Column: Aaron Worm, Behind the Mic

I have always heard that if you have something on your mind the best way to clear your mind is to write it down. So here we go:

We all know that Donovan a has underperformed through five games. His accuracy is off, he is bouncing passes to receivers and he has not been able to consistently move the team down the field through the air. But I don’t believe screaming for Christian Ponder is the answer. I trust coach Leslie Frazier that he is going with his best quarterback.

There is the old adage, in football: “Playing the guy that gives us the best chance to win.” I don’t watch practice but I assume at this point in Ponder’s development, Frazier sees McNabb as that guy. Even at 1-4, I don’t think it’s fair to veterans like Jared Allen and Adrian Peterson to say we are going to Ponder because the season is lost. Until they are mathematically eliminated, there is still that hope to make the postseason.

I know Cardinals and Tigers fans won’t like this, but I don’t know if either team would have got by the Phillies and Yankees if it was a seven-game series. Five-game series always give the underdog the best chance to win.

Now if you play the maximum number of games in the baseball postseason right now (19) that is 11 percent of the total games in the regular season. In the NFL if you play the max number of games in the postseason it equals 25 percent of the regular season. The NBA and NHL is way up there at 34 percent.

The baseball season is plenty long, and we don’t want baseball in November, but MLB has to find a way to make the ALDS a seven-game series especially since the teams play 162 games in the regular season.

The Minnesota State High School League has given the sections in some sports the ability to use the QRF system to seed teams in their section, instead of letting coaches vote on section seeding. All I know is that the formula for calculating the QRF is calculated by “Predetermined value (based on opponent’s class) multiplied by the number of opponents wins, divided by games played.”

I am sure if I took the time to read more about it I would understand it better. I am always up for trying something new, but before the football games on Friday night top-ranked Mankato West in Class AAAA and top-ranked Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in Class AA were both seeded second in their respective sections. The system might need some tweaking.

And last of all, the NBA labor dispute. One thing we hear a lot of politicians say is we have to create more jobs. If the NBA cancels some of their games or the entire season, that means ticket takers, concession workers and many other people who are employed by NBA teams will not have their jobs. Doesn’t sound like a good thing for the economy. Bottom line to the owners and players: just fix it.

KATE Sports Director Aaron Worm’s column appears each Monday in the Tribune. He can be heard from 6 to 11 a.m. weekdays on The Breeze.