Jackson Free Press

It seems like the 2016 sports world is following the same script as late 1997.

That year, the NFL featured two ties in back-to-back weeks. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens ended in a 10-10 tie in week 12, and the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants ended in a 7-7 tie in week 13.

This year, the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks ended in a 6-6 tie in week seven, and the Cincinnati Bengals and the Washington Redskins ended in a 27-27 tie in London, England. It seems interesting that the Redskins would be involved in both years.

Just like this year, 1997 featured a great World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Florida Marlins. That series went back and forth, with both teams battling to win a title.

The 1997 World Series came down to game seven, when the Florida Marlins were able to prevail 3-2 after 11 innings. It was the first World Series title for the Marlins in franchise history.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you know this year’s World Series featured the Indians against the Chicago Cubs. Cleveland jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and seemed ready to break a 68-year title drought.

Chicago won two straight games, forcing a game seven. The Cubs jumped out to a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

Cleveland battled back and cut the Chicago lead to 5-3 after five innings. The Cubs then scored another run in the top of the sixth inning and went up to 6-3.

They were four outs away from a title in the bottom of the eighth inning. Cleveland scored three runs with two outs and tied the game 6-6 at the top of the ninth.

Neither team scored at that time, so the game headed to extra innings. Then the rain began to fall. Both teams were forced to wait through an 18-minute rain delay before the game restarted.

Chicago scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning and took an 8-6 lead and needed three outs to win. The Indians didn’t go quietly into the night, as Cleveland scored a run with two outs, cutting the lead to 8-7.

Cleveland hit a ground out to end the game and gave the Cubs a World Series victory for the first time in 108 years. It was the first title for the Cubs since 1908, when the franchise had won the second of back-to-back titles.

Just like the Redskins in the NFL, the spirit of 1997 swept up the Indians.

Way back in 1997, Louisiana State University hosted the number one team in the nation, but that year it was the University of Florida. This Saturday, Nov. 5, Louisiana State University hosts the No. 1 team in the nation now, which is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Could the No. 1 team in …

The NCAA announced two rule changes for the men’s 2017 Postseason National Invitation Tournament. Those rule changes will make the NIT different from the Division I Men’s NCAA Tournament.

Fouls will be reset after 10 minutes of play each half, and the league will eliminate the one-and-one bonus free-throw opportunity. After a team commits four fouls, every successive foul will allow the opposing team to shoot two free throws until fouls reset.

In overtime, teams that commit more than three fouls will award their opponents with two free throws for each foul.

Technical fouls won’t count toward those numbers. Resetting the fouls will mimic how the game would work with four 10-minute quarters instead of two 20-minute halves.

The women’s game switched from two 20-minute halves just before the start of the 2015-2016 season. Olympic basketball, high-school basketball and the NBA play four quarters, so moving the men’s game to four quarters puts it in line with the rest of basketball. Of course, the length of the quarters is different for each level of play.

The other rule change is that the shot clock will stay the same or reset to 20 seconds, whichever is greater, after the defense commits a foul and a team inbounds the ball to the frontcourt. This rule change is to give each team more possessions. The shot clock used to reset to 30 seconds after defensive fouls.

The idea is that with more possessions, teams should score more points. As teams shoot more three-point shots, changing the shot clock might not actually increase scoring that much, though.

Personally, I like the idea of the men’s game playing four quarters. Each season, I watch more and more women’s basketball because it seems like the flow of the game is faster and smoother than it is for the men.

The NCAA should just go all in and make the NIT four quarters and see how the games play out. Between that and the foul changes, coaches will have to alter their decisions and late-game strategy.

If they’re discussing rule changes, can the NCAA Tournament exclude teams that don’t finish .500 or better in conference play? In the ESPN and Sports Illustrated bubble watch, there are several teams from major basketball conferences that could make the tournament with losing conference records.

Teams shouldn’t be rewarded for being worse than mediocre in their own conference. Playing in a tough basketball conference shouldn’t mean you get in the tournament if you can’t finish .500 in the league.

There are plenty of mid-major conferences with teams that finish above .500 in conference play, but the major conferences including the ACC, Big East and Big 12, that are getting shorted because of that rule.

Instead, reward those mid-major conferences with more bids. The field is 68 teams, but the major conferences get over-rewarded with bids and take up half the field. Those major conferences get bids that they …