Rules You Would Like To See Changed in Sports

[Inky_Wretch]

The "bonus" situation in basketball means one shot plus the ball. You cannot benefit from fouling unless you earn it by stealing the inbounds pass.

I’d like to see intentional fouls called in the final minutes when a losing team is literally intentionally fouling the winning team.

 

[Driftwood]

There are two different football rules on punts.
If the punting team touches the ball at the 10, but momentum carries them to the 8, the ball is placed at the 10.
If the punting team touches the ball at the 2, but momentum carries them into the end zone, it goes to the 20.

Pick one. Either one. Just make it the same no matter where on the field. The ball is either dead at the point of contact, or it's not.

 

[rtse11]

****, this is easy. Just call out MLB's failures.

Kill the DH. Kill the extra-inning runner. Bring back 7-inning games in true doubleheaders. Ban day-night doubleheaders.

When did MLB have 7 inning DHs?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

For college basketball, stop the clock in the last minute of the first half after a made basket. It annoys me when there’s four seconds left on the clock when a basket is made and the other team just lets the clock run out. Make them inbound the ball and let’s see a half court shot.

For the NFL, on punts, allow the punt to break the plane of the goalline for the gunners to try to bat the ball back into the field.

For baseball, allow 28-man rosters, with two guys allowed to be inactive each game. I’m tired of seeing pitchers shuttle back and forth to the minors, especially when you get a guy pitching four shutout innings in relief in a ten-run blowout and get rewarded with a trip to Toledo.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

When did MLB have 7 inning DHs?

2020, and it was long overdue.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

When did MLB have 7 inning DHs?

During COVID.

 

[dixiehack]

Shave down the play clock in the NFL and college football to 30 seconds (maybe 35 for college). Not only would this pick up the pace of games but it would avoid the situation where a team can get a first down with as much as. 2:39 left and win the game if the other guys are out of timeouts. I don’t need you to run the Philly Special if you’re ahead but I do think you should have to play actual football at the end.

 

[Driftwood]

NASCAR: Run the advertised distance.
NASCAR/NHRA: Get ride of the stupid countdown, chase, playoffs, whatever. A season champion should be the champion of the season.

 

[HanSenSE]

During COVID.

Also a staple in the minors.

 

[HanSenSE]

One no one's bought up yet: The tush push. Keep it.

 

[da man]

One no one's bought up yet: The tush push. Keep it.

Is that a rule change?

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Scoring for the designated runner in extra innings, which I'm not aware exists. The runner just appears out of nowhere as far as I know with no accounting for him. He got on base somehow, so I'd make it a rule scoring it as a leadoff IBB and DI getting him to second. I'd also require the scheduled leadoff batter in the 10th to be the DR.

 

[DanOregon]

I would say double bonus but otherwise this.

No more penalties or DQs if a pro golfer signs an incorrect scorecard. Like we don’t know who shot what already.

The incorrect scorecard thing is particularly stupid when someone calls in watching on TV. Once a hole is finished, it is what it is. If a rules official or another player or fan on the ropes wants to call it out - go ahead.

And for soccer, dump the PKs for CKs to decide ties - the play is over as soon as the defense clears it out of the penalty box.

 

[UPChip]

My wackiest proposal: Football: Hitting the uprights or crossbar and in should be worth 5.

Basketball: Halfcourt shots should be worth 4 (I am OK with allowing this only at, say, the last minute of a quarter, half or game). Everyone practices this as a lark, let's do it live.

Hockey: A goal you propel into your own net is an own goal and should be scored as such. I also insist that the Price is Right fail horn be sounded throughout the venue for all own goals in soccer or hockey.

I believe tennis has considered playing let serves as they go. I'd like to at least test it out, if for no other reason than the vast amount of let serves I see do not appear to hit anything with the naked eye.

In the ancient days of track, false starts were punished by making the offending party back up. That beats kicking people out for what is now sometimes a false start by the transitive property, e.g., you triggered the pressure plate earlier than we think a human can react to the gun, therefore you false started and must go home in shame.

I'll think of some more, I'm sure.

 

[Slacker]

Cap the NIL money. It was out of control from the start. How much does a college freshman need? $30K, say, gives any kid plenty of dough at that age, and now you get to learn how to manage it responsibility. Or $50K, whatever. Create a tier progression if you want – for example, $30K freshman season, $50K soph, $75K junior, $100K senior, set similar caps for redshirt and extra-eligibility seasons, and for career-ending injuries as long as they stay in school – and stop the craziness before it bankrupts the system. It's doing a good job of that already, and while you're at it keep the boosters out of it, except strictly for donations to the general athletic fund.

What's a kid gonna do when you hand him six or seven figures a year? Blow it on fast cars and dangerous driving (hi, Jawja) right from the start, plus other destructive behaviors that just escalate their swelling young diva brains and hurt their teams, their schools and their own futures, too.

My two cents, and YMMV. But I thought it was a ****storm from the start. Yes, the college athletes finally got that well-deserved NIL compensation, but it's still a privilege to get a free shot at college and play for your school, too. Instead, everyone just threw open the vaults from the start instead of establishing a responsible, equal but still lucrative structure across the board. What kid can't still be happy with that structure in their college years? It's still a hell of a prize package right out of high school.

It's such a cutthroat business with little restraint, unfortunately, but schools across the country now face mounting financial challenges because they've been breaking the bank from the get-go. That will not stand, will it? The money sports will be losing money, too.

Instead: "Here's your $30K, youngster. It's standardized everywhere now, but it increases each year, so welcome to the team, and let's work hard. It's a huge pile of cash at your age, so be careful, too. Learn how to budget, and put a good chunk of it into savings each year. It will go a long way if you let it, and our financial advisors are here to help."

That would have been a better path, but the horses are long out of the barn already.

 

[Pickleballgolds]

The incorrect scorecard thing is particularly stupid when someone calls in watching on TV. Once a hole is finished, it is what it is. If a rules official or another player or fan on the ropes wants to call it out - go ahead.

And for soccer, dump the PKs for CKs to decide ties - the play is over as soon as the defense clears it out of the penalty box.

Most golf is played without TV cameras, thousands of fans walking along or high-tech scoring systems. Golf doesn’t need to encourage players to think what they can get away with.

 

[FileNotFound]

Cap the NIL money. It was out of control from the start. How much does a college freshman need? $30K, say, gives any kid plenty of dough at that age, and now you get to learn how to manage it responsibility. Or $50K, whatever. Create a tier progression if you want – for example, $30K freshman season, $50K soph, $75K junior, $100K senior, set similar caps for redshirt and extra-eligibility seasons, and for career-ending injuries as long as they stay in school – and stop the craziness before it bankrupts the system. It's doing a good job of that already, and while you're at it keep the boosters out of it, except strictly for donations to the general athletic fund.

What's a kid gonna do when you hand him six or seven figures a year? Blow it on fast cars and dangerous driving (hi, Jawja) right from the start, plus other destructive behaviors that just escalate their swelling young diva brains and hurt their teams, their schools and their own futures, too.

My two cents, and YMMV. But I thought it was a ****storm from the start. Yes, the college athletes finally got that well-deserved NIL compensation, but it's still a privilege to get a free shot at college and play for your school, too. Instead, everyone just threw open the vaults from the start instead of establishing a responsible, equal but still lucrative structure across the board. What kid can't still be happy with that structure in their college years? It's still a hell of a prize package right out of high school.

It's such a cutthroat business with little restraint, unfortunately, but schools across the country now face mounting financial challenges because they've been breaking the bank from the get-go. That will not stand, will it? The money sports will be losing money, too.

Instead: "Here's your $30K, youngster. It's standardized everywhere now, but it increases each year, so welcome to the team, and let's work hard. It's a huge pile of cash at your age, so be careful, too. Learn how to budget, and put a good chunk of it into savings each year. It will go a long way if you let it, and our financial advisors are here to help."

That would have been a better path, but the horses are long out of the barn already.

This would work if and only if there was a stiff, unappealable penalty for schools that sneaked Five-Star Freddie a little extra to make their $30k better than Podunk Tech’s $30k.

I think it’s time to end the student-athlete charade and make them employees of the university’s marketing department. Give them the employee discount on tuition and fees if they want to go to class, but otherwise just make them employees with benefits and insurance and such.

 

[Slacker]

This would work if and only if there was a stiff, unappealable penalty for schools that sneaked Five-Star Freddie a little extra to make their $30k better than Podunk Tech’s $30k.

I think it’s time to end the student-athlete charade and make them employees of the university’s marketing department. Give them the employee discount on tuition and fees if they want to go to class, but otherwise just make them employees with benefits and insurance and such.

I know. It's crazy, though. The universities now get played by the players, having lost control of their own sense of discipline long ago. What's next, paying high-schoolers?

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I would like to see the UCI institute a salary cap and yearly draft for Grand Tour teams (Tour de France, Vuelta). The big freight train teams make the tours kind of boring.

 

[FileNotFound]

****, this is easy. Just call out MLB's failures.

Kill the DH. Kill the extra-inning runner. Bring back 7-inning games in true doubleheaders. Ban day-night doubleheaders.

I've made my peace with the DH. Now that it's consistent on every level of the game, I think it's fine. I don't miss seeing .139-hitting pitchers corkscrew themselves into strikeouts.

I'll never make peace with the ****ing zombie runner. But I'd probably stop bitching about it if, during the regular season, it wasn't invoked until the 13th inning. Three more innings of real baseball isn't going to hurt anybody.