This could have been a column on why Cristiano Ronaldo should win the Ballon DOr. But it isnt. That has been done, many times, including by myself in January. For similar reasons I had a year ago, I believe Ronaldo should win it this year, but a year is a long time in sport and, although my opinion on who should win it hasnt changed, my opinion on the award certainly has. I no longer care one bit.  I should point out that I have never been a big fan of individual awards in team sports. For me, important accolades, awards and trophies are won within the sporting arena and anything else is precisely what most sports are not - arbitrary; placed in the hands of a democracy who may or may not be informed enough to reach the correct decision. On the face of it, the task of finding the best player of the year should be a relatively simple one.  In fact, it is so simple some inside the sport of baseball are wondering if they should have such an award, instead of their Most Valuable Player honour. In that sport, the best player in the game, Mike Trout, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, has finished runner-up in the American League the last two years in the MVP race, simply because his team didnt make the playoffs and were not as good as the Detroit Tigers, the team, Miguel Cabrera, the winner, played for. If a Ballon DOr existed in baseball, Trout, who has an astounding 20.4 WAR the past two seasons, would already be a two-time winner. So is it time to change their sports main individual award?  ESPNs Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian, two of the baseballs finest journalists, debated this very topic on a podcast recently: Olney said: "A really smart executive in baseball said to me, you know it would be a real shame if the best player in baseball for the first five years of his career didnt win (the MVP) because he had bad teammates and I hope, although I dont think it will happen, that the (voters) baseball writers would define MVP and just pick the best player." Kurkjian disagreed: "I like it the way it is because it creates the debates. The word valuable is a very subjective term and its up to the voters to determine who the best player is based on the word valuable." Make no mistake, Cabrera is a marvellous hitter, but Trout, a superior overall player, has been even better the past two years but lost out on the award simply because of the word "valuable," with many voters believing Cabrera played in more valuable games than Trout because the Detroit Tigers were in a playoff position in September. As a lover of baseball, I have sat back the past two Septembers and watched/listened ad nauseam to networks debate who is more deserving, rather than talk about the actual baseball games taking place at an incredibly exciting time of their season. The debates might be good for media shows and the sport which wants as many people talking about it as possible, but the truth is when the decision is finally made, it doesnt make knowledgeable baseball fans think any differently about Cabrera, with two MVPs, or Trout, with none. And that is exactly the same with the Ballon DOr. From 1956 to 2009, it was an award with history that meant (a small) something, but it still had major flaws. It was only given to European players until 1995, meaning all-time greats like Pele and Diego Maradona didnt win a Ballon DOr. Zinedine Zidane did win one, as well as three FIFA World Player of the Year awards, but is that what you think of when you think of Zidane? Of course, not. Ninety-nine per cent of the games biggest fans couldnt tell you exactly how many awards he won, but they could tell you about his brilliant performance in the 1998 World Cup final and the breathtaking goal he scored in the 2002 Champions League final. And that is how it should be. As we view sporting events that take place in our time, we are trusted, as the guardians of that current footage, to ensure that history will tell the story it should. After Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi retire and your kids or grandchildren ask you about them, you should not tell them how many Ballon DOrs they won. However, with column inches to fill and shows to accommodate, the worlds media have spent the best part of this international window talking about this award, rather than the games being played. Even when Ronaldo produced one of the finest individual performances, guiding Portugal to the World Cup, much of the talk was still on whether or not he should win the Ballon DOr.  His performances on the field, which ultimately define him as a player, is what people need to focus on and not because it should decide whether or not he wins an award at a glamorous FIFA ceremony in January. Since 2010, when FIFA got their grubby hands on the award and merged it with the World Player of the Year honour, the award has lost its lustre while gaining more and more media attention. Previously open to the worlds finest media members to vote, FIFA extended the Ballon DOr voting