Cool. I saw it happen recently and thought about it.
As an aside, I was really enjoying watching the live-stream of the Belgium-Sweden match where it was 1-1 at the half. I took my dogs outside to let them run, then returned to my tablet to watch the second half, but there was some sort of delay.
I looked on my phone for “Belgium Sweden Soccer half time delay” and saw there was a shooting outside of the stadium and 2 Swedes were killed. Game called.
Agree with much of this. Re: ending the season earlier, are you proposing returning to 154 game season? I think I could get behind that.
I don’t mind the DH or interleague play. I get the objection to the DH. What’s wrong with interleague play? I like seeing teams I don’t usually watch. As a Mariner fan, it’s interesting to see the Reds or Marlins come to town every once in a while.
How does the hash tag width change the game? I know it’s wider in college. I don’t mind overtime, but I think it should be a full quarter. And not modified sudden death. Just play another 15 minutes. I know this would play havoc with the TV schedulers, and won’t happen. I’m one of the fans that hates ties.
I’m proposing to maintain 162 games. Having regular doubleheaders would just allow for fewer calendar days to get them in and allow us to play the Fall Classic in fall weather, not winter.
My problem with interleague play is that it dilutes league play. I miss the old days when I could go to Detroit and watch a Yankee game in one of two series played in Detroit over the year. Now it’s one series per year per out of division league rival per year. That isn’t enough.
Regarding hash marks, I think it makes field goals a little tougher or force you to waste a down to center the ball. I’d like to see fewer field goals. I’m okay with one 15 minute OT in NFL and NHL, but let ties be ties after OT.
It affects all play calling, since there can be a much more pronounced short and long side to the field on every play. We did a thread on it a short while ago.
NFL OT: Each team gets one possession. If the game is still tied after these initial possessions, continue to play until somebody scores. No ties.
NFL changes:
Laser devices on the sideline to detect when a player went out of bounds. Maybe keyed to a sensor on the shoes of QB/WR/RBs so as not to mix up tacklers and blockers.
Same thing on first down and goal lines. Have it pick up a sensor in the ball itself.
Sensitive GPS on the ball itself, to get accurate spotting.
All sports: eliminate time outs. Keep the game moving - they serve little purpose except to allow more TV commercial time.
Or keep playing until a team has too many players injured to field 11 men.
At some point, we’ll just start playing Rollerball.
That doesn’t make much sense. For one, more than just shoes can make you out of bounds. Additionally, out of bounds calls aren’t that often hard to review anyway
I find basketball just plain tedious. Scoring left and right, yawn. To make it more interesting,
MLB - all balls hit out of the park are considered foul. Bring back sacrifices and bunting!
Back in the day when slowpitch softball was extremely popular around here, the first guy to hit a home run out of the park was awarded the home run, and any subsequent homers he hit were also home runs. All other homers were outs.
I was working on a mutant sport that I called “Contact Cricket”, which plays a lot like cricket but alternating teams when a batsman is out, so that both teams play in an innings, and both teams are on the field at the same time, but they can only handle the ball with lacrosse sticks (including batting).
A ball hit out of the field (even on a roll/bounce, untouched) puts the batter out, as does a ball caught on the fly, but if it is caught by a batter’s teammate, the team also gets some points.
Full contact would be allowed on the field, but none at all involving the stick – if the aggressor cannot be established, both players are counted out (stricken from batting rotation or, if already out, struck from the field for the innings).
It would be more interesting than either cricket or lacrosse.