Cripes Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Tell me I'm wrong, or come up with some of your own. 1. Basketball: Five-Second Rule: Maybe in 1910, they had a game where a tall player stood in the corner, holding the ball for five minutes and the bored crowd fell asleep face-first in their absinthe. But we’ve had the shot-clock for awhile, and basketball refs already have too much to soak in. So why burden them with counting how long a player stands above the arc with the ball? It’s not a rule that prevents slowdowns -- the penalty only applies when the defender engages the ballhandler – and rewards even the most timid defensive effort. Cornerbacks don’t get interceptions by guarding Randy Moss’ zip code. 2. Football: Intentional Grounding Within the Pocket: Why is it OK to give up on a play outside the hash marks, but a deadly sin if you’re a Drew Bledsoe statue paying rent between the tackles? Why can’t you stop a play to save a loss of yards, but you can spike it to stop the clock to save time? Either way, the quarterback was giving up on the play and the defense wins. Too often, this call is a game-breaking judgment call against the offense. The fewer rules in place allowing refs to impact the game, the better. 3. Baseball: Infield Fly Rule: This is meant to be “fair” to the baserunner. Fair? What’s that got to do with anything? It would also be fair to get five strikes against Randy Johnson. If the shortstop wants to let a ball drop to potentially attempt two outs, he should get the chance. Nine times out of 10, it would be a pointless exercise and probably backfire. And since this is a strategy that would be universally ignored anyway, this calls into question even more why we need this rule. 4. Baseball: Make-up rain games that start from the first inning: Under what possible reason does it make sense for fourth-inning rainouts be replayed from the beginning at a later date? If it’s to protect the statistical continuity of the original starting pitcher, most starts don’t go five innings in today’s highly specialized game anyway. 5. Football: Half-Time “Endings”: Imagine if in the bottom of the fifth, the home team in baseball suddenly had just one pitch left, despite having the bases loaded and none out. Why, then, over the course of a 60-minute football game, does the team with the ball at the end of the second quarter have to play like the game is about over? Except for tradition, there’s no reason why the end of the second brings a wholesale stop to a team’s drive. Automatically giving a team a ball based to start the third based on the fact it’s their turn, not because they earned it, doesn’t make any sense. 6. College Basketball: The No-Tips Allowed Rule: College basketball went with this “No Spud Webbs Left Behind Act” in the ‘70s or ‘80s, when it determined that tie balls would now be handed out evenly through alternating possessions. So a hustling team with great defenders is now penalized 50 percent of the time for doing its job, and a team that messes up can start over. 7. College Football: The 2-Point Play for the Defense: Under no circumstances should a team that has not done its job – like keeping the other side from scoring a touchdown – get an opportunity to capitalize on something like running back a botched extra point. 8. Pro Football: The 2-Minute Warning and Any Rule That Changes in the Final Minutes Before a Half or Game: Leave it to the NFL that gives dirtbag, lazy teams some additional opportunities that the winning team didn’t need the first 58 minutes of the game. Same for the NBA by not allowing intentional fouls away from the ball in the final minutes. C’mon, does baseball bring the fences in after the 7th inning? Does the losing hockey team get a bigger net to shoot at in the third period? Think about that the next time you see refs and chain gangs who lollygag for 15 seconds after a play in the first half, but run like Jesse Owens in the final 30 seconds when a team’s out of timeouts. That’s called aiding and abetting. 9. Basketball: The 10th of a Second Clock: If you’ve ever tried to start and stop a stopwatch as fast as you could, you rarely could beat one-tenth of a second. So what is the point of shot or game clock that can count down to that unit of time, when nothing possibly can be accomplished except an eyeblink? It’s also a bogus measure of game time. A human being cannot catch a 10-inch ball, adjust his eyesight, re-grip the ball and accurately throw in a 20-foot shot in four-tenths of a second. Maybe in the NBA, and maybe by a Laker, but certainly not in any dimension ruled by physical law. 10. Baseball/Basketball/Football: Verbal Penalties (Technical, Bench Warnings, Unsportsmanlike Conduct): Never again do I want to see a sporting contest decided because somebody got their feelings hurt. Today’s umps and refs treat any act of defiance as impugning their manhood. If a player gets out of line and utters a few profanities, then fine him AFTER the game and offer to pay for refs’ psychiatry bills. Let the game on the field or the court play itself out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 "Down by Contact" & "inadvertent whistle" - In the sense that the referees fallback on them when they very obviously missed a call (think Cory Dillon's goal line fumble). Both of them drive me Nucking Futs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Timeouts being allowed in basketball as players are flying out of bounds. You should need to have at least one foot on the court in order to call a timeout! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 the 2-line pass in hockey...why get penalized for making a great pass that opens up the game and usually sends a forward on a break...long passes are risky, so why penalize them for being completed...its like penalizing a football team for completing a 70-yd bomb... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 The extra point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoho Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Timeouts being allowed in basketball as players are flying out of bounds. You should need to have at least one foot on the court in order to call a timeout! 200937[/snapback] What gets me about that one is that if the ref decides the players was indeed out of bounds, the timeout gets nullifed and they go on like the player never did call a time out. The correct call would be player was out of bounds when he called time out, opposition ball and by the way, you just got a time out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 5. Football: Half-Time “Endings”: Imagine if in the bottom of the fifth, the home team in baseball suddenly had just one pitch left, despite having the bases loaded and none out. Why, then, over the course of a 60-minute football game, does the team with the ball at the end of the second quarter have to play like the game is about over? Except for tradition, there’s no reason why the end of the second brings a wholesale stop to a team’s drive. Automatically giving a team a ball based to start the third based on the fact it’s their turn, not because they earned it, doesn’t make any sense. 200913[/snapback] I'm not sure I get your baseball analogy here, but I really like having a half-time ending, and particularly like having the clock stop with two minutes left. Think about all the things that happen around those events. With half-time endings, you suddenly have to be concerned with clock management, preservation (and use) of timeouts. You have quarterbacks and teams who earn their reputations for running a two-minute drill. And best of all...at least to me...you see something you really don't see in any other formidable sport; the execution of a play (and to me that means the time between the end of the last play to the end of the next play) during the regular game is tough enough. Now you're asking people to pick up the pace. Act quicker. Think quicker. React quicker. It's not as easy as it may sound (how many times do you see someone 'forget' to run out of bounds to stop the clock). And remember, it's not always the clock that brings a wholesale stop to a team's drive. The team has something to do with that as well, and so does the opposing defense, who will do everything they can to...at the very least...try to leave 2 seconds on the clock to at least attempt a kick return. Man, I hate the offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 The two line rule in hockey really bugs me. since moving to NC 2 years ago, i've had the chance to see some great minor league hockey, where there is no center ice in regards to offsides... It's a really open game that i enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Tell me I'm wrong, or come up with some of your own. 1. Basketball: Five-Second Rule: Maybe in 1910, they had a game where a tall player stood in the corner, holding the ball for five minutes and the bored crowd fell asleep face-first in their absinthe. But we’ve had the shot-clock for awhile, and basketball refs already have too much to soak in. So why burden them with counting how long a player stands above the arc with the ball? It’s not a rule that prevents slowdowns -- the penalty only applies when the defender engages the ballhandler – and rewards even the most timid defensive effort. Cornerbacks don’t get interceptions by guarding Randy Moss’ zip code. 2. Football: Intentional Grounding Within the Pocket: Why is it OK to give up on a play outside the hash marks, but a deadly sin if you’re a Drew Bledsoe statue paying rent between the tackles? Why can’t you stop a play to save a loss of yards, but you can spike it to stop the clock to save time? Either way, the quarterback was giving up on the play and the defense wins. Too often, this call is a game-breaking judgment call against the offense. The fewer rules in place allowing refs to impact the game, the better. 3. Baseball: Infield Fly Rule: This is meant to be “fair” to the baserunner. Fair? What’s that got to do with anything? It would also be fair to get five strikes against Randy Johnson. If the shortstop wants to let a ball drop to potentially attempt two outs, he should get the chance. Nine times out of 10, it would be a pointless exercise and probably backfire. And since this is a strategy that would be universally ignored anyway, this calls into question even more why we need this rule. 4. Baseball: Make-up rain games that start from the first inning: Under what possible reason does it make sense for fourth-inning rainouts be replayed from the beginning at a later date? If it’s to protect the statistical continuity of the original starting pitcher, most starts don’t go five innings in today’s highly specialized game anyway. 5. Football: Half-Time “Endings”: Imagine if in the bottom of the fifth, the home team in baseball suddenly had just one pitch left, despite having the bases loaded and none out. Why, then, over the course of a 60-minute football game, does the team with the ball at the end of the second quarter have to play like the game is about over? Except for tradition, there’s no reason why the end of the second brings a wholesale stop to a team’s drive. Automatically giving a team a ball based to start the third based on the fact it’s their turn, not because they earned it, doesn’t make any sense. 6. College Basketball: The No-Tips Allowed Rule: College basketball went with this “No Spud Webbs Left Behind Act” in the ‘70s or ‘80s, when it determined that tie balls would now be handed out evenly through alternating possessions. So a hustling team with great defenders is now penalized 50 percent of the time for doing its job, and a team that messes up can start over. 7. College Football: The 2-Point Play for the Defense: Under no circumstances should a team that has not done its job – like keeping the other side from scoring a touchdown – get an opportunity to capitalize on something like running back a botched extra point. 8. Pro Football: The 2-Minute Warning and Any Rule That Changes in the Final Minutes Before a Half or Game: Leave it to the NFL that gives dirtbag, lazy teams some additional opportunities that the winning team didn’t need the first 58 minutes of the game. Same for the NBA by not allowing intentional fouls away from the ball in the final minutes. C’mon, does baseball bring the fences in after the 7th inning? Does the losing hockey team get a bigger net to shoot at in the third period? Think about that the next time you see refs and chain gangs who lollygag for 15 seconds after a play in the first half, but run like Jesse Owens in the final 30 seconds when a team’s out of timeouts. That’s called aiding and abetting. 9. Basketball: The 10th of a Second Clock: If you’ve ever tried to start and stop a stopwatch as fast as you could, you rarely could beat one-tenth of a second. So what is the point of shot or game clock that can count down to that unit of time, when nothing possibly can be accomplished except an eyeblink? It’s also a bogus measure of game time. A human being cannot catch a 10-inch ball, adjust his eyesight, re-grip the ball and accurately throw in a 20-foot shot in four-tenths of a second. Maybe in the NBA, and maybe by a Laker, but certainly not in any dimension ruled by physical law. 10. Baseball/Basketball/Football: Verbal Penalties (Technical, Bench Warnings, Unsportsmanlike Conduct): Never again do I want to see a sporting contest decided because somebody got their feelings hurt. Today’s umps and refs treat any act of defiance as impugning their manhood. If a player gets out of line and utters a few profanities, then fine him AFTER the game and offer to pay for refs’ psychiatry bills. Let the game on the field or the court play itself out. 200913[/snapback] I agree with all those rules except 4 and 6. I do agree Hockey should have the 2 line pass. Man that would be exciting! I cant stand how hockey does not allow fighting- do away with the harsh punishments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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