Fix your favorite sport

The Game Room
#1

Let’s hear the rule changes you think will improve your favorite sport. Two comments before your start:

First, let’s have real rule changes, no randomly exploding baseballs, no wild tigers roaming the court, do not suggest 10 rule changes that make American Football look suspiciously like Rugby.

Second, only suggest rules for sports you actively follow. If you’re an American who faithfully follows soccer every World Cup, pick a different sport to fix.
My rule is for baseball. It’s too slow, it can take over 3 hours, with a lot of that time being totally, ridiculously, idle. I propose ‘ready pitching’. Pitchers throw the ball when they’re ready, the 12 second rule applied strictly. Batters get one time out per at-bat. If they are unprepared because they have to adjust their batting gloves, and their hat, and their cup, and stare at the 3rd base coach for a while, they should step out of the box while the pitch is thrown.

#2

Formula 1 - get rid of the plethora of ridiculous rules and regulations and go back to basics. Stop trying to ‘spice up’ the sport and let the drivers and machines do the talking.

I used to love Formula one, from the early 1990’s to mid 2000’s I wouldn’t have missed a race for the world but towards the latter few years the increasing number of pretty rules and regulations and lack of understanding/acceptance that motorsport is inherently dangerous began to take the sheen off it for me, I remember the very moment I stopped watching, during one race one of the drivers overtook another and the commentator stated reassuringly to the audience, “No, its OK, they’re allowed to do that.”

click TV off.

Oh…and landmines in the run-off areas… :wink:

#3

I wholeheartedly agree with stronger enforcement of time in baseball. However, I really don’t think you should be after the pitchers; it’s purely the batters who’ve added the 15 minutes or so of game time.

Simply put, batters should not be allowed to waste time between pitches. Stepping away from the batter’s box should be permissible only for a GOOD REASON, and adjusting your batting gloves is not a good reason; if you need to adjust your batting gloves repeatedly you should be called out and told to go get a pair of batting gloves that fit.

Rule 6.02(d) already states a batter must stay within the batter’s box except in specified cases; it may be to be slightly reworded but it is clearly not being enforced as written. Start enforcing it.

For hockey, no-touch icing. The new “mixed” rule is an improvement but let’s just go all the way, shall we?

#4

Major League Baseball

Abolish the territorial protection that currently enable big market teams to make too much money. Let the Tampa Bay Rays move to Brooklyn or Northern NJ or Hartford Ct to take share a market that is much more profitable. Let the KC Royals move to the LA area.

The reason the big market teams can charge so much is because they either have a monopoly on their market or share a huge market with one other team. Move another AL team into the Yankees’ back yard and the Yankees won’t be charging $1,500 for a box seat any longer, and they won’t be able to inflate salaries beyond belief.

This is the only way to stop the inflation in the cost of going to a game. A return to a free market.

#5

Baseball could be sped up by:

  1. Reducing the between inning commercial break
  2. Limiting the time for mound conferences. If the manager doesn’t signal for a new pitcher within 15 seconds of arrival, he can’t change the pitcher. If it’s a defensive strategy meeting, it’s 20 seconds, tops.
  3. Reduce the number for warmup pitches for new pitchers. You should be warmed up in the bullpen. If not, tough.
#6

I don’t intend to be after the pitcher, the goal is to let them pitch when they are ready, not when the batter gets done with his routine. I would only enforce a time limit to prevent an “unwritten” rule to let the batter get ready at his own pace.
A rule for Basketball. In the last 2 minutes of a game, teams that are fouled may choose to take a technical (1 shot + possession) rather than 2 shots, regardless of the type of foul. I find the foul-centric end of game process to be completely unentertaining.

#7

Cricket. Get rid of the one bouncer an over rule. It’s made suspect batsmen into good ones. Let them be men.

Field Hockey, bring back the offside rule,

Football.something like the penalty corner rule from hockey. Makes negativity in defense expensive.

F1. Return of turbochargers and refueling.

#8

They’re already limited to 5-8 pitches. Mostly, that’s to adjust to the game mound as compared to the bullpen mound. If they’re coming in to replace an injured pitcher, they’re allowed as many as the umpire feels they need.

#9

Why not just automatically award 1 point for what is currently a 2 shot foul, and 2 points for a 2 point foul, and 3 if a shooter is fouled while taking one from beyond the 3-pt arc?

No foul shots at all. Maybe extend the number of fouls before a team reaches a penalty from 5 to 8, or whatever is needed to maintain the current level of scoring.

No more damn free throws would really speed up the game. Maybe allow for a 5 second break after a ‘foul-point’ is awarded to make player changes. Without foul shots an NBA game might actually be watchable.

#10

I’m aware of the injury replacement exception and wouldn’t change it. I’m just saying reduce the number of warmup pitches. Sure the mound is different, but it’s not like it’s their first time on the game mound, either.

#11

Football (soccer)

  • Severely penalise players who fake injuries, even if post-game with video. 2-game minimum, 4-game if a yellow card was given to the “offender”, 8 games if a red card.

  • Enfore, with yellow cards, the rule of not going into the box when a PK is being kicked. In some games you see 6 players inside th box. You can get referees that onyl check that.

  • Mandatory use of spray paint for free kicks

  • Open mics, a la Rugby, for referees, so we can hear what they and the players say.

  • I’d love to see a TMO, a la Rugby.

#12

Also, all red-card fouls become a penalty kick.

#13

I think all of these are good but the most important two to me would be a TMO and, again as in Rugby, the refs word is absolute law. No quibbling, no shouting no complaining or you are off sunshine. Give the ref the tools to make the best decision he can and then back him to the hilt with absolute power.

ETA - in top flight football financial penalties are meaningless. Take a point off for each of the first 3 red cards, 2 for the next one, 3 for all after that.

#14

Excuse my ignorance, but what does this mean?

#15

On penalty kicks, the defensive players can’t be less than 10 yards from the ball, but they routinely cheat in. The “spray paint” is paint that vanishes within a minute or two, and is used to mark on the field the 10 yard line.

#16

NASCAR insists their points system is fine, but they’ve changed it nearly every year for about 10 years now. It needs to be reset to how it was in 2003.

#17

Soccer: Have something between a penalty kick and a free kick. In a low-scoring sport, the penalty is too draconian, considering that it often penalises fouls against players in non-threatening positions.

#18

I’m not a NASCAR fan, but that whole Chase thing mystifies me. As I understand it, with X number of races to go they alter the standings so that if you’re not in the top Y drivers you can’t win the season championship. Why? Would it be that bad for the sport of someone made a late charge to an upset title? Suppose baseball did that- “okay, we’ve played 100 games. If you aren’t in the top three spots in your division, you can’t win now.” Like seriously, WTF?

#19

See my Penalty corner suggestion.

#20

BobLibDem, re: the Chase, I see it as a hybrid playoff system. Baseball DOES tell teams they can’t win the championship because they’re too far back, it’s called “you didn’t get into the post-season.”

With NASCAR, if you did that, you’d have a field of a dozen cars, dwindling down to a handful for the last race, which I’m sure would result in really lousy races. So, they identify the playoff field, let everybody race, but only the playoff racers earn points for the Cup. The other racers are hoping to win the race, which is a nice win however you slice it.