Who said that baseball is a boring sport? Well, the answer to that will probably come from millennials. What people fail to realize is that baseball is not a sport, it is a game; a beautiful one at that. Game five of the 2017 World Series started at seven o’clock at night and has crept into the early hours of the next morning. As of right now, I am writing this article in the ninth inning as the game is tied 12-12. During this time there was an NFL game that ended at 10:30, which also started at 7:30. Moreover, Major League Baseball games take forever and it is a fading in popularity amongst my generation. It breaks my heart.

Of the four major North American sports, baseball is the most sacred, having the fewest changes and developments to the rules since its inception. Arriving at the ballpark is like going to a romanticized picnic opera, so here are a few tweaks that we can fantasize about to change the game in order to get people more interested in the cosmic beautiful wonders of baseball.

First things first, there are too many foul balls that occur. A foul ball extends every at-bat, further increasing the length of the game. How cool would it be if the MLB would make the foul lines wider? There would be more base hits and excitement in the game and there would be a lot more scoring as well.

With wider foul lines, let’s make foul balls on two strikes a third strike so it makes it easier to obtain three outs. This will also speed up the game, adding a different type of intensity.

Changing lanes, everybody loves an infield base hit and a stolen base! What if the MLB also shortened the basepaths by five to ten feet. Imagine the base stealing threats and the increase in infield hits. This rule change would increase the number of five-tool players in every lineup. You know, the exciting spark plug players and this would eliminate players like the slow power hitting first and third basemen or the defensive catcher. Every position player would turn into five-tool players who hit for average and steal bases. Bunting would be even more important in the game, especially if the foul lines are wider because it would be easier to get bunts down to be in play. The downside to this would be a lack of home run production. Americans do love the longball. But with this the game would change, turning it into a back and forth ping pong match because of the constant baserunners making an impact.

Moving on, football has its play clock and baseball needs one as well. This rule change actually needs to happen because if a 10 to 15-second play clock was implemented then the pace of the game would go by efficiently. If a pitcher cannot start his windup by the time the clock hits zero then the batter will be rewarded with a ball added to his count. This is the only rule that really needs to be implemented the most.

Last, managers should be rewarded only three pitching changes a game. Major league baseball is notorious for having several pitching changes during a game, bringing in specialists, setup men and closers. This takes a lot of time that is unnecessary.

Also, the managers can only take one timeout per game instead of unlimited timeouts. Football, hockey, and basketball all have a certain set of timeouts. So, why shouldn’t baseball?

In the middle of the fifth inning, both managers of opposing teams should also have a 30-second wrestling match. The victor will obtain one run for their team. Just kidding. I wanted to just keep your attention. In all seriousness, there should be no extra innings. Instead, we should have a home run derby between each team’s selected slugger. Picture two gladiators facing head to head getting ten pitches to hit as many home runs to win the game in a do or die deciding derby.

Last, if there are more runners, scoring, stolen bases, a faster pitching pace and fewer disruptions by managers, then the game’s complexion will change drastically. These changes could graciously appeal to new audiences who use to find baseball too slow or boring because the intensity level will increase and the drama would ensue.

As of now, it is 12:39 and I started writing this article in the bottom of the ninth inning. This World Series game was over five hours long ending just now as the Astros just won in the bottom of the tenth. In just a 35 minute span between that time and now, I cranked out an 800-word article that would hypothetically change the substance of the game forever, prolonging the interest of America’s Past Time. In conclusion, baseball needs to make major changes in order to appeal to the new generation in order to keep the American tradition growing proud and strong. Whether you agree with my fantasy of changing the game this way or not, something needs to change otherwise baseball will be a sport of yesteryear.

Remember, “The Zos Knows”. 

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

I will give 10% of the proceeds to ONETREEPLANTED, a charity that plant trees to restore life to degraded lands all over the world. For every dollar donated there will be one tree planted. 

There used to be a romanticism of a simple phone call, snail mailing a handwritten letter to your Grandfather or face to face interactions with people that you had never met before. In the ever-changing world of technological upgrades, there is no escape from the slight damages due to the bombardment of emails, text messages, and phone calls. There is no escape to absolute solitude, where one can find peace and quiet from the everyday anxiety.

Here is a challenge, take some deep thought to contemplate three ways that advancements in technology can be detrimental to relationships, the workplace, and overall mental health.

Here are just a few:

The first one is your personal life. This goes for all because it is only human nature to keep in touch with the network of the community of people around you. Waiting for messages and phone calls from a friend, loved one, family member and the pizza guy can create stirred emotions. That cannot be good for your mental health.

The next is your personal career. How many phone calls do you get from an employee or co-worker? Does your employer email you when you are away from work with a huge situation on the fold for you?
Imagine getting those good reps in at the gym and then suddenly your boss calls and hounds you with unnecessary things at that time. Yeah, not so nice.

Look back on the 90’s when the working class never had to bring work home with them like that. That type of peace and quiet is a rare serenity that we search subconsciously search for.

You can only imagine the slight attacks of anxiety when the phone rings. Some people keep their phones on silent mode to avoid such agitation.

Moving forward, do you just hate getting contacted from things besides your social life? I think there needs to be further discussion about the nuisance.

Technology makes it much easier to ignore anyone and anything which can ruin relationships, opportunities, and ruins overall human face to face interaction. This makes it very hard to deal with confrontation or honest emotions that stem from living truthfully through the moment when you are in a face to face moment in real time.

Moreover, there are ways that it has improved our lives, this is why we have advanced in technology in order to better our well being. Again after serious thought, we can come up with conclusions of just how.

Here are just three.

We are the only species to be able to perpetually increase the life expectancy. Technology doesn’t only connect us, but it also advances and prolongs life. The constant curiosity in medicine has prolonged human health with the assistance of technology. Humans are just naturally problem solvers.

Most importantly, look at IBM’s, Watson and other forms of artificial intelligence. AI is moving at an exponential rate where it may find forms of a cure for cancer. It has the possibility to perform surgery and replace thousands of jobs due to a zero percent chance of error.

Applications make it possible to never leave the house. Your phone makes it possible to get whatever you want from the bedside. Need a ride, pizza, and a Halloween costume? Yeah, you can find an app for that which will conveniently delivery it to your door. Now, you can still have a very productive sick day.

Think of how different life would be without feasting on Netflix. You can binge watch just about anything with just a click of a button. Streaming platforms may make television obsolete because of the ease of watching any show at any time. This goes along with music, videos, podcasts, and audiobooks.

We now have a magic wand in our pockets. Could you conceptualize Merlin doing any of this for King Arthur?

You can think of why technology is so amazing because it really is. Naturally adaptively evolving with technology through its perpetual innovation, humanity’s DNA is wired to solve problems.

Remember that now.

When mankind ignited its first fire, we created a tool. Whether it was a spear or hammer, paper, the telephone, and the internet we continue to grow.

Without technology, we won’t evolve.

Despite its slight impairments, this is the Tao of evolution for the human race and we need it in order to transform.

It is quite alluring. 

Remember, “The Zos Knows”. 

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

I will give 10% of the proceeds to ONETREEPLANTED, a charity that plant trees to restore life to degraded lands all over the world. For every dollar donated there will be one tree planted. 

A wise man once said, “Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” That man who said this was the one and only, Mark Twain. The legendary American Novelist is the epitome of that quote, but sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. Knowing that the easy way out is just a vice, making it easy for one to fall into temptation in order to get away with mischief is only a benefit for the self rather than the whole.

You never know who will be affected by your actions when you decide to take the easy way out by taking the path of mediocrity; the road of greed and gluttony. Who knows who could be watching you. It could be God, a security camera, or a stranger in passing because there are eyes, cell phones and whispers that surround us that can travel many miles in a bat of an eyelash.

Earlier this week, there was a young man who walked out of the eatery known as Chipotle. As he strolled through that parking lot, he stumbled upon a brand new pair of Beats wireless headphones. As he slowly picked them up, he contemplated for a split second. Then he tentatively looked around taking one step toward the restaurant. Then it dawned on him to look into the cars next to them. He found two girls in the car where he found the Beats and politely knocked on the door asking if this was theirs. Then they came out of the car with a camera and microphone in each hand congratulating him that he did the right thing.

You should have seen the gratuitous astonishment on the girl’s faces that this person took the time to find the owner.

You see, someone is always watching.

Never have I ever thought in a million years that I would have found myself being in one of those situational YouTube videos where the content creators plant a device for a person to stumble into in order to make a decision based on morality.

That man being myself, it was only my instinct to do the what was honorable.

My Father taught me not to lie, steal, and cheat in life. I learned these valuable lessons when I was younger, developing me into an honorable man.

Once I found an iPod Photo when I was in sixth grade on an airplane and I was pumped, as a little 12-year-old should be. Immediately, my Father told me to go up to the flight attendant so that I could swallow my pride, and show humility by giving it back to her.

I never knew if that person got his or her iPod back, but I learned the value of honor.

Do the right thing because it is important. It may be hard because it is never easy. Honorability must be done to add positivity and gratuity to the world. Adding this notion to your life will astonish people and inspire people to do the same. Doing the right thing gives the world the poetic justice that we lack because it is easier to take those headphones than it is to find the rightful owner.

Sometimes the right thing is never the popular choice, but it should be your obligation and duty to do so as a human being.

As the human race, none of us are perfect. We make mistakes, but we always want to do right, and that can be hard for most.

But, it is never too late to do good in this world.

Remember, “The Zos Knows”. 

-David Zosel

Are you having trouble in terms of doing the right thing for your partner? Maybe the right thing for you is to look into online couples counseling. For more information click on this link right here. 

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

I will give 10% of the proceeds to ONETREEPLANTED, a charity that plant trees to restore life to degraded lands all over the world. For every dollar donated there will be one tree planted. 

There are many personality tests out there but the problem is that none of them are fun to talk about and contemplate. The Meyers Briggs personality test provides very general data whereas horoscopes are very subjective and abstract. Many are either categorical or are subjective. But, this one is absolutely filled with discovery, accuracy, and loads of fun.

Remember, I do not take credit that I made this up on my own. This is just really fun and I wanted to share it with you.

Answer this question:

If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be in the order of one, two, or three; and why?

Oh, your first animal is a hawk, you say? Well, the first animal that people choose is how they want to be viewed.

A hawk is a badass counterpart of an eagle. It is free and independent, following its own rules of life by flying solo and they are constantly hunting. Flying over the landscape, the hawk oversees all operations in life and strikes when the opportunity arises.

Since you chose a hawk that means that you want people to perceive you as an independent, ambitious badass that is always on the hunt for the next best thing.

Did you say that your second animal is the dolphin? The second animal of choice generally shows what you aspire to be and how you understand yourself to be like. 

The dolphin is one of the smartest in the anima kingdom. They can communicate through sonic waves that can span from many nautical miles away in order to keep in touch with one another. Dolphins are also very playful and social as well. At the same time they can be very independent. They can work well with others and are able to be self-sufficient.

The dolphin shows that you aspire to be intelligent, social and can work well with others. This means that you want to be someone that people can collaborate with. It also means that you want to be good at communicating with others as well, which can only serve you well in life along with being self-sufficient.

Now, what is your last animal? A cougar? Wow, that is fantastic!

The third animal is the hardest for people to decide because it represents the honest of how you view yourself, which is hard for anyone to honestly view themselves. 

A cougar, like any other big cat, is the king its habitat. Their biggest joy is hunting and its favorite past time is napping. They are sexy and they definitely know it. They live life on their own time and only abide by their rules. Big cats make the rules for everyone else in their habitat. Most importantly, cougars know how to adapt to survive in almost any situation that life throws at them.

Cougars represent people who have power struggles. They think that they are entitled to being the head honcho. But as hard as they work for their game, they get stressed out very easily, resulting in taking many naps. You are a person who lives life the way that you want it, making your own rules that you think others should abide. Despite all of the life struggles, you can adapt to anything to survive to only come out on top, just like a cougar.

This is a super fun game to play with your friends, on dates, and to strangers because it is a great icebreaker.

Ninety percent of people seem to choose a land, water, and air animal. A unique person chooses reptiles, vermin, insects, amphibians or anything that is outside of the box. That is when the game gets really exciting.

Major fun can only ensue if you can execute this exercise properly with your friends. It requires quick wits, persuasion, and great presentation. Most people answering the questions do not really give great explanations of why they would be that animal. Many times, the person being interviewed will give you a one sentence response. It is your job as the interviewer to know basic traits and facts about the animals because they generally apply to the person answering the question.

You can teach people a lot about themselves and vice versa.

This psychological test is humorously accurate and you will be surprised about the results. This is also something that you can do to impress people to make you seem very smart. It is a great way to trick people about your level of intelligence.

Many personality tests are not as fun as this one. This test can create a lot of great conversation that can continue for quite some time. Try this out and see where it takes you because you will be amazed what you can find out about people.

Remember, “The Zos Knows”. 

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

I will give 10% of the proceeds to ONETREEPLANTED, a charity that plant trees to restore life to degraded lands all over the world. For every dollar donated there will be one tree planted.