This weekend sees Nascar running a Cup race on a dirt surface for the first time since 1970. With unprecedented attention being focused on this single race weekend, other sports leagues are looking at “turning back the clock” next season in ways beyond simple throwback uniforms. Here’s some concepts other organizations have proposed for “getting back to their roots”:
Major League Baseball: “Olde Tyme Base Ball Weekend”—three-game series across the majors with fifteen man rosters strictly enforced. A maximum of two pitchers per game per side is expected to keep scoring in the low-triple-digits.
National Football League: “Heritage Week”—all Week 2 matchups will be played on Sunday afternoons within the Northeast-Midwest regions. Leather helmets will be mandatory, though player safety will be enhanced by forcing every player to down a 12-pack of beer before each quarter.
National Basketball Association: “1948 Rewind Night”—no players over 7-foot tall allowed. At least one player per team at any one time must be wearing coke-bottle glasses. And set shots Set Shots SET SHOTS!
National Hockey League: “Original Six Celebration”—NBC will only show matchups from the “Original Six” teams. So, basically the usual.
College Football: “A Dandy Weekend”—The Ivy League will feature the kind of college football you’d have seen in 1890. Flying wedges will be allowed, no forward passes, and half the participants will be guys in their late-20’s playing under assumed names.
IndyCar: “Time Travel Sunday”—Tony George attempts to go back to 1993 and prevent his past self from creating the IRL. Unfortunately his past-self laughs uproariously at the concept of Nascar being more popular.