# Sports Rules You Don't Think Are Necessary **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 23, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360 "2012-01-23T02:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/81 "2012-01-24T02:56:35Z")
Baseball: I hate the balk rule too. The pitcher should be able to do whatever dance he wants, fake as many throws as he can, within a certain amount of time. Its ridiculous Pool: Not a real sport but I’ve always hated having to call shots. It should be ok to just hit a ball really hard and hope it goes into a pocket Golf: Another fake sport. That whole issue against riding carts over that handicapped golfer from like 10 years ago really soured me on a game I didn’t much like in the first place. Listen golfers, when a “sport” has a seniors tour, when they can compete with guys in their 20’s and 30’s who are in their athletic prime, when normal athletes wind down their off days by playing your “sport”, then no, your sport doesn’t have any athletic requirement and you should stop pretending riding a cart is a big advantage ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/82 "2012-01-24T04:24:11Z")
> [@KellyCriterion](#): > > Offside in soccer (and possibly any sport). > > There seems no obvious reason for it, and protects against what would otherwise just be sloppy defending. Certainly you’d need an offside rule in American football. Otherwise my middle linebacker is going to stand next to your quarterback. ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/83 "2012-01-24T08:14:16Z")
Baseball: The designated hitter. Good lord, American League, start playing baseball again! ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/84 "2012-01-24T09:33:54Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Hah, out of all the rules in rugby you pick a pretty damn obscure one. My pick would be barring hands from the ruck, When it was removed under the Experimental Laws Variation (ELVEs) it seemed to work fairly well IMHO. Yeah, well, it was the one that came to mind - as I had to explain it to the teams last Saturday, as they asked why I just made the losing team kick off after the winning team chose an end. It is pretty obscure though. I never reffed a game under the ELVs but know a couple who did (at lower levels of play). It didn’t work so well there because the players didn’t have the skill/strength to wrest the ball back and it just became a tug of war with the ball in the middle and it never coming back. This, ultimately, leads me to another reason why I didn’t delve deeper into the rugby law book; I don’t think the game as constituted works for all levels. I think there are inumerable laws on the book that are not necessary for amateur play - and numerous that need amending to legislate for what professionals do. I don’t think I’d be sorry to see a different set of laws for the pros and a different set for the amateurs (which would lead to the response to the OP being very lengthy!). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/85 "2012-01-24T10:24:15Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > I ref rugby games and I have at least one: > I find this utterly ridiculous. So you had the good fortune to win the toss - if you choose an end from which to play, you also get first use of the ball? Why? If you choose an end, then surely the other team should get to choose whether they kick off or receive the kick off? I was refereeing when I was a teenager and that’s a long time ago but I’m sure that law used to be - the team that wins the toss can choose which end to play to, or whether to kick off or receive. The other team then decides on the choice remaining. The way it is worded makes me think that someone thinks they said the same thing but didn’t. I think they meant to say: \* The winner of the toss decides whether to kick off or choose an end. If the winner of the toss decides to choose an end, the opponents must [decide whether to] kick off and vice versa. \* Otherwise how does vice versa make any sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/86 "2012-01-24T10:43:22Z")
Missed the edit window. I have emailed my suspicions to the IRB. I’ll be interested to see if they reply. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/87 "2012-01-24T10:57:02Z")
That amended rule was how the NFL handled the coin toss up until 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/88 "2012-01-24T11:07:29Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Missed the edit window. I have emailed my suspicions to the IRB. I’ll be interested to see if they reply. I’ll be interested to hear what they have to say too to be honest. You never know, they might actually change the law as a result! (It has been known before - perhaps apocryphally, the law that results in a scrum back at the point where the ball was kicked if it goes over the dead ball line came from a viewer writing to the IRB during the 95 RWC, when kicking the ball over the dead ball line to get a 22m dropout and large amounts of territory was a standard - and very boring - tactic). ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/89 "2012-01-24T12:57:29Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Baseball: > I hate the balk rule too. The pitcher should be able to do whatever dance he wants, fake as many throws as he can, within a certain amount of time. Its ridiculous I agree with the balk rule concept, in the effort to put on a high quality game. As a fan, I really don’t want to see the pitcher acting like an ass, twitching around like he has some rare African disease. What I don’t like is the huge implications of a barely noticeable motion. It’s a tight game with playoff implications, bottom of the ninth, tying run is on third, the pitcher is staring down the batter, gets set… oops, you moved your glove a half centimeter, game’s tied! It sucks the life out of the game. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/90 "2012-01-24T13:14:27Z")
> [@KellyCriterion](#): > > Offside in soccer (and possibly any sport). > > There seems no obvious reason for it, and protects against what would otherwise just be sloppy defending. > [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > The offside rule is absolutely essential. Without it each team will park at least one forward in the other team’s box. Then the defending team needs to keep a defender at home. The game would devolve into two bunches of players at each end and a lot of hoofing the ball forward. Yeah, well that might be the knee jerk reaction. But it doesn’t necessarily happen. And there’s a worked example to demonstrate … (field) hockey. When I started playing hockey the offside rule required an attacker to have either the ball or three defenders in front of them when in the attacking half. Progressively the provisions were relaxed to the point now there is no offside. You can park any number of attackers where you want them. You can hit a hockey ball a lot further, faster and more accurately than kicking a soccer ball. Also a hockey goalie has far less powers than a soccer goalkeeper defending such a game situation. A recipe for anarchy us fellow defenders thought. But the result? For a few weeks everybody thought the long ball option would be el dorado. But it didn’t eventuate. Now no international nor any competent club team plays with the strategy of one (or more) high strikers. Maintaining possession is a far more reliable avenue to goal than hoofing. The number of goals scored per game has barely changed. The way they are scored has barely changed. The midfield zone has elongated. The game is considerably faster. A contentious, game changing rule has been eliminated. The game is much enhanced by it. There’s absolutely no reason, given the core similarities of the two games (number of players, size of field, positions, goals etc) why the same situation wouldn’t play out with soccer. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/91 "2012-01-24T13:51:32Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Yeah, well that might be the knee jerk reaction. But it doesn’t necessarily happen. And there’s a worked example to demonstrate … (field) hockey. > > When I started playing hockey the offside rule required an attacker to have either the ball or three defenders in front of them when in the attacking half. Progressively the provisions were relaxed to the point now there is no offside. You can park any number of attackers where you want them. You can hit a hockey ball a lot further, faster and more accurately than kicking a soccer ball. Also a hockey goalie has far less powers than a soccer goalkeeper defending such a game situation. A recipe for anarchy us fellow defenders thought. > > But the result? > > For a few weeks everybody thought the long ball option would be el dorado. But it didn’t eventuate. Now no international nor any competent club team plays with the strategy of one (or more) high strikers. Maintaining possession is a far more reliable avenue to goal than hoofing. The number of goals scored per game has barely changed. The way they are scored has barely changed. The midfield zone has elongated. The game is considerably faster. A contentious, game changing rule has been eliminated. The game is much enhanced by it. > > There’s absolutely no reason, given the core similarities of the two games (number of players, size of field, positions, goals etc) why the same situation wouldn’t play out with soccer. So it’s very easy to past the ball far down field and it’s very easy to score while being one on one with the goalie, but it’s a bad strategy? Is it too hard to get the pass off? I’m not familiar with field hockey, but I very much doubt that it’s similar enough to make grand proclamations like that. I am familiar with soccer and I’ve played plenty of pick up games where there is no offside. Having deep forwards is a winning strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/92 "2012-01-24T14:01:10Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I think that if a batter is at two strikes, he should be out after the second foul ball. Silly to see batters foul five in a row with no repercusions. Fouling off a ball isn’t just about not being able to hit a pitch fair. Batters deliberate foul off marginal pitches to force the pitcher to throw a pitch they like better (and to just plain tire them out). ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/93 "2012-01-24T14:56:14Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > So it’s very easy to past the ball far down field and it’s very easy to score while being one on one with the goalie, but it’s a bad strategy? Is it too hard to get the pass off? > > I’m not familiar with field hockey, but I very much doubt that it’s similar enough to make grand proclamations like that. I am familiar with soccer and I’ve played plenty of pick up games where there is no offside. Having deep forwards is a winning strategy. I am probably as familiar with field hockey as **Snarky** , but I did watch my sister in law play it at the high school level. It was a “hit the ball to the other goal, camp out around goal, lose the ball, get it hit all the way to the other goal, repeat,” type of game. Boring as hell to watch, but then I hear that about soccer/assoc. football all of the time too. What I would like for soccer instead of offsides, is the equivalent of hockey’s blue line. Get the ball over the line ahead of any of your players, and you’re good. We wouldn’t have to get into the judgement calls—was the player “actively involved”?—that currently determine enforcement of the rule: just figure out whether the ball crossed the line ahead of any other attacking player. Set the line, about 30-40 m away from the goal. Double the distance of the penalty area would be 33 m away, which seems a little close to me. Agree with getting rid of balks and expanding the strike zone to what the rule book actually says. If we can use electronic determination of balls and strikes, even better. Get rid of the defenseless receiver rule. If you don’t want your WR obliterated, stop throwing 8 yd slant-ins. Start enforcing helmet-to-helmet on the offensive player. Or just go ahead and welcome our Arena Football overlords, as offense seems to be what the fantasy football-nurturing crowds want these days. For college football, thank Og they got rid of the halo rule. Oh, and any QB that fakes sliding or going out of bounds and then continues to run, gets hit with a 15-yd Unsportsmanlike from the spot of the fake. Let golfers repair spike marks. Agree with the mention of getting rid of the scorecard signing rule for the PGA Tour. Nerf the damned ball already, before we have to go to an 8,000 yard U.S. Open and eliminate half of the courses from the potential rotation. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/94 "2012-01-24T15:25:02Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Get rid of the defenseless receiver rule. As soon as they stop defensive backs from lunging at guys helmet-first, maybe. I agree that the enforcement of some of the helmet-hitting rules has been tough because almost every player lowers his head after getting the ball and the hits can happen so fast that it’s hard to tell when it’s deliberate or avoidable and when it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/95 "2012-01-24T15:53:03Z")
The rules that many sports have stopping players from publicly criticizing officials and fining them when they do. What purpose is served? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/96 "2012-01-24T15:58:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > The rules that many sports have stopping players from publicly criticizing officials and fining them when they do. What purpose is served? The aim is to cut down on whining and trying to influence officials by bashing them in the press. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/97 "2012-01-24T16:02:06Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Oh, and any QB that fakes sliding or going out of bounds and then continues to run, gets hit with a 15-yd Unsportsmanlike from the spot of the fake. This would be a great rule. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/98 "2012-01-24T16:03:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The aim is to cut down on whining and trying to influence officials by bashing them in the press. I would argue that “whiners” would be seen as such. If quality players from multiple teams are bashing a single official, well than maybe that official sucks?! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/99 "2012-01-24T16:09:36Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I would argue that “whiners” would be seen as such. They are. It’s not much of a deterrent. > [@](#): > > If quality players from multiple teams are bashing a single official, well than maybe that official sucks?! Or maybe the players are going to be unhappy with calls that go against them regardless of whether or not the players are good and regardless of whether the calls are good. This is something it’s hard for players to be objective about, which is why sports have referees in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360/100 "2012-01-24T16:23:44Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Fouling off a ball isn’t just about not being able to hit a pitch fair. Batters deliberate foul off marginal pitches to force the pitcher to throw a pitch they like better (and to just plain tire them out). Did not know that. Thanks [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-rules-you-dont-think-are-necessary/610360.md?page=6)