Most people despise change and it doesn't take a song from the genius Bob Dylan to realize times are a changin'. (Truly, Bob Dylan is a genius because when you have a voice like that of a dog chew toy on its last leg, you better be a brilliant lyricist.) I'm of the belief that change is good, for the most part. Is it uncomfortable at times? Sure, but in the end, it is generally for the best.

The sports world has seen its fair share of change whether that was Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball, the rise of professional sports and pro athletes making the crazy amount of money they are today. There is an argument whether or not they should make that much money, I'm kidding it's not an argument. We live in a free-market society and if an owner of a franchise is willing to write those checks, have at it. Plus, for many of these athletes, they're lifting them and their families to new heights, that's the American dream.

Phew! Got a little preachy there, anyways, back on track.

Recent changes to professional and semi-professional leagues have made some noise lately. The NFL, after most of the decade of players, coaches, and fans complaining, finally decided to change the rule on what constitutes as a catch. That's a positive change, and now when we watch Sunday Night Football, we won't have to hear Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth nervously talk about whether the player had possession, had two feet, an elbow, leg or butt down, made a football move and if they had an NFL-sanctioned notary stamp the ball.

Another change that's coming to the NFL is team cheerleaders going the way of the dodo. Starting the ball rolling on this is the New York Times piece on the Washington Redskins cheerleaders trip to Costa Rica. While the story wasn't outright scandalous, there are enough uncomfortable and questionable moments that bring up a key question. Why are cheerleaders necessary not just in the NFL but professional sports as a whole? Everyone knows why they are there and it's not to get the crowd on their feet.

This isn't a war on cheerleading either as some trying too hard contrarians suggest. (For the love of God can we stop calling everything a "War on..."? I'd rather we bring back –gate than hear another blowhard snivel about there being a war on cheerleading or a war on football.) When it comes to the NFL, I think we'll see teams go to the Green Bay Packers model of hiring collegiate cheer teams and avoid any PR disasters. And going along with their team history, Washington will be the last holdout to do so.

Sticking with football, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel announced a new rule for the upcoming season. On kickoffs, teams can call for a fair catch inside their 25-yard line for a touchback. This new rule was implemented for safety since the NCAA crunched the numbers and found a lot of injuries occurred during kickoffs.

I'm not going to lie, I'm torn on this new rule. On the one hand they used data from multiple seasons to come to this decision but on the other, they are phasing out one of the most exciting plays in football. A kickoff return for a touchdown when the runner finds the crease then punches the NOS like they're Dominic Toretto in Fast and Furious as the crowd roars louder and louder when they near the end zone, it is an electrifying play.

But on the other hand, the safety aspect is a legitimate concern and lately, it seems like all the horrific spinal injuries have happened during kickoffs.

I'm going to have to think about this one a bit more.

Keeping with the NCAA for another beat, the task force, headed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to find fixes for college basketball after a scandalous season came up with some incredible changes. Hahaha, that was another joke. They didn't find any concrete ways to address the agent, shoe company scandal. Instead, they announced how they're going to try super-duper hard to curb this behavior. They basically sent this message to all their top programs, find new and better ways to cheat so we don't have to change.

Never change NCAA, never-ever change, even as your once proud empire crumbles and turns to dust with the faint whispers of NCAA president Mark Emmert "They're student-athletes, we can't pay them" haunt the ruins.

The NHL, has some things going on, I'm sure?

Of the professional leagues, the NBA is usually the most open to change. They have some good ideas like how they're leading the charge on legalizing sportsbook gambling. But they also have some bad ones too, like possibly expanding the playoffs.

Sports writer Bill Simmons is one of the biggest proponents of playoff expansion, he names it the "Entertaining as Hell Tournament" where the worst teams in the league battle it out in a single-elimination tournament for the seventh-and eighth-seeds.

Simmons is one of my favorite sports personalities but this idea is terrible. You could make a case for this in the NFL because there are only 16 games in a season but it just doesn't work for NBA. Mostly because the NBA season is 82 games long and if you can't win enough to make the playoffs over 82 games, you don't deserve to be in the playoffs.

Looking at the Big Four sports leagues, the MLB is the most resistant to change, especially among their fans. Any change to the game is met with a frothing, over-the-top defense from the zealots. Zealots are zealots for a reason but any and every change they act as if it's a crime against humanity. Baseball is slow and some things needed to be done to pick up the pace of play. Limiting mound visits and installing a pitching clock was absolutely necessary.

Baseball has never been a fast pace game and I'm not saying it needs to be one, it's the one sport you can get up and do things around the house and not miss much of anything, but it desperately needed some fat trimmed from it.

It will be interesting to see how the minor leagues experiment with extra-inning games goes, and if they will bring it to the majors. The rule is when a game goes to extra-innings, each inning starts with a runner on second. This prevents those ridiculously long regular season games and it's an interesting rule.

And if brought up to the majors, it would only apply to the regular season. At first, I was against it but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. There would be a new layer of strategy along with some instant excitement.

I'd fully expect the baseball diehards faces to melt like Arnold Ernst Toht in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when this rule is official.