Questions I'd Like Answered

There are a number of questions I'd love to have an answer to, just based on a number of observations I make regarding not just baseball, but just life in general. Nothing earthshaking here, and they are all rhetorical in nature.

1. Why are the new stadiums that are being built in baseball putting up brick walls behind home plate? Jason Varitek slid into one back in April in Baltimore trying to catch a foul pop but was not hurt. Is this for esthetic reasons? It is a stupid idea, and some catcher will get hurt running into one someday.

2. Why do players talk into their gloves when they have a meeting on the mound with the pitcher? Do they really think there are lip readers in the opposing dugout? If so, then why don't pitching coaches cup their mouths when they go out to talk to pitchers on visits out there?

3. Why do the media insist on putting the term "gate" at the end of every so-called controversy that pops up? (I know it stems from Watergate, but it is still very stupid.)

4. Why is it when the odds are posted on say, a golfer or tennis player winning a tournament, the odds for someone from the "field" is always less than most of the favorites? Shouldn't the odds on a longshot winning be far higher?

5. Why do we say, "back East" and "out West", and not "back West" and "out East?"

6. I've noticed that when media people talk about a court case, it's becoming more fashionable for them to say, "Roe v. Wade", instead of saying "Roe versus Wade". It's silly, annoying and lazy. Do you ever hear anyone say "the Red Sox v. the Yankees"? Of course not. So why do these so-called reasonably intelligent commentators say that? They are setting a bad example.

I'll have more burning questions I'd like answered in future columns.