Today it was announced that major league baseball will end smashing into the catcher on plays at home plate. This along with the new rules in the NFL about hitting the quarterback or receivers, sports as we know them are changing, and I am not so sure for the better. I understand that the players are getting stronger and faster and the blows they take can be at any time career ending, thanks to better conditioning and probably pharmacology. The problem is that they say the changes are for safety, they are not, they are about money! Big dollars are being spent on players who could at any moment be injured or out of the sport all together. Owners want the big money they are spending to be protected and in our litigation crazy country, if they don’t do everything to provide player safety someone will sue them and most likely win! These rule changes have nothing to do with protecting the games as much as risk aversion for all involved. The system of professional sports is business, big business and they have no intention of doing anything to protect the integrity of the games. They have every intention of protecting their income stream. If this isn’t true why then are the owners in charge of the rules and not some independent governing body?