IS IT TIME FOR A BAN ON FOOTBALL?

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

So who's going to tell Pete Carroll that football has been outlawed?

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Let's begin by noting that a lot has been written about the United States' bad year in international sports. Our soccer team went winless at the World Cup (won by Italy), our best golfers flopped at the U.S. Open (won by an Australian), our tennis players had their worst fortnight of the post-war era -- that's post-World War I -- at Wimbledon (won by a Swiss man and a French woman), and so on. We couldn't even win at our National Pastime, a team of major-leaguers falling to Canada, Korea and Mexico in the World Baseball Classic (won by Japan).

I wrote about the sudden absence of a national sports hero (``American Idol, Anybody?'' on June 20). Steve Dilbeck wrote that it shouldn't matter (``It's Not Always About U.S.'' on July 7) -- there's always got to be a wise guy. Topic 1 for columnists everywhere this summer is: ``What's gone wrong with the American character, commitment, or something, so that we no longer seem to produce the best athletes in any sport?''

I have the answer. And the solution. The Modesti Proposal.

I'm going to ask for your help in a couple of minutes, so pay attention.

What's wrong with the United States when it comes to sports?

Only that we play too many of them.

It's simple math.

Young male athletes here are drawn to the four major team sports: football, baseball, basketball, hockey. Also, a handful of would-be major team sports: soccer, rugby, lacrosse, volleyball. They have a choice of big individual sports: tennis, golf, driving race cars. As well as a full menu of individual sports that grab headlines periodically: track, cycling, boxing, swimming, skating, skiing, various horse-related things.

I can hear the bowling and billiards lobbyists banging out ``what about us?'' e-mails right now, so I'll put them on the list.

All of a sudden we've got 20 athletic or somewhat athletic pursuits that your neighbor's kid might be training for right now.

The point is, at the same time as Barry Bonds has been growing too thick, the rest of America's muscular youth has been spread too thin. We're a big country, with the population to fill talent pools for all of the aforementioned sports. But if the goal is to produce the world's best in a significant number of sports, we're not big enough to tip the odds in our favor.

The U.S. population is about one Manning family away from 300 million.

Just to compare that to one other country not quite at random, we have 5.1 times the population of Italy.

But American kids are dividing their attention among football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and all of those individual sports, and begging their parents for tuition to Hot Dog-Eating Camp. Meanwhile, Italian kids are basically playing soccer, soccer and more soccer.

Assuming other factors more or less even out, that means the big United States has fewer kids playing soccer than little Italy does. So, before we even begin to worry about improving our coaching, facilities and so forth, we're up against it.

The math hurts us in all of the other sports, too. As many great basketball players as we have, we'd have more if so much talent weren't siphoned off by other games; same for football, baseball, tennis, everything.

Maybe the United States' best basketball player isn't Dwyane Wade but some kid playing golf, and most likely, our best baseball player is some kid playing basketball. I doubt our best hockey player is the guy riding Lava Man, but who really knows?

So what's to be done? If we want to be the best at a few of our favorite sports again, instead of just top-10 in practically all sports, there are tough choices to be made.

We're going to have to eliminate a few sports here. Flat-out cancel the programs at schools and colleges, or ban them by act of Congress if necessary.

If baseball were illegal, imagine all of those young pitchers modifying their windups for use on tennis serves.

If soccer were illegal, think of all the children who'd have to spend their Saturday mornings on the baseball diamond, the basketball court or the golf course.

Better yet, mathematically speaking, if (American) football were illegal, that would free up dozens of the sleekest anatomies from each scholastic institution in the country for employment in the international sports.

What USC loses in the way of football national championships it'll make up for when all those future Reggie Bushes, Matt Leinarts and Dwayne Jarretts lead other Trojans teams to titles.

But maybe you have a better idea for which sports stay and which sports go.

Let the debate about our national priorities start here. Tell me which sport you most want to keep, and which sport you most want to get rid of. Send suggestions and comments to heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com.

I'll report the survey results as soon as enough replies have been gathered, which just might be before the United States' next big triumph on the international sporting scene.

heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com

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Photo:

If youngsters like Reggie Bush couldn't play football, maybe they would excel in other sports.

Associated Press