Slightly OT: What's the one in-game rule change that you would make?
College football is considering getting rid of the clock stoppage after first downs.
The XFL has an interesting kickoff situation.
Banning the charge seems to be gaining momentum after the Ja and Giannis injuries this past weekend. I hope that they don't get rid of it altogether. They need to make sure you only get a charge if the defender is actually playing defense.
Taking the charge rule is the most Duke play I can think of. Shane Battier damn near became an all-American by stepping in front of people. Now it has become a staple of defense. The game rewards players for running to a spot with no intention of actually playing defense.
The offense losing possession on a fumble that goes out of the endzone.
Or a batter being able to safely reach base on a dropped third strike.
Good call on the first one. That rule just doesn't make sense.
That is a terrible rule. It should be Offense's ball at the spot of the fumble.
April 19th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
I was gonna say the fumble thing too.
Since you already did I would say the punt - breaking the plane of the goal line is weak. If you can time it right, leap and contort yourself and bat the ball back to the 1' line then you should be rewarded.
I like the clock stoppage in CFB and the 1 foot down instead of 2. Don't fuck with things that aren't broke.
If a player commits targeting, then ban him entirely for the present game and his entire next game AND also for the next time his team plays the player's team who was the targeted individual even if the player who did the targeting has transferred to another school. This may mean that the penalty will carry over to the following year, playoffs, etc.
Clearly, if the player at fault never plays against the team of the player who was on the receiving end again, the second half of the penalty will never be completed.
Eh, this would be fine if there was any consistency to the way targeting was called.
Precisely.
No matter how many times they amend the rule, the enforcement seems completely arbitrary.
In the case of injury, players guilty of targeting, and other players who tackle with a clear intent to injure, should be out the same number of games as the player they injured.
Coaches who coach and/or pay bounties for injuring opposing players should be permanently banned.
I'd experiment with making KOs a 4th and 20 (or something of that nature), from your own 25. Everyone seems to agree that KOs are unsafe, and have basically made them auto-touchbacks in CFB and the NFL. So just make them punts and keep some of the fun.
This advantages teams with good passing offenses over all others. Not really a fair rule change. I’m fine with the fake kickoffs
That would make for some exciting game endings.
Illegal formations. Get rid of them. How would we know who is eligible? Everyone is eligible. Or, make the eligible players wear their underwear on the outside.
Borrow a rule from the NHL for the NBA. if you get a flagrant 1 foul, you lose a player for the next 2 minutes so it’s 5 on 4. It’ll definitely make the NBA more exciting.
Dunks should be worth 3 points. a) you completely break down a defense you deserve something extra, b) you did something so cool you deserve something extra
Award extra points for each broken ankle....
Restart the clock on the RFP signal after an incomplete pass, ball carrier out of bounds, or first downs until the last THREE (not two) minutes of the half.
Besides interminable television commercial breaks, it's the much higher number of incomplete passes (not first downs) stopping the clock create the biggest difference in the length games.
The clock stoppage rules change for the last three minutes (not two), to give the team trailing to get the ball back with a little time left.
Consistently calling the rules already in place correctly would go a long way in every sport/league.
We could tie this into mine, which would have reviews go before a committee which meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month to discuss film and make decisions. It will be open to the public, but limited agenda space means that your call in a game in October may not come up before the following May. It would ensure consistency as refs would then be so afraid of making a mistake that they would memorize the rulebook as close to verbatim as possible.
Get rid of the 5 fouls rule in basketball! Or at least move it up to 6. Why in the world do we want arbitrary ref decisions to take players out of critical moments of big games? It’s the only sport I can think of where players get ejected without doing anything dangerous
Taking the charge rule is the most Duke play I can think of.
I'd like to know what Duke's success rate was with that maneuver for home (with refs doing what Coach K demanded) and away games. They flopped like no team I've ever seen back in the early '90s.
If I could add another one, it would be to limit commercial breaks to two minutes or less.
Additionally, all replay and injury stoppages are a minimum 90 second break for commercials, and these are counted against any other commercial breaks planned.
The clock stoppage after first downs doesn't make any sense. It's supposedly to give the chain crew time to move the chains, but that shouldn't take any longer than spotting the ball for play, and with the preponderance of hurry-up offenses, they're used to spotting the ball in a hurry.
The easiest change for football, though, would be getting rid of the rule that a fumble through the end zone is a touchback and possession goes to the defense. In every other situation, a fumble out of bounds goes to the last team to possess the ball. If a fumble goes through the end zone, it should go back to the spot of the fumble and be the offense's ball, just like if a player fumbles on 4th down. That would incentivize guys to fight harder and dive for the end zone, which is also cool for fans, so it's a win-win.
April 19th, 2023 at 11:53 AM ^
The clock stoppage after first downs doesn't make any sense.
Actually it does. If the home team supplies the chain crew and the home team is winning, they have an incentive to take their time moving and setting the chains, especially after longer gains.
Again, it's not first downs that make the game longer, it's 1. commercials, and 2. incomplete passes that make games significantly longer than they used to be.
Schools in the lower divisions (where there are fewer commercials if the game is televised at all) and at schools that mostly run the ball and don't pass much (like the military academies) tend to have games that easily fit into a three hour window.
A change I'd make in men's college basketball is to move to four 10-minute quarters, like in the women's game. The advantage of doing so is to reset the team fouls count. Right now if a team gets in the bonus for a half, that gives them a significant advantage for the rest of the half, which really distorts things and incentivizes them to draw fouls.
It's not an in-game rule but if someone takes a cheap shot and injures another player, the player taking the cheap shot should be suspended until the injured player is able to play again.
Tunnels can no longer be used unless said tunnel passes a background check. These tunnels are out of control.
Losing players shall be permitted to violently assault winning players if winning players celebrate within either eyesight or earshot of said losers. Losing players are encouraged to act in a mob-like fashion when initiating an assault. Weapons, including regular football equipment being used as weapons, are also encouraged.
Finally, losing football teams shall have the option of voiding a game result upon any allegation of either the flu or bad weather affecting the game result.
If college football is considering improving the game, then better officiating, and fewer commercial breaks, are by far the biggest improvements they could make. I think any rule changes are insignificant compared to those two rather glaring issues, honestly.
College football:
On pass interference, the ball is placed where the interference happened, or 15 yards from the line of scrimmage, whichever is farther.
On personal fouls that happen inside the 30, instead of half the distance to the goal, the full 15 yards in marched off. If the ball is anywhere inside the 15 on a personal foul, it is marched off to the 1, again, not half the distance to the goal.
Injuries that happen in the last 5 minutes, the injured player is out for the rest of the game, not just one play. This may help reduce faking injuries to stop the clock.
Not an in-game rule but, make refs/umps available to the media after games. Stop hiding them! Hell, bring in a screen and ask them why they called this call and show them the play.
100%. This would probably have the greatest positive impact on all sports
In basketball I would give the option to keep the ball rather than shoot free throws. Why should a team have any chance to come back from a deficit by hacking and hoping the other team misses free throws?
In football I would get rid of instant replay. It was well intended and worked well at first. But now it is broken. So broken in fact that refs at the NCAA and even NFL level will refuse to make a live action call knowing they have instant replay as a crutch. And how many times have we seen a replay overturn and make the WRONG CALL? Fix it or get rid of it. What we currently have makes the game worse.
April 19th, 2023 at 11:10 AM ^
Absolutely agree on the free throws. I can think of no other sport in which a team benefits by (getting caught) violating the rules. I get that the rule-makers want to allow more opportunities for late-game comebacks. But that could be accomplished by other changes, e.g. shorten the shot clock to 10 seconds in the last minute or so of the game.
Pass interference/holding is spotted at spot of the fowl always, at the 2 if in the end zone. None of these spots that give an advantage to the team committing the foul.
Reduce the timeouts in basketball to 3 per game and don't let them be called after the player has been handed the ball to inbound after a dead ball. You shouldn't be able to avoid a 5-second call by calling a timeout.
Top crossbar on the field goal.
I’m the opposite from OP on block/charge. Offensive players get too much right of way. 50/50 whomever arrives at a spot first has the right to that spot of floor. Offensive players need to shoot a pull-up jumper instead of barreling through a defenders chest for a layup.
But my number 1 would be to eliminate fouling as a late game comeback method in basketball. Last 2 minutes of a game, a defensive foul should be offenses choice of normal foul shots, or one shot and possession.
CFL sized fields.
If "Molly" crosses the centerline, 5 minute major on the starting goalie.
I disagree. Running to a spot and holding your ground against an offensive player is smart defense if the charge is called and should not be eliminated.
Get rid of face guarding. Dumb rule. I’m not touching you, deal with it
Soccer: If play is stopped for treatment of an "injury" on the field, you're off for the same length of time that was spent applying the magic spray, CPR, AED and Narcan that saved your life.
Also, one of my favorite George Carlin bits involved his ideas for improving different sports.
April 19th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
Just start carding the divers. Automatic yellow for diving.
That will clean up the sport overnight.
It's not hard. If a moderate breeze blows past you and you roll on the ground 5 times over, that's a dive.
Hell, in the last world cup there someone dove, rolled around, and was clutching the opposite ankle of what was hit.
In football, make reviews be coach’s challenge only. Having to review everything is ridiculous - reviews should only be for preventing one team from getting royally screwed on a clearly obvious blown call, not getting down to seeing if there’s a blade of grass touching the ball before a guy catches it in the middle of the second quarter.
In hoops, two things: 1) If a defender slaps the ball out of an offensive player’s hands and goes out-of-bounds, it remains the offensive team’s ball unless the ball hits another body part of the offensive player OTHER THAN a finger. Slapping it out and having to see if the defensive player’s hand stopped touching the ball before the offensive player’s pinky stopped touching it is ridiculous. When not reviewed, this situation always results in the offensive team retaining possession.
2) If there is a review and it is seen that the ball goes off a player BUT that player was clearly fouled, let the refs call the foul.
I will say I also like the removal off the of taking the charge for OFF ball defenders - the on ball defender should still be able to draw a charge by playing good D and beating the guy to a spot.
April 18th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Isn’t #2 a rule in some sport (WBB?). I vaguely recall watching something in the last year or two where the review was about who knocked the ball OOB and although the defender did not touch the ball, they clearly and obviously smacked the players arm which caused them to lose the ball. If I remember correctly, they didn’t (couldn’t?) assign a foul but were able to change the call and give the ball back to the offense whereas in nba/ncaa they would only be able to say the offensive player was the last person to touch the ball.
Every time a point is scored by any team during the time while Ohio State is playing, a point is deducted from the Ohio State score.
No game stoppages for ads. Let ads run in a split screen while the game proceeds, like many networks do for auto racing. College football needs to swing the pendulum back towards shorter air time & the in-stadium fan experience.
Also, the NCAA needs to develop a format like NFL Red Zone, including only the Power 5 conference games. I would subscribe.
April 18th, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
I sometimes don't even watch the games live anymore because I'm pretty sure they're over 50% advertising. Hey have you ever heard of Bud Light or Allstate Insurance? They're amazing products! You'll be blown away!
No rules.
"Reaching in " is not a foul! IT WAS NEVER A FOUL!!!