Unique aspects of sports.

[amarone]

@Spoons

Maybe not on greens, but I’ve certainly played courses that have trees in the fairway.

For example the Eisenhower Tree on the 17th fairway at Augusta. When I say “for example”, I suspect that is not an example of a course you have played. If you have, can I come too next time?

[EllisDee]

@dtilque

Here’s one: basketball is the only sport where goaltending is against the rules.

Goaltending is against the rules in American football as well. It applies to field goals; you can’t send a defender back to the goal to wait for the kick and then jump up and bat the ball away. Same penalty as basketball: goaltending, goal counts.

@panamajack

Is (American) football the only professional sport where play will continue in any weather unless it represents a deadly threat to anyone in the area?

In addition to motor sports as mentioned, I can’t imagine rugby stops for inclement weather.

@ZipperJJ

There’s no penalty for either of those things, tho. It’s not an error if you hit a batter, and nothing goes in the stats if you clobber a fielder.

But as pointed out, throwing the ball out of bounds in American football is exactly as much a “foul” as throwing a ball (as opposed to a strike) is in baseball.

@Ponch8

Speaking of intentionally scoring for the other team, American football has a similar situation. (There’s no penalty other than giving up the points, however.) Late in a game if a team is leading by, say, three to eight points, they may intentionally take a safety and give the opponent two points. It happens most commonly when they have to punt from their own end zone. The center may just snap the ball over the punter’s head and out of bounds, rather than risk a blocked punt that results in a touchdown. Then the team that took the safety can kick from a more reasonable spot (the 20 yard line).

Nitpick: You would only do this when up by 6, really. Otherwise you change the nature of the remaining contest, and the change is worse for you. Going from up by 5 to up by 3, for example, and you change them needing a TD to only needing a FG, going from up 3 to up 1 you change from needing a FG to tie to a FG wins it, etc… Up by 6 you can concede a safety without the game situation changing in any way. (Not 6 or more; just 6.)

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Actually, the safety itself is kind of unique.

[Colophon]

The epic Wimbledon match makes me ponder which sports could theoretically go on for ever. Anything with a “win by two points” rule, like tennis, table tennis etc. Even with a final-set tiebreak, a match could never end if players always win their own service points.

Then there are sports where players could just keep missing the target, like darts, snooker, pool etc. There actually seem to be quite a few!

[Ichbin_Dubist]

@Colophon

The epic Wimbledon match makes me ponder which sports could theoretically go on for ever. Anything with a “win by two points” rule, like tennis, table tennis etc. Even with a final-set tiebreak, a match could never end if players always win their own service points.

Then there are sports where players could just keep missing the target, like darts, snooker, pool etc. There actually seem to be quite a few!

Baseball has no clock, a tie could in theory go on forever if no one scores a run (or the home team keeps up).

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Kabaddi is the only sport where players are required to chant, as far as I’m aware.

I’ve played kabaddi and found it to be the easiest sport in which to cheat. I faked holding my breath without being caught quite easily.

Another unique (as far as I know) aspect of baseball:

The location of the dugout (or team area for players not on the field of play) carries at least one small advantage. I thought of this when trying to figure out why home teams always seem to choose the dugout closer to the 1st base line. When I was growing up, some home teams did choose the 3rd base side dugout, but I believe that all 30 teams now reside on the 1st base side.

Anyway, and this is based only on my own observation, the advantage of the 1st base dugout comes from the location of the on-deck circle. The next batter stays within the vicinity of this circle to prepare for his at-bat. The advantage comes during a play at the plate. The on-deck batter for a home team, because of his location, can signal to a batter running home. He will usually direct the runner on whether or not to slide, to run to left or right of the plate and on which side to slide, all based on where the throw is headed and the positioning of the catcher. In order for a road on-deck batter to do this, he would have to run all the way around behind the plate and onto the other side. I don’t believe that I’ve seen a road batter actually do this.

[Jet_Jaguar]

@Spoons

Maybe not on greens, but I’ve certainly played courses that have trees in the fairway.

I know of at least one course with a bunker in the middle of a green (number 6 at Riviera Country Club in California), so while I don’t know of one, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a course somewhere with a tree on a green.