If Presidential Campaigns Were Pennant Races--The Republican Scheme on California's Electoral Votes

By Thomas Gangale

Well, sports fans, we have a problem. It's those Damn Yankees. They look like they could go all the way in 2008. Again. Don'cha just get tired of them winning the World Series all the time?

But, we could throw them a real knuckle ball. Here's an idea. Let's change the rules for every game that's played in Yankee Stadium. The changes won't affect any other stadium in the Major Leagues.

Now, anywhere else, when a team wins a game, it get a "one" added to its win column, and when it loses, it gets a "one" added to its loss column. It doesn't matter whether it's squeaker or a laugher; a win is a win. This is known as "winner take all."

But, in Yankee Stadium, this is how it's going to work: every inning will have a winner. So, if the Yankees get two runs in the third inning, and the visitors score only one, the Yankees win that inning. If both teams score the same number of runs in an inning, that inning goes to the overall winner of the game. This is called "allocation by inning."

How would this scoring system be reflected in the league standings? In each game, the total number of innings won by each team would be divided by the total number of innings played, usually nine, but it could be less due to weather or more if a game goes into extra innings. So, the Yankees might win the game overall, but win only five of nine innings. League value: five-ninths. That's a lot less than one. The Yankees win two-thirds of their games at home, and the value of all of those wins would be dramatically reduced.

At the same time, all of their losses on the road would still be counted according to the traditional "winner take all" system; the home team gets one, they get zilch. The Yankees would need to have a winning record in just about every other stadium around the country to have any hope of winning their division.

End result? The Damn Yankees would probably never be in another World Series! Ever! If you can't beat them honestly, beat them any way you can. It's the new American Way.

Now, let me tell you about another nasty idea ... you're just gonna love it: allocating California's electoral votes for president to the winner in each congressional district....

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