Your unpopular sports opinions?

Soccer should do away with the Off-sides rule.  It takes away all the excitement of a fast break.  Can you imagine if basketball had an off-sides rule?  Can't be behind the last defender and receive a pass?  Basketball would be as boring as . . . well . . . soccer.

I mean really love the Tour de France.  I love it so much I'm even starting to like the French.  Also, I believe I win the thread.

Dantonio is a great football coach

I feel bad for players when they don't do well or make a play. 

I enjoy Dick Vitale as an announcer, and Duke as a basketball program.

Attending football games is such a pain in the neck.  Takes all day, weather is usually bad, expensive, prevents me from watching other games, etc etc.  I enjoy attending basketball games much more.

I admire the Nebraska football program pre-Mike-Riley.  Doesn't bother me at all that they split our 1997 Championship.  Not their fault.

It annoys me when people complain about the high number of bowls.  Um, so don't watch.  It's college football, our favorite sport!  Why would anyone complain about there being more of it?  Do these people complain about getting frequent paychecks because going to the bank takes 10 minutes of your time?  If you like CFB, then don't complain about having the opportunity to watch more of it, especially during the holidays when we're at home with nothing else to do!

I think tweeting at recruits is awesome!

not Jerry Rice, as the greatst NFL receiver of all time.

 

And I'm more impressed with Tom Brady's accomplishments, than Joe Montana, who played with no salary cap on essentially a hall of fame team.

 

 

Is too long and too boring.  Make the pitches adopt some type of "shot clock" that is an approprite amount of time in between pitches.  The season itself should not be 162 games either.  Baseball has become borderline unwatchable at home.  

The need to reduce the goal post width for the NFL.  The kicking game is too easy, so let's make the posts super close together for extra points, and gradually move them out based off of field goal range (wishful thinking).  But a 60 yard field goal should have wider posts than a 30 yarder.

The ball sometimes does lie.

Philly fans are the friendliest bunch and have fantastically well-mannered dispositions.

In football, a punt should be a live ball comparable to a fumble as soon as it crosses the line of scrimmage,

don't think college players should be monetarily compesated. ...wait, is that the popular or unpopular opinion?

Lou Holtz is actually pretty funny, and probably a good guy.

Football should limit the number of punts to three per team per game. Use them wisely!

Go Bucks!

This should be unpopular with some people, at least here...

I think psychology, feelings, and motivation play an enormous role in sports.  People mock "feelingsball" or whatever, but I think our past couple of football teams have been softer and more delicate than they should be, and when they started hearing boos, reading harsh articles, getting nasty tweets from our fans and rivals' fans, etc., they disengaged.  That's not to say they quit, but they detached themselves in ways that hurt our ultimate football record.  And that's totally normal and human.  Some of Harbaugh's former players have said he's successful mainly because he convinces (or forces) guys to do things that they'd never otherwise do.  I think that's big.  

And that's not where psychology ends.  For example, in my opinion, the home-cooking that you get in places like the Breslin Center and Cameron doesn't result from a conspiracy... it results from refs not wanting to get screamed at and booed.  Totally human.  I think the brilliance of Dantonio-Narduzzi's defense is partly that they recognized that with the officials.  It's really unpleasant for an official to throw a pass interference flag on play after play, especially when you're throwing them on the home team and getting screamed at every time that you do.

So yeah, even as a numbers guy (which I am), I think feelings, emotions, psychology, etc. play a major role in sports outcomes.  Unfortunately, I think we've generally been on the wrong side of it for the past few years.

I dont think every Jim Harbaugh tweet is worthy of its own thread and ogled like a Mona Lisa.

The NBA is really boring if you are not in one of the 5 cities that has a few superstars on your team

doesn't belong in NFL Hall of Fame (more career INT's than TD Passes).....Cutting a double digit deficit to single digits before halftime has zero effect on how a team 'feels about themselves'' going into the locker room (unless of coarse they're a bunch of weak minded pussies in the 1st place).....establishing the run to set up the pass is a myth perpetrated by broadcaster group think...Sideline interviews of coaches are useless other than giving me an opportunity to oogle a hot chick before I fix my halftime snack....Russell Wilson is overrated.....Baseball needs to speed the fuck up to make it remotely watchable....Former athletes are the worst 'color men'....Tom Izzo is  a mediocre coach with a Napolean complex....on occasion a college basketball team would be better off using only 4 men on defense while the 5th stays at the offensive end.....fans should be allowed to make as much noise as they want at golf tournaments...

should be eliminated from football. You should be allowed to go for 2, 3, or 4 points at the 2, 5, and 10 yard lines.

Michigan football has been irrelevant for a decade.

think teams should foul up 3 in the final seconds when the other team has the ball.  Too many variables - Could the player get into the act of shooting during the foul?  Could it randomly be called intentional? Could the player make a free throw, miss the second and there be a put back with an and-one.  Up 3, the absolute worst you do is overtime if you don't foul.  There are worse possible results if you do.

As someone already mentioned: the NBA is barely more real than WWE

I NEVER root for the B1G if I don't like the B1G team more anyways. I would never root for the Jets to make the Pats look better. A cowboys fan wouldn't root for the eagles when they don't play each other. At Michigan we are privileged in that if we are truly good we will never be discounted due to the quality of the conference.

Athletes in the spot light should be afforded every ounce of "innocent until proven guilty" that every other citizen is. While I believe Jameis Winston is the quintessential example of a dolt, I do not believe he is guilty of rape. I also do not believe Brendan Gibbons is certainly guilty of rape. To falsely convict someone of a crime that despicable is almost as bad as committing the crime. I have seen a man be convicted of a rape that was just an untruthful accusation to cover up infidelity (cough Jameis Winston accuser cough). It ruined his life. Athletes should receive the same punishment as everyone else once they have gone through the judicial process, however, a day one guilty conviction from the court of public opinion does nothing in the way of changing how we hold celebrities accountable in this country.

MJ couldn't hold a torch to LeBron 1v1. You are talking a man with 3 inches, 50 pounds, and equal or greater athleticism. There are other NBA legends who would have a better chance against LBJ. This isn't a commentary on who the best basketball player of all time is, but if they played 50 times Lebron would win 48.

Not actually sure how unpopular this one is nationwide, but the best RB of all time isn't Walter Peyton or Barry Sanders. It's Jim Brown.

Great thread. Thanks for letting us all rant. I will prepare my diddly hole for the backlash.

I don't mind fall Saturday weddings. If a game is more important than your friend or family member's big day, then just stay home. I don't mind when people refer to their favorite team as "we." Without fan support, college sports are all just club sports and there are zero pro teams. You are the reason for the team's existence - go ahead and say "we." My definition of a sport hinges on two things: the ability to cause your opponent's failure (defense) and an absolute scoring system (no judges to be biased or bought). Golf isn't a sport. Bowling isn't a sport. Figure skating isn't a sport. Sports are played by athletes, but not all athletes play sports.

I like your stupid fight song and your blue uniforms are the best in college football.