There should be better way for SEC event

Before you begin reading this, let me give you some background. It's almost 9 p.m. on Tuesday as I write this. Myself and fellow Starkville Daily News sportswriter Robbie Faulk are sitting in the press box at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium near Birmingham, Ala. We're here to cover a Mississippi State baseball game in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Yet it's a baseball game that, by now you know, wasn't played. State's game was pushed back to today at 9:30 a.m. after Tuesday's earlier games were plagued with extra innings and rain.

Look, I get it. I've been around baseball long enough to know stuff happens. Weather happens. I've experienced plenty of rain delays. I sat through a three-hour one just last Saturday at Dudy Noble Field. Cancellations and postponements happen. It's the nature of the beautiful beast that is baseball.

However, after Tuesday, I'm convinced it's time for the SEC leaders to go back to the drawing board and look to do all they can to simplify the mess that has become the SEC Tournament.

Look, I love the SEC Tournament. I have since I was a kid. Yet now, the event has become so crowded and crammed schedule-wise that it has almost become a burden for everyone, including the fans.

Four games in a day? That's tough to pull off on sunny days. You throw in a little bit of lightning and rain and you get an all-out mess like we saw on Tuesday. Suddenly, the schedule has become backed up. What now if more rain arrives over the next three days? Everything has to be done by Sunday because the NCAA Tournament is upon us.

The SEC Tourney, as it currently stands, just isn't built to handle any delays or inclement weather whatsoever. There are too many teams and too little time.

So what then? There are options. It wasn't that long ago that the event only consisted of eight teams. Nowadays, since the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC, 12 of the league's 14 teams are in Hoover. Why not scale it back? Make it more of an honor to get to the conference's premier stage and play fewer games, thus giving you flexibility if you need it.

I doubt that happens. Too much money is involved. Fewer teams means fewer fan bases which means fewer eyeballs on television sets, fewer rear ends in the stands and less money spent on merchandise and concessions.

Something I think is intriguing is the new format the

ACC Tournament has taken. The ACC holds a 12-team tournament split into four, three-team pools. Three games are played per day. The top team from each of the four pools advances to the single-elimination finals on Saturday ahead of a championship game on Sunday.

In the grand scheme of things, the ACC format is only two less games than the SEC Tournament. However not playing more than three games in any day provides some wiggle room if you need to cram another game in on a given day due to weather or other reasons.

To be honest, there is no perfect formula. Baseball season and tournaments in the south can get wrecked by rain. It has always been that way. I just can't help but think there has to be a little better way to safeguard the SEC Tournament and make life easier on everyone.

I'm sure several, like Robbie and I, made the trek to Hoover on Tuesday only to head back to Starkville not having watched the Bulldogs play. Even had MSU played, the game likely wouldn't have started until near midnight. That's just not good for anyone.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but the SEC Tournament could sure use at least a little cleaning up. The rain won't ever fully go away, but why not give yourself a better chance to play?