Leo: What ever happened to….

I was recently in Montgomery, Alabama to broadcast a college football game and saw the above banner on display at the airport. It’s from the Blue-Gray Football Classic, a college all-star game played annually in Montgomery on Christmas Day. As a child, I used to watch this game every year.

I watched because I’m a sports junkie (nerd) and because there were no other sports on television. This was before the NFL, NCAA bowl games, and the NBA invaded Christmas Day. It was also mostly played by players from teams with losing records (not bowl eligible) or non-Division I players. I like that sort of thing (see previous “nerd” reference).

Eventually, the Blue-Gray Football Classic went extinct because of poor attendance and struggling television ratings.

My thoughts of the Blue-Gray game led me to think about other sporting events that have faded into oblivion. My father talks of afternoon World Series games, sneaking his transistor radio into school to follow the action. I wish there was at least a World Series game or two during the day each October, but it will probably never happen again.

How about the scheduled double-header? I’ve said in the past, only half-joking, that every Saturday should be a day-night twinbill. In the minors, you could take every Tuesday off (usually the least attended night of the week) and substitute it for an extra Saturday crowd. It makes good business sense, but would be very problematic for a pitching rotation.

Speaking of pitching, we’ll also never see the four-man rotation become the norm again, will we?

What other sporting events or scenarios of the past are gone forever? Send them to sleo@clippersbaseball.com

Clippings…

* Don’t forget, Clippers 2012 season tickets go on sale November 1st! 

* MLB.com has a post-season look at the Indians’ farm system.

* Jeanmar Gomez was named Tony Lastoria’s “Pitcher of the Year” on Indians Prospect Insider. Chen-Chang Lee picked up “Reliever of the Year” and Beau Mills was the “Comeback Player of the Year”.

* Indians MLB.com beat writer Jordan Bastian has opened his e-mail Inbox for Tribe questions.

Speaking of Q & A, feel free to e-mail any Clippers questions  or tweet them to @Scott_Leo.

Check back soon with more off-season fun!