All women’s sports will shoot up in attendance.
Okay, okay, it’s the Snitch, not the Quaffle.
Maybe we can incorporate that into 43 Man Squamish.
I like my sports pure, in fact ideally Caveman pure. I love the fact that basketball is 5-on-5, substitutions only on timeouts, at all levels of the game, and like that the NBA got rid of the rules banning the zone defense. I don’t like the DH rule in baseball, I think everyone who gets in the batter’s box should take the field somewhere. I dislike lefty/righty reliever specialists, but that’s not so much a rule in the game as the way the game is managed nowadays and at least there’s a limit to how far this can be taken without running out of pitchers, due to the rule that a player cannot come back into the game once removed.
Now if certain other major sports went Caveman, I would be much more interested in them.
Caveman Football: no special teams. 15 men vs. 15 men, playing both offense and defense and doing things like punting, kicking field goals, etc. You can substitute a guy no more than once per half (similar to baseball where if a player comes out of a given game for whatever reason, he’s out for good, except that there’s a “reset” at halftime.)
Having a good bench just got a whole lot more important.
Caveman Golf: Whatever club you use to tee off at Hole #1, you use that club for the entire game, no matter what happens to it, or forfeit.
As for baseball, there’s an old saying that “the only base you can’t steal is first base”. Well, why not allow it? At a minimum, it’d make the penalty for a wild pitch more interesting; why only get to try to “steal” first on a dropped strikeout swing? Imagine a player squaring around to show a bunt, then just as the pitcher winds up, he drops the bat and tears off for first. The pitcher would have to choose between finishing his delivery to the plate (and have the catcher relay to first), or doing some kind of awkward pivot to throw to first.
However if there were already a guy on first who took off for second, it’ should be a force out to throw to first if the batter tries to “steal first base”, as the runner on deck couldn’t “steal the at-bat”.
I like the way you think. But since football is so high-injury, I didn’t want to go too Ironman. My idea was to allow only two substitutions per down. So you can have a specialist kicker and QB, but that cuts into your defensive substitutions… and on third down, you could stick another couple offensive players in, assuming you’ll make the down, or sub in a special-teamer or defender, assuming you won’t. Keeps two-way players, but makes even more strategic decisions necessary.
In baseball; if it’s likely that a batter will be forced or tagged out at any base, he has the opportunity to fistfight the defensive player trying to record the out. If he beats the shit out of the fielder, he is entitled to the base, or, if at home plate, his run counts.
This is how the awesome NES video game, Base Wars handled things (except there were no force outs at all).
I must admit, that’s where I [del]stole[/del] borrowed the idea
I suppose I should add that my idea of Caveman Golf has to have some way to preclude some monstrous 9-headed “club” that would effectively circumvent the caveman spirit with a Swiss Army utility. To that end there would be one and only one standard issue club, made in a single piece, given out at the beginning of the event to each participant. Same length, same weight, same face angle and everything, differing only in being lefty or righty for the club face. If you’re taller, you’ll have to stoop down more. If you’re shorter, choke up on the club. No more endorsements based on some kind of club shaft or head technology, just “hit this ball into that hole with this here thingy that’s the same for everyone, every time”.
There could be different events based on the type of club though: either metal or wood, or the head size/angle, similar to how Wimbledon is played on grass while the French Open is played on a clay surface.
I wonder if it would still be so high-injury if players realized the game impact of going out? And there would still be injury substitutions allowed, of course. But since the players would have to be in good enough shape to run up and down the field the entire game, I think we’d see a lot lighter and less bulky guys on the field and thus fewer bone crushing impacts. More Maradona body types and less William “The Refrigerator” Perry types.
Maybe a halftime “reset” is too much though – I’d settle for quarterly resets.
How would the voting be done? If it was done on the Internet, the team captains would end up being Stephen Colbert and Baba Booey.
OK, then add the forward pass and the concept of “downs” to rugby and we’re getting close to what I’m imagining.
Though I may have to take a closer look at rugby. I’ve heard of it, of course, but have never seen it played nor read up on exactly what the game mechanics of it are.
I say remove the facemasks from football helmets.
I’m not sure. There would probably be a cap on how many times a person could vote, and/or write-ins would be disallowed. The NHL’s current voting system nearly led to Rory Fitzpatrick, an NHL/AHL journeyman starting the All-Star Game.
Rugby League is closer with the five tackles rule.
Here’s something that has bugged me because of the money involved: no pay for college players.
I think that when it comes to college football and basketball, the NCAA should pay the players. There would less of the stupid wink-wink deals done in the backrooms to get great high school players to colleges and more fairness, as the NCAA makes billions off these players. They’re damn students, not minors, and as adult should be paid a fair wage for what they bring. Hell, the coaches are sometimes paid millions, why shouldn’t the players be? Doing that would also help to lower the amount of these one-and-done guys in basketball, as more students would stay and get better if they were at least guaranteed they won’t blow out a knee and miss their chance at big bucks in the pros. It would also help the NBA, as we wouldn’t get these raw freshmen going into the pros and not making an impact until 3 years down the line. The draft would be less of a crapshoot and bottom tier teams wouldn’t have to take a chance on a untalented player when they could get a 4 year proven and dependable guy
Also, due to the last 10 or so years of West dominance, the NBA really really needs to have a playoff system where the top 16 teams get in, not simply the top 8 in each conference. Though Toronto seems to have a chance at it, I am sick and tired of another East #8 seed making the playoffs with a below 0.500 record while a good team with 45 wins in the West misses out.
Bobsled tracks need to be widened to 3 times their current width. That way multiple sleds can race at once. Also, nobody but the driver actually does anything after the start, so we’ll give 'em all billy clubs to smack the other team as the speed down the track.
Yes. Take away armour, forward passes and running interference, and you’re looking at a very similar game. After the tackle there’s no break longer than is needed for the man to get to his feet and play the ball - no delays to form a scrimmage. A “scrum” only arises after a technical offence or the ball going out of play.
Deathrace 2000 on bobsleds.
Football would become MUCH more interesting if they gave three of the players on each team baseball bats and told them to swing away.