Long Arm of the Law

 The NCAA may not have moved on the Louisville men’s basketball program yet, but they are making the world safe from the likes of Clare Bukowski.  That can only mean the “the list” is out.  By that, I mean the list of banned bats for NCAA softball players.  Anything my daughter swung two years ago is now banned.

What happened?  Did Clare go all Sammy Sosa and cork her composite bat?  No, the list come out every year, in part to force the retirement of equipment prone to fatigue; wood bats shatter and so do composites.  But this is where someone who’s bought a bunch of bats for his kid gets suspicious.  There are a lot of two- and three-year old bats that have never been used; for proof of that, just go on eBay.  Why ban them?  Why not simply have the umpires decide what’s safe when they do their pre-game bat-checks?

The skeptic would say because the NCAA wants athletes and/or athletic departments and/or parents to keep buying new bats at $300 or more a crack (pardon the pun).  Of course, you can go cheaper, but nobody wants to buy a Yugo these days.  As for the sporting goods’ companies, they’re on the gravy train.  The cost of dumping unsold bats pales to the money made from that nice, steady market provided by the list.      

The NCAA, looking out for you.