Some questions that need to be asked:
Well, OK, it was mostly me asking them to myself, but they're still worth repeating:
n With West Virginia's return to the NCAA baseball regionals after a 21-year absence, we can assume the Mountaineers want to keep the momentum going into next year and beyond.
And if Randy Mazey's bunch does get future NCAA bids or - in the big, big picture - hopes to one day contend for the right to host a regional, doesn't that conflict with plans to possibly hold the state high school baseball tournament at WVU's home, the new Monongalia County Ballpark?
Mon County Park has already expressed an interest in bidding for the 2018 state tournament against Appalachian Power Park, its current home, and three possible other sites.
The NCAA regionals and high school state tournament were held the same weekend earlier this month. At the very least, WVU would probably want to be practicing at its own park leading up to the regionals, which for the Mountaineers began on a Friday, a day after the state tournament opened.
n Why is it that 7 p.m. prep football games do so well in other parts of the state, but not around here?
The Eastern and Northern panhandles have been kicking off their games at 7 for about 10 years, and now Big 10 teams in the North-Central part of the state follow suit, but apparently the time is up for the one-year experiment among Mountain State Athletic Conference teams. At last check, only Hurricane and Parkersburg are sticking with the earlier time, as the other 10 teams in the Class AAA league have gone back to 7:30 kickoffs.
I'm told that schools in the far-flung MSAC (Parkersburg to Huntington to Beckley and points between) had a hard time on road trips getting their players fed after classes, on the bus and to the game site without feeling rushed.
Of course, many of those EP schools are located a short distance from each other, but there have to be some distant trips involved, too. However, when you talk to administrators at the panhandle schools, or anyone else around the state kicking off at 7, they unanimously support the earlier starts (and earlier returns home).
Of the state's 114 football-playing schools, almost half (55) are listing home kickoffs at 7 p.m. on the SSAC schedules site.
n I may have said this before, but baseball has to be the only game where a player can commit a violation of the rules and get away with it unless someone calls for an appeal.
Take something like the check swing. Yes, the home plate umpire might not be able to tell if a batter committed to a pitch or held up, but why do you have to ask for help from another ump? Shouldn't it be an automatic call?
Imagine a play in football where the runner steps on the sideline, but an official doesn't whistle the infraction because "it's not my area'' or "it's not my call'' or "you have to appeal first.''
Whoever created baseball's rules must have had a legal background. Anything that requires further examination.
n When did the NBA start allowing moving picks? And not only that, but moving picks and pushing with malice? That's basically what it is now.
Check the video from games 10 years ago or longer. It's gotten so much worse as to what players can do to legally screen a defender.
Better yet, check any college or high school game this season. What they now allow in the NBA completely changes the way the game is played.
n I hope the baseball purists who once chided football fans about instant replay ruining the flow of their game are eating a little crow by now.
For the third time in four years since Major League Baseball expanded its video review process, games have gotten longer, according to a recent Newsday report.
Through the first part of this season, the average time of a game is 3 hours, 5 minutes and 45 seconds, up from 3:00:42 last year and 2:56:14 in 2015. The expanded replay rules came into effect in 2014.
n Will there ever be another baseball family like the McKowns of Charleston Catholic? Brothers Bo, Nelson, Sam and Luke (who just finished his senior season) have kept the hits coming over the last 10 years.
All four McKown brothers were selected all-state in some fashion for the Irish and they combined for two state championships, five state tournament appearances, a 67 percent winning mark (238-118), a combined .359 batting average and exactly 500 runs. Sort of their own 500 Club.
n When did every NHL player start growing a playoff beard? Talk about solidarity. Surprised the coaches and trainers don't follow suit. Every Stanley Cup finals game should be sponsored by Gillette, because you know more face-offs are coming when the season's done.
Contact Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickryan@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @RickRyanWV.