MLB
Making asinine rule changes (instant walks, 3 batter minimum) that shave seconds off a game while keeping the insane long intervals between innings.
Managers that have to wear fucking pajama tops in the dugout. Dress like the players like you used to.
Lack of strategy in the modern game. It’s all get on and hope for a homer. No more hit and run or squeeze plays.
It’s not exit velocity, it’s exit speed. Unless you show the whole vector.
All the fucking uniforms. Have one white home uni, one gray away uni, and be done with it.
Super duper patriotic 7th inning stretches plus patriotic holiday uniforms.
NFL
Bizarre rules about what is a catch
Moving the XP back. Keep it where it was.
Two point conversions. Dump them.
Making it even harder to execute the onside kick.
Kickoffs coming out to the 25, not 20.
Patriotic bullshit.
NHL
Too many teams.
Teams in the south.
Two teams in fucking LA.
Shootouts.
Not anything to do with the sports themselves, but I’ll say stadium naming rights. Here’s the way it should be: a city decides to build a stadium or arena, picks a name that has some relevance to the city, and that’s the name until the building is torn down.
In most cases, I’d say that the city shouldn’t be building the stadium anyway. There’s no reason for the public to take on such a burden for the benefit of a profit-making endeavour.
But, yeah, there shouldn’t be re-naming, especially for money.
There are a lot of NFL fans in Canada, but our broadcasts for most regular-season NFL games don’t include the color guard, the national anthem, the giant US flag, or the military flypast. Instead, we get commercials, promos for upcoming shows, and similar.
If the NFL is trying to attract an international audience, then it seems to me that this is a good way to do it.
Do you know the funny thing about NASCAR? they’ve never been full stock cars … even in the “bring what ya drive-in” beginning because they were mostly if not all souped-up bootlegger/moonshiner cars
They didn’t even have uniform standards for them until the mid-60s early 70s when Richard Childress brought in real engineers to build his cars and started to wipe the floor with the backyard mechanics … then it was decided to standardize the cars so everyone had a fair shot …
Test Cricket. When you know the weather forecast is poor for the morning or afternoon then be prepared to play much longer or start much earlier. Use floodlights as required. Sure, people may have some difficulty in getting there if things start earlier or run later and they may miss some of the game but if they only attend when play is impossible, what’s the difference?
Also, if these conditions are in place when you buy your ticket you’ll be buying with that full knowledge in mind and can plan accordingly. Try and get the full number of overs in for each day, none of this “bad light” bollocks.
I am sick and fucking tired of hearing corny ass fans crying about the way an athlete behaves after they make a good play. And these critiques seem to be disproportionally focused on the way black people behave during moments of celebration. It’s like everyone is trying to force their cultural expectations on the players instead of just letting people enjoy themselves and their accomplishments. Just because that’s not how you would behave in that moment does not make the celebratory actions of others wrong.
When you get your slow, non-athletic ass out there and have a good moment then you can behave however you choose. In the meantime, shut the fuck up with all of the “excessive celebration” and “act like you’ve been there before” bullshit. Those guys just had a good moment in their lives and I don’t understand why you must begrudge them a small moment of celebration.
I don’t think there’s a rule that he can’t. If the batter is in the batter’s box, tapping the plate, taking practice swings, then send a heater across the plate. That’ll get his attention.
But I’m sure it’s one of those unwritten rules again.
Like retaliatory hitting the star player – when they should be beaning the pitcher! He’s the one that struck your guy. Why hit the firt baseman? Stupid unwritten rules.
The organized celebrations are the stupid ones. Let’s all pretend to pose for a selfie! Let’s all flop around like fish! Woop! And the NFL doesn’t just allow it, they encourage it.
If Dick Trickle is driving anything that would be world news, as he’s been dead for quite some time. Might as well have said Cole trickle.
It’s an issue of enforcement. The rules don’t clearly state what constitutes a legitimate reason to ask for time, and so it’s up to the umpires, who of course must be consistent with each other and with precedent, to determine when it is or is not appropriate to let a batter call time. Once in awhile you will see a batter step out and have a strike called on him.
I do agree though that MLB should formally announce a tightening of standards. To be honest, I think the rulebook should be substantially overhauled again (it was reorganized just a few years ago to flow better.)
It should certainly be allowed. The game is not improved in any way by prohibiting such things.
Just to note that Dick Trickle (yes, I know, it was an awesome name) doesn’t drive anything anymore. He ended his NASCAR career in 2002, and he died in 2013.
Having been to baseball games in the old King Dome and the “new” Mariner retractable roof stadium, I can enthusiastically support the new trend. Most days we’re outside in the sun, and when it rains, the game isn’t postponed and we still feel the breeze and smell the grass. If done right (I can’t speak for the enclosed air conditioned ones) it doesn’t lose any of the “outdoor” feel.
Remember that it’s only illegal when caught. If you have a chance to block a defender from possibly having a chance of stopping your runner you are probably going to take the chance you wont get caught. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. I suspect coaches know this and let the player assess the penalty risk and don’t punish them too hard when caught. Sort of like a lineman taking an obvious penalty in order to protect his quarterback from a blindside hit. The possible penalty is better than the risk of not acting at all.
I agree the MLS flopping is probably the top laughable issue in professional sports that makes it hard for me to take those games seriously, along with the 0-0 ties.
2nd place goes to the NFL “patriotism” and fellating of the military. If they want to waive flags and lavish attention on heroes going forward how about giving it up for our doctors and nurses?
It’s because the Department of Defense pays NFL teams (and other sports teams) to do so, as a recruitment tool; they’ve done so for decades, but this effort appears to have increased after 9/11.