General: Contraction -- not just for baseball

You may or may not know that Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has suggested contracting Major League Baseball to 28 teams, taking out the Montreal Expos and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, due to lack of fan support and bad playing. However, in my mind, contracting would be a good idea, but not just in baseball. In the next few paragraphs, I will give two candidates from each sport, aside from MLB, that would be good teams to contract.

NBA

Vancouver Grizzlies -- In the six seasons this team has been playing, they have managed only 101 wins in 460 games, all but one of which put them in dead last place in the Midwest Division (that one being the 11-win tanking of the Denver Nuggets in 1998). However, at least commissioner David Stern has the sense to, in all probability, move this team, most likely to Memphis, Tennessee. Low attendance is also an issue, with the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar also creating a conflict.

Los Angeles Clippers -- The good news for this team this year was that they actually kept a coach for more than eight months. In 31 seasons, the entire Clippers franchise, going back to the days in Buffalo and San Diego, has compiled a postseason record of 11-18 with one series victory. Not to mention that they have become literal bait on a rod, are the laughing stock of sport and are assumed to be a last place team every preseason. As is the case with every other team I will mention, flogging attendance is a big reason to be on this list. Besides, nobody in LA would care a bit if this team folded up like a paper airplane. Residents would probably be relieved, if nothing else.

NHL

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim -- How bad is it when your team is named after a trilogy of really bad Disney movies? The Mighty Ducks have won one playoff series in their eight seasons, beating Phoenix in 1997. That is better than some teams in this article can say during that time. The Mighty Ducks also barely missed the playoffs in their inaugural 1994 season and in 1996. The Mighty Ducks have simply been the result of too many expansion teams, making lower quality of play, as so many other teams are these days.

Tampa Bay Lighting -- Another staple of way too much hockey expansion is the humiliation that is the Tampa Bay Lighting. This team has only been to one playoff series ever, a six-game loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1996. The Lighting have been through four straight 50 loss-seasons, three of them coming with less than 20 wins. They have also never finished higher than fifth in a division and eoight in a conference. This is another team that is basically eliminated before the season starts.

NFL

Arizona Cardinals -- It is very bad to see a team whose only sellout is when half of the fans are wearing the other team's gear! It will be interesting to see how even worse Arizona's attendance will be when that team that sells out (Dallas) only plays them once every eight years at home. As for their recent success, they did win a playoff game against Dallas in early 1999. However, before that win over the Cowboys, they did not make the playoffs for 17 years, and that was in a strike year. However, unlike most teams in this column, this is not an expansion team. They are just plain bad and futile, always have been, and probably always will be.

Cincinnati Bengals -- In 33 seasons, the best this team has done is getting beat in the Super Bowl by the 49ers two times. Other than that, the Bengals are laden with 4-10 and 4-12 seasons and futility. If they were contracted from the league, it would put their new stadium to waste. Who would care other than Ohio? No one would. Also, a big part of why I picked the Bengals is because any team that is dependent on Scott Mitchell to quarterback never deserved to be in the league, in the first place.

Although it might never happen in any sport, contraction would help the quality of playing in any, and every, sport.