Greetings All, Jay from On The Sportslines here.

Being stuck home with pneumonia sucks out loud, but when you're not coughing your guts up you do have time to ponder things, sports-related and otherwise. I'll leave the "otherwise" for a different forum. The sports-related stuff I'm going to spew out here. Pun intended.

October is my favorite month of the year. Baseball is in post-season form; the NFL and College Football are well into their seasons; the NHL has just dropped the puck on a new Quest for Lord Stanley's Cup and basketball is just around the corner. Oh yeah, and my birthday happens to be in October.

Said birthday is less than a week away, so in that time-honored tradition of making a wish before you blow out the candles on your cake, I'm going to make some sports wishes. These wishes are along the lines of if I were allowed to be in charge of sports for my birthday and could change one thing, what would I change.

First up, baseball. I LOVE October baseball and if I could make one change I'd have ALL weekend games played in DAYLIGHT on both Saturday AND Sunday. Baseball has money coming out of it's ears and after all, it's the PLAYOFFS! Advertisers will pay WHATEVER baseball wants them to WHENEVER the games run. So, for once, how about we think of the KIDS and play the games while the sun is still up. I'd even go so far as to have Friday night games start at 4pm -again, for the kids. I could go off about how the All-Star game determining home field in the Series is idiotic, but that's something SO idiotic that I won't waste a birthday wish on it.

Second, the NFL. Not much wrong with the NFL these days, Mr. Goodell has done a nice job so far. Being an old QB, I'll never agree with Ray Lewis regarding his stance that the league over-protects QBs. Sorry Ray, QB's are the face of the league, not guys like you. You may be the heart/soul, but not the face and sports leagues need their faces intact. So with that in mind, the thing I'd change would be the No Fun League nonsense. I'm sorry, but Wes Welker shouldn't have been penalized for excessive celebrating for doing a snow angel after scoring a TD in a blizzard in New England last year. Now I'm not going be okay with T.O. and the Star stomping in Dallas, but let these guys have a LITTLE bit of fun. Love him or hate him, Chad Ocho can be entertaining after scoring a TD. Oh, yeah, a caveat, no more of this BULLSHITE "Look at me" celebrating for things like getting 6 yards on a 3rd and 5. Or sacking the QB so that he can't convert that 3rd and 5. Hey, Dumbass WR-RB/DE-LB, that's nothing to dance about, it's called DOING YOUR JOB.

Third, College Football. While I would love to wish the BCS away and replace it with the playoff the sport SO desperately needs, that one also falls under the heading of a rant about something SO idiotic I won't waste a birthday wish on it. So, instead, I'm going to change the rankings. I don't believe in pre-season rankings. How can you rank teams purely using speculation? That said, if you're going to do that, well, then the rankings shouldn't change for at least the first month of the season. Let everyone play 3 games minimum, then rank the teams for real. It's about the ONLY thing the BCS does right - not releasing it's first set of rankings until about mid-season. They'll be out on Sunday, October 18.

Fourth, the NHL. Great season last year, ending with a Stanley Cup rematch. Never been a big fan of the NHL's Commish, but he hasn't COMPLETELY sucked since the lockout ended. I would have the league promote it's best players A LOT BETTER. I know, I know, hockey is traditionally all about the team, but the greatest show on ice should borrow from it's hardwood brothers. Hype Sid the Kid, Geno, Ovie, King Henrik and Jarome, the way the NBA does for Shaq, Kobe, King James, D-Wade and Melo. We may root for laundry, but we also identify with players.

And finally, the NBA. All Hallows Eve usually signifies the tip-off of another NBA campaign. The thing I'd change would be the universe, so that we'd have a season where the stars stay healthy for the entire year. I know the folks in DC and Houston can seriously relate to this one. How about no tricks this year, just the treats of seeing the best players in the world, bringing their A-Game EVERY night. Resolving the ref thing would be nice too, but I'll leave that heavy lifting to Mr. Stern.

As for my personal birthday sports wish, well, I make the same one on my birthday every October the Yankees are in the post-season and USC plays AT the Golden Dome. That unique double hasn't happened in my lifetime. Yet.