Football:
Pass Interference should come in 5 yard and 15 yard flavors. Spot of the foul is way too swingy for what amounts to a judgement call.
My attention span is fine, thank you. But as best as I can tell (I can’t seem to Google anything definitive), baseball games last 20 minutes longer on average than they did 30 years ago - somewhere around 2:54 now v. somewhere around 2:32 then.
Baseball wasn’t “one of your high-speed timed-break games” in 1983, but it’s gotten a lot slower since.
If you’re complaining that the game was too fast back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, that’s certainly your prerogative. I would happen to disagree. If you don’t think it was too fast back then, then kwitcherbitchen at those of us who’d like to bring back the pace of the game from that era.
Let me add this: Given that the game did operate at that pace once upon a time, there ought to be a way to have it do so again. That’s the point of the rules changes some of us are suggesting.
Now if someone has done an analysis that shows where the extra 20+ minutes has leaked into the game between then and now, it would obviously be wise to focus on the things that have added the most time to the game. It would be great to know whether the average plate appearance has lengthened, and by how much, or whether more pitching changes have added more time to the game (e.g. bringing in that LOOGy to pitch to one lefty, then bringing in a righthander to finish the inning), or what.
But absent a definitive analysis, IMHO the best thing would be to try some rule changes to speed up the game, and see what effect they had.
I like the idea of a variable value for field goals. How about this? You get the number of points based on the number of 10 yards you’re past. i.e. field goals from across the 40 are 4 points, across the 30 = 3 points, across the 20 = 2 points, anything inside the 20 is only 1 point. It would be neat to see a team with 3rd and long let themselves intentionally down the ball further back so they can attempt a higher point field goal!
As you pointed out above, extra points are considered an “un-timed down.” That’s because it’s an extra point. In other words an attempt that is rewarded to you for scoring a touchdown. I don’t like how extra point field goals are mostly automatic, but I do think it works best as an un-timed down.
Regarding MLB, I think they need to align the DH rule. Either use it, or not; but make it the same across all baseball. The alternative is when playing interleague schedule, you have to play by the visiting teams rules so that the fans get to see how the other half plays. If the Texas Rangers come to Atlanta, you’re using the DH. When Atlanta goes to the Ball Park in Arlington, they don’t use the DH.
This is a great idea! Boxing used to be such a great sport but has been ruined. Of course having multiple different belts didn’t help any. Imagine an NFL team also playing Canadian football. 
NFL Football.
No sudden death overtime. Extend the game 15 minutes with no time-outs. If there is still no winner, another 15 minutes.
I don’t know if it’s still called “Sudden Death” and you may already know this, but the NFL changed the overtime rule to ensure both teams get a possession in overtime.
A lot of what has slowed down the game of baseball is the modern use of the bullpen, with lefty specialists and one inning closers and whatnot. Complete games from the starting pitcher was once the expected norm, now it’s a “quality start” of 6 IP with a pitcher who gives 220+ innings over a season considered a “workhorse”. In 2013, only 6 pitchers in all MLB threw at least 220 innings, while 20 years earlier in 1993, 27 did - and there were 2 fewer teams in 1993 than now! Go back 5 more years to 1988, and with only 26 MLB teams, and 32 pitchers threw 220+ innings - with #32 being a 41 year old Nolan Ryan.
So you want to bring those days back? Barring injury, require any pitcher who comes in to throw one of: (a) to the end of the inning, (b) to three batters, or © at least 27 pitches
I’ve said this before, but what bothers me most about the DH isn’t that the pitcher doesn’t bat, but that the DH doesn’t field - specifically, that there are star players anchoring the offense like David Ortiz or Edgar Martinez who take the field maybe 25% of the time (mostly for Interleague games in NL ballparks). The purist in me can admit that it’s “kind of pointless” to see a .150 hitter in the 9th slot come up 3+ times a game, or annoying to see the bullpen get called just to get a PH in, but is far more bothered by the idea of a career all bat, no glove guy.
I’d say: adopt the DH for both leagues, but effect a rule that no single player may log more than, say, 250 plate appearances in a DH role in a season, nor consecutive games as a DH in the post-season. Let it go back to being more like a rotating permanent pinch hitting slot, as it was conceived to be.
Hybrid icing doesn’t need fixing right now as there are still valid races to the puck (and the linemen have done a really good job. The trapezoid otoh …get rid of it and let the goalie roam… and he is fair game.
Changes I’d make
NFL: Go back to Sudden Death OT. IMO they fixed something that wasn’t broken.
NCAAB: Regular Season Champs “dance”, expand the Madness to 96
NCAAF: Make OT a single 15 minute quarter. If still tied so be it. (National title game: repeat until winner)
NCAA generally: Conferences must be geographically continuous, between 10 and 16 members. Allow of season jobs, control of their likeness.
To be fair to baseball, it provides another opportunity for the fat kids to play.
NFL OT most certainly was broken.
NBA basketball:
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Widen the court a foot or two. Too many players are catching the ball in the corners while out of bounds, because the three-point line is too close to the sideline.
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Eliminate the incentive for bad teams to lose games intentionally. Either an unweighted lottery, or something like the wheel.
College basketball:
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Eliminate the five-second closely guarded violation. There’s a shot clock, an additional anti-stalling rule is completely redundant and overly restrictive.
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Eliminate the possession arrow and go back to jump balls to resolve tie-ups.
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Shorten the shot clock to 24-30 seconds. If the ladies can get a shot up in 30 seconds, so can the boys.
Both:
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No consecutive timeouts, the ball must be put into play first.
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After a shooting foul, or a foul when a team is in the double bonus, a team can either shoot their 2 or 3 free throws, or shoot 1 free throw and take possession of the ball. They do not have this option when shooting one free throw after a made basket, or a 1-and-1; in that case, they can inbound the ball or take their shot, but not both.
Last week on the MLBN, Brian Kenney and Bill James looked at the rising number of plate appearances where the ball was not put in play… walks, K’s and homeruns. The percentage of PA’s that are BB, K and HR is now approaching 31%, double the percentage from the 1930’s and almost 50% more than 20 years ago. It is the more patient-hitting approach that is extending the length of games more than anything else, not only in the increased length of an individual at-bat, but the increased number of pitches means more pitching changes.
For the past decade, the Red Sox and Yankees have been advocates of the “patient-approach” at the plate, and this is the #1 reason their games against each other go so damn long.
Not sure what can be done about that, short of something drastic.
Open the strike zone back up. Batters won’t be able to be as choosy.
I hear this all the time. What problem does this solve, exactly?
I would just like to make anything challengeable. Keep the same “red flag” system; they still only get 2 per game (and the possible bonus) so there’s no additional stoppages, but if a coach wants to challenge that bullshit holding call (or non-call, for that matter), that’s his choice.
Having certain plays reviewable and others not implies that the officials could be wrong on these plays, yet are absolutely infallible on these other plays, and that is patently ludicrous. The argument against this is “judgment calls,” but shouldn’t the judgment calls be the ones that should get the most scrutiny?!
But that is a drastic change that would probably make all existing hitting and pitching stats incomparable. The performance and value of certain, existing types of hitters and pitchers would change overnight. Some of it would be predictable, while other consequences might be surprising.
A less drastic method might be to call it a K if a batter fouls off a strike 3, or maybe if he fouls off two pitches before it’s a K. That would discourage a batter from getting two strikes on him and encourage him to swing earlier in the count. (not taking a close pitch on a 3-1, for instance).
If a place-kicker had to keep the ball down, to get it through the “rectangle,” the path of the ball would be lower (more of a line-drive) making it easier to block.