The Big Four needs a major update; football is eh, hockey is okay, basketball is great, but baseball is seriously lacking. The only solution, in my opinion, is to completely eradicate baseball from popular culture and replace it with my new sport: ragtag.

Ragtag, put simply, is tag that must use equal parts teamwork, stamina, speed, strength and gravity defiance.

In ragtag, there is a tower with one dominating wall, with dimensions of 20 by 30 feet. The tower (simply called “the tower”) hosts two teams with all members except one from each. Those on the tower are referred to as “towermen” and are usually the biggest and strongest members of the team. The teammates not on the wall are referred to as “wallmen” and are often the smallest, fastest members of the team.

Each team’s wallman wears safety harnesses similar to those in rock climbing. Instead of being connected by bungee cords or an equivalent, they start the game with five rags tied together, connected to their harness, in place of a cord. When the game begins, each team must race to tie on more and more rags (similar to bedsheets in a prison escape), as the wallman makes his way down the wall, allowing him full range of motion. As he makes is way about, the wallman must chase after his competitor, like a traditional game of tag. In this variation, whoever climbs to the halfway point first is “safe” and the opposing wallman is “it,” making the role of the towermen very important at the start of the game, as they tie the rags which lower the wallmen.

During this vertical game of tag, the wallmen chase each other and the towermen must communicate: should they pull the rags to force the wallman higher up? Should they allow him more room to chase the other wallman down the wall? Does he need more rags?

There are three sets per game and three rounds per set. Each round lasts one minute and 30 seconds, with whoever is still “it” the loser. To win a set, a team must win ⅔ rounds, and to win the game, a team must win ⅔ sets.

Ragtag makes for a great sport– both as a player and as a spectator– unlike baseball which is an awful spectator sport. Though baseball holds its spot in the Big Four (arguably on nostalgia and patriotism alone), it wouldn’t be for long if only ragtag would come to fruition. It’s contemporary, it’s exciting and above all, it’s for the speed demons and gravity-challengers.