riverfrogs)

Notre Dame (IN)

Charlotte (NC) (Charlotte Checkers)

Cincinnati (OH)

Charleston (SC)

North Division

Rockford (IL) (Rockford Ice Hogs)

Rosemont (IL) (Chicago Wolves)

Ann Arbor (MI)

East Lansing (MI)

Brampton (ON) (Brampton Battalion)

Mississauga (ON) (Missisauga Majors)

Sudbury (ON) (Sudbury Wolves)

Madison (WI)

Atlantic Conference

South Division

Bridgeport (CT) (Bridgeport Sound Tigers)

Baltimore (MD) (Baltimore Blades)

Trenton (NJ)

Niagara Falls (ON) (Niagara Falls Thunder)

Hershey (PA) (Hershey Bears)

Reading (PA)

Wilkes-Barre (PA)

Norfolk (VA)

North Division

Worcester (MA) (Worcester Ice Cats)

Moncton (NB) (Moncton Wildcats)

Saint John (NB)

Manchester (NH) (Manchester Monarchs)

Cape Breton (NS) (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles)

Laval (QC)

Gatineau (QC)

Providence (RI) (Rhode Island Reds)

It's a promotion/relegation system, with each League also playing some games against the Leagues above and/or below them. Stronger fan-bases would thus be rewarded, because their teams could afford better players and thus move to higher leagues. League Four is essentially a 'minor league' and can act as farm teams for League One and Two teams.

It would feature slightly shorter seasons than the current NHL, and because of the smaller Leagues, a three-round playoff instead of the current four-round set-up.

There's a lot more to the proposal, but I don't feel like burdening you all with it at the moment.

NHL time:

Phoenix Coyotes move to AHL, and become the Canucks' new AHL affiliate.

Manitoba Moose move into Northwest Division.

Colorado moves to Pacific Division, taking Phoenix's vacated spot.

Atlanta switches leagues with its AHL affiliate in Chicago. (The NHL players can stay in the NHL and vice versa, just the team identities change.)

The Wolves move into the Central Division, alongside the Blackhawks.

Detroit moves back to the Eastern Conference, in the Northeast, rekindling its Original Six rivalries.

Buffalo moves to the Atlantic, joining the Rangers as cross-state rivals.

The beleaguered Islanders move to Kansas City, and join the Central Division alongside St. Louis.

Now there are 6 teams in the Central, so we move Nashville to the Southeast.

New division structure:

Northwest: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Minnesota

Central: Columbus, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago Wolves, Chicago Blackhawks

Pacific: Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Dallas, Colorado

Northeast: Detroit, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston

Atlantic: Buffalo, New York, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia

Southeast: Nashville, Washington, Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina.

That actually makes sense, but I don't think Chicago can support two NHL teams. When the Blackhawks sucked, everyone ditched them for the Bulls. Milwaukee would probably be a better choice, as they're a reasonable and unused market (and would have immediate rivalries with Minnesota, Manitoba and Chicago). The rest makes sense, though.

Here's my realignment idea. It's actually got a modicum of seriousness to it, unlike most of the recent posts on the thread.

I'm mildly offended. Or not. But perhaps you missed the thread's title? It is after all the Pointless Realignment Thread Outpost. Wouldn't that make you the one not like the others?

Well, the pointlessness in me posting was in that nobody would take it seriously, right?

Here's my realignment idea. It's actually got a modicum of seriousness to it, unlike most of the recent posts on the thread.

It involves a sort of promotion/demotion system, with 6 new expansion teams (drawn from existing Triple-A teams, plus an additional Canadian and Mexican team, to broaden horizons and take advantage of large existing ballparks.

Because the National League is the Senior Circuit, it takes the role of the top-flight league in the system. The American League is the Junior Circuit, and becomes the second division. Each league has 18 teams, with three divisions of six teams apiece.

To begin the system, the 18 best MLB teams from 2009 will make up the NL. The bottom 12 teams and the 6 new teams will make up the AL. The divisions are as follows:

National League

-----East------------------------Central------------------------West

New York Yankees-------Minnesota Twins--------Los Angeles Angels

Boston Red Sox---------Detroit Tigers---------Los Angeles Dodgers

Philadelphia Phillies---St Louis Cardinals-----Colorado Rockies

Tampa Bay Rays----------Chicago Cubs----------San Francisco Giants

Florida Marlins---------Milwaukee Brewers-----Texas Rangers

Atlanta Braves----------Chicago White Sox-----Seattle Mariners

American League

-------East--------------------------Central----------------------West

Toronto Blue Jays--------Cincinnati Reds------Oakland Athletics

Baltimore Orioles--------Cleveland Indians----Arizona Diamondbacks

New York Mets------------Houston Astros-------Portland Beavers

Pittsburgh Pirates-------Kansas City Royals----San Diego Padres

Montreal Expos-----------Memphis Redbirds------Albuquerque Isotopes

Washington Nationals-----Omaha Golden Spikes----Monterrey Sultans

I tried to pick popular teams in decently-sized markets with good stadiums for the expansion teams. Monterrey has the biggest ballpark in Mexico (seats 27,000) and is near the US border, while Montreal still has the serviceable Olympic Stadium. Needs work, but it's better than just about any Triple-A park.

Anyways, the important thing about this proposal is the promotion/relegation aspect. The key is that BOTH leagues are still major leagues. These teams can't drop down to Triple-A, it's just two-tiered, and each will have their own minor-league affiliates regardless of whether they are AL or NL. At the end of each season, the division winners in the AL are promoted to their respective NL divisions, and the worst team in each NL division move own to the AL. By doing this, geographical rivalries wouldn't vanish, and teams would be less likely to routinely suck. It could also raise attendances, as a team like the Pirates would be more likely to win games in the second-division than in the current NL Central.

Each team plays 150 regular season games: 12 against each division rival, 6 against each other team in their league, and a three-game set (either home or away) against each team in the opposing league's division (AL East vs NL East, etc).

For the playoffs, I have two possible options:

1) Eight teams qualify: Each division winner, plus two wildcard teams from the NL. The NL division winners are seeded 1-2-3, and the other 5 fall into place according to their won-loss records, with NL teams getting preferential treatment in the case of any ties. Each of the three playoff series will be seven games.

2) Sixteen team qualify: Division winners, plus a further 9 teams from the NL and 1 from the AL. The teams would again be seeded with the NL division winners 1-2-3, and the other 13 falling where their records dictate. This would involve 5-7-7-7 playoff series.

The draft: Teams from the lower division draft first, with the best team going first (to promote not tanking a season), and the worst team drafting 18th. From there, the worst NL teams would draft, moving up the rankings (to promote balance at the top).

Anyways, does anyone have any thoughts on this? I tried to put some thought into it, and I think it'd go over pretty well (especially compared to that floating realignment crapola).

Anyone got a good soccer template for a MS Paint user? BMP or GIF.

I checked the list, and the only soccer template I saw was for a long-sleeved goalkeepers' jersey, so any help here would be appreciated! Thanks.