Nick Oliva - Sports

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Rio de Janeiro should host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. South America... cool.

I have never run a marathon. I've run half-marathons. Running a marathon is on my list of things to do.

Boxing should be banned. Nothing is more contrary to humanity than boxing... except perhaps religion.

The New York Yankees have a negative impact on Major League Baseball. Professional baseball ought to be a team sport again... I would remake it as follows: (1) Every player makes $500K per year... and NO MORE (or the fraction they were on the roster)... you're getting paid to play baseball... you ought to be ashamed to make more. (2) Concession prices are the same as they are where there is competition, and you can bring your own food. The racket has gone on for so long that everyone just accepts that the business aspect has become so big that it's no longer much of a "team", or "season", or "family" sport. ... and the Yankees are the epicenter of everything that is wrong with baseball....

The treadmill provides the best aerobic workout from a stationary machine. I could also consider stair climbers, but I don't think I can last as long on one and part of aerobic workouts is duration, right? Ellipticals are silly little things I can't understand.

Players are more responsible for the proliferation of steroid use in Major League Baseball. All drug use is an individual decision... except roofies, of course....

Car racing is a sport. Chariot racing was certainly a sport. I can see arguments for either one being more difficult than the other, but they're essentially the same thing with automobile horsepower instead of horse horsepower....

Football is America's national pastime. But it's a toss-up.... and only because by convention the pastime is a sport. America's true national pastime is television.

Baseball should not be an Olympic sport. I have to agree with the IOC. I don't think I've ever met a someone from Europe that understands baseball. It's like if cricket were an Olympic sport... gee... I hope I'm right that it's not one....

Transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics. I really can't imagine why anybody would think this is a good idea. I am completely against unnecessary medical procedures - cosmetic surgery that is reconstructive is fine, but not that which is purely aesthetic. I don't see how the medical profession ev

Military academies should not permit athletes to forgo active duty to play professional sports. If you can't forgo active duty to be there for your child during his first year of life, you damned sure ought not to be able to forgo it to be an obscenely-paid circus performer!

Beijing's air pollution will not affect the performance of athletes competing in the 2008 Olympics. Athletes learn to compete in a lot of different conditions. Will someone win only because someone else had more trouble breathing the same air... that's a hard argument to make....

USA will win the most medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics. I think they will... and so should you.

Awarding the 2008 Summer Olympics to China was not a mistake. I don't think the Olympic committee should get involved in political judgments that can be avoided. If China can participate in the games, and afford to host them... so be it. It's not like other countries have any higher moral claim, eh Mr. Bush...?

Native American nicknames should be used in team names. I found that defending the argument that political correctness should win the day here made me sound rather frivolous. Advice to Native Americans: Buy the damned teams with all that slot machine money and call them Honkeys, Rednecks, Spics, etc.

Major League Baseball should not have interleague play. ...but I'm stodgy. I'm still not happy that they put up lights at Wrigley. I'm still annoyed at the scandal of late-season trades to bolster the roster of the teams in the lead. There used to be a fun debate in arguing over which league had the best playe

Professional golfers should not be considered athletes. Sorry... golf is leisure, not sport. Bowling is also leisure. You can break a sweat opening up the card table for poker night, but it's still leisure....

Major League Baseball should not use instant replay to review umpires' decisions. They shouldn't even have allowed lights at Wrigley!

Professional athletes should compete in the Olympics. It's not like amateur athletes around the world live on their wages from waiting tables... even in Cuba, where neurologists earn their living driving gypsy cabs, a spot on an "amateur" or Olympic team is a meal ticket for the whole family!

Horse racing is humane. Seeing as how I don't really have a problem with bullfighting....

Home-field advantage in the World Series should be awarded to the team whose league wins the All-Star Game. I like the advantage for the All-Star winner. First of all, it gives meaning to the very popular all start game and removes the "exhibition" status. Second, it's definitive and competitive across the leagues.

The U.S. should not boycott the Beijing Olympics. I don't think boycotts are good unless they are supported by a significant number of participants. All that will happen is that American athletes will not compete - the rest of the world will rejoice at having more chances for gold. Where exactly will we

The Baseball Hall of Fame should not accept Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball branded with an asterisk. They take it without the asterisk, or they don't take it at all. How can MLB be the governing body that keeps the home run count and then not recognize the records?

There should not be a designated hitter in Major League Baseball. It's just not right.

Trophy hunting should be illegal. I don't agree with trophy-hunting because killing an animal that would otherwise have lived just for sport doesn't seem right. Cultural viewpoint being what it is, however, I've been to two bullfights and see no problem whatsoever with that. Go figure.

New England Patriots will win Super Bowl XLII.

New York Giants will win the 2008 NFC Championship.

Michael Jordan is the best basketball player in the history of the game. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to the old pigskin... (that's a joke...)... but I have to agree with this one.

Congress should not investigate the alleged steroid use in Major League Baseball. Doesn't Congress have better things to do than worry about sports?

A player that has used steroids should not be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I'd like to be cynical and say, "Of course!" But it's just not right....

The New England Patriots will not win the Super Bowl.

College football should institute a playoff system. The current way is silly....

Fantasy sports should be classified as gambling. It should actually be classified as stupid. If there's money involved, then... yes.

The New England Patriots will go undefeated during the 2007 regular-season. I don't really have any idea here. But I once sat next to Bob Griese's (spelling?) wife on an airplane and she told me he didn't want anybody to ever match his team's record and I thought that was selfish... even though his reasoning is that his teammates

The Boston Red Sox will win the 2007 World Series.

Barry Bonds' home run record should have an asterisk.

Shoeless Joe Jackson should be allowed in the Hall of Fame.

Mark McGwire should be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Barry Bonds should be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose should be allowed in the Hall of Fame.