In early January it was determined that starting in 2008 there will be a uniform date in which all college baseball teams can begin their seasons. That date will be the Friday 13 weeks before Memorial Day, the day in which the 64-team field of the NCAA tournament is determined. In 2008 that means February 22^nd, February 20^th in 2009 and February 26 in 2010. Teams also will not be able to start practices until February 1^st, and with this fall practices have been extended to 45 days.

As far as I can tell, the idea behind the uniform start date is to level the playing field between northern and southern schools. Many northern schools are starting when southern schools are hitting their stride, and this is often represented by just how few northern schools make the cut in the NCAA tournament.

Will this start date help? I'm not so sure about that. One thing it will seem to hurt is non-conference matchups. With fewer weeks and weekends for such matchups, if you give a school like Long Beach State the option of playing Pac 10 and cross-town rival USC, or the University of Illinois-Chicago, which matchup do you think they're going to take? Minnesota may no longer have the option of playing a team like Florida State if FSU has to choose between the Gophers and the Auburn Tigers. And do northern schools think that they will have more home games against southern visitors? Doubtful, considering the weather in March and even April isn't very conducive to playing baseball in Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, etc. Minnesota has a natural advantage in that they play in a dome, and take advantage of this by hosting three prominent national teams at the Dairy Queen Classic every year, but no other team has such an advantage.

The idea of leveling the playing field between northern and southern schools almost reflects some of the principles of why Perfect Game exists. Perfect Game's headquarters are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and they enjoy a climate much like the one I enjoy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That means we have a more natural association with words like "snow," shoveling" and "plows." The very idea behind showcases and tournaments, as well as fall and spring scout leagues, is to give all players, north and south, the opportunity to play with and against the best players in the nation (and beyond). Young players living in colder climates that want to be the best know that they have to travel to better weather if they intend to improve. It's a fact of life. Some of the best northern schools embrace this same idea, making sure to travel to warmer climates so their players have the opportunity to play in more optimum conditions against premium talent.

Recruiting is also a problem. Many of the best northern players often commit to play in warmer states. Being a Wisconsin native, I can see that for myself as the state's top high school players for the 2006 draft-class have committed to Missouri, Arkansas and Jacksonville, just to name a few universities. However, there are a few that choose to stay close to home. Wisconsin is a different case in that there is only one DI program in the state (UW-Milwaukee), as the Wisconsin Badgers do not field a baseball team, thanks to Title IX.

This can't be entirely blamed on the weather, as reputation also has something to do with this. The best basketball players in the nation, no matter where they play, are more than likely going to want to play for perennial powerhouses like Duke and North Carolina, in a sport when the weather is never an issue.

I think the best idea of northern schools is to take care of their own problems the best way they can internally. Focus on improving your own facilities, making sure you have somewhere to practice indoors when the weather outside doesn't allow it, and try to create some kind of point of interest for recruits, fans and other teams.

Maybe investigate larger tournaments for northern schools. The Golden Gophers could expand upon their idea of the Dairy Queen Classic by hosting a much larger event, reaching out to their fellow Big Ten rivals while also inviting teams from neighboring conferences like the Big 12, the MAC, the Missouri Valley Conference and the Horizon League. Investigate the possibility of renting out other dome or retractable-roof structures in the area, such as Miller Park in Milwaukee, for an extended weekend tournament. That may not help the individual teams with practices, but it would give them a venue to play against the better teams in the region during the colder months.

More importantly, place an increased premium on recruiting. Good players and coaching staffs more often than not will make good teams, and if too many good northern players are committing to southern schools, do your best to change that. I'm not saying coaches aren't doing their best already, but I often wonder if certain players aren't pursued as much as they could be if northern teams, coaches and recruiters automatically assume they're not going to stay close to home to go to school and play ball.

I haven't even mentioned the impact this will have on the fans of the game. As I noted in a previous column, the interest in college baseball is at an all-time high. There is a video game that best exemplifies that interest, and you're not helping that interest if you're removing several intriguing non-conference matchups between teams that normally don't play one another. Plus, for those of us hungry for baseball in any way, shape or form, the new rule means we have to wait a few more weeks to satisfy that hunger.

When I first learned of this ruling I was pleased to see a uniform start date. While something needed to be done to accommodate all college teams north and south, after thinking about the topic more and researching it, I'm far from convinced that a uniform start date, at least the way it is currently proposed, will accomplish what it's intended to.