Unwritten rules of sports

Factual Questions
1

Some people are claiming that Ben Davis violated an unwritten rule of baseball when he bunted in the 7th inning to break up Curt Schilling’s attempt for a perfect game. Here are a few other so-called “unwritten rules” of sports:
[ul]
[li]In golf, you must give a “Gimme” putt of equal or greater distance to the one you received.[/li][li]In the NFL, when the game is out of reach for your opponent, run out the clock by taking a knee, not by trying to score.[/li][li]In basketball, when the shot clock is off and the game is out of reach, either opponent should dribble out the remaining seconds without attempting to score.[/li][/ul]

What are some of the others?

Bryan

2

While I sat at home and bemoaned to my husband last night that no one agreed with me that you shouldn’t bunt to break up a no hitter, nor should you intentionally walk a batter who’s one hit away from the record…

He told me that very often ‘double plays’ aren’t double plays at all. The second baseman is usually in the vicinity of the bag, but just whips the ball to first, and the umps call the double play “assuming” that he touched the bag because he was close enough.

We watched baseball tonight as a matter of fact and saw it happen a few times. I’ll be watching that closer in the future.
jarbaby

3

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by jarbabyj *
**While I sat at home and bemoaned to my husband last night that no one agreed with me that you shouldn’t bunt to break up a no hitter, nor should you intentionally walk a batter who’s one hit away from the record…

He told me that very often ‘double plays’ aren’t double plays at all. The second baseman is usually in the vicinity of the bag, but just whips the ball to first, and the umps call the double play “assuming” that he touched the bag because he was close enough.**/QUOTE]

If breaking up a no hitter with a bunt is against any “unwritten rule” they must have unwritten it yesterday, because I’ve never heard of it. What Davis did was perfectly legitimate, especially since his team was only losing by two runs. A potential no-hitter doesn’t mean squat if Davis had a chance to help his team win.

The “phantom double play” rule you’re referring to is a lot more strict, however, than being “in the vicinity” of the bag. Generally speaking umpires are inclined to call the force out if the fielder is actually OVER THE BASE without necessarily checking to see if a foot touched it. That said, it’s very unusual to see it called that way; I think you will find the fielder almost always DOES touch the bag, but they’re so fast about it it often looks like they pulled off unless you watched it in slo-mo.

4

I agree with the phantom double play being one of the unwritten rules. How about the tie goes to the runner?

5

I find it hard to believe that no one has heard of this since the Chicago Tribune sports section ran a headline saying “D’BACKS OUTRAGED OVER CHICKEN BUNT”, Ron Santo AND Pat Hughes both said it was ‘deplorable’ and they discussed it on Baseball Tonight. Looks like we all thought it up at the same time! Neat!

Well, like I said I’ll be watching. Even if it happens ONE out of TEN times, I think it qualifies as an unwritten rule…seeing as, really, it’s not a double play.

jarbaby

6

You ain’t kidding - it’s called the “phantom” play, and it actually can take place either at second base or at first base. What the second baseman or shortshop does is kind of sweep his foot over the bag, thus creating the illusion that he’s touched it, and then throwing it over to first. At the other end, the first baseman (although this might not happen as often as it does at second) sometimes places his foot next to, but not really touching, the first-base bag. By doing so, he’s able to stretch that much closer to get the throw.

So you’re husband’s right as rain. Personally, I don’t think you should intentionally do this if you’re in the field, but sometimes that’s just how it turns out as you’re making the play. The umpires really should, IMO, call those “phantom” plays a lot more often than they do…

7

All the rules of retaliation in baseball are unwritten, and you ignore them at your peril.

Plunk others as you would have them plunk you.
A play at the plate’s a good time to take out a catcher.

And the most vicious rule of retaliation in baseball:

Walked lead-off men somehow find a way to cross the plate. :slight_smile:

8

In soccer, when a player is injured, you’re “supposed” to kick the ball out of play - even if you’re on the opposing team and have the ball in your possession.

There was some amount of controversy over this last season (or was it the season before?) in a game between Arsenal, I think and … hell I can’t remember the other team. Hopefully somebody else will come along and fill in the details, because my memory’s a bit foggy, but I think that Arsenal scored the winner in a situation where they “should” have put the ball out. The other team protested and the game ended up being played again (it was an FA Cup game) with the same result. A lot of people, myself included, thought it a bit ridiculous that the game was replayed over the violation of a custom rather than a rule.

9

ruadh,

Isn’t the team who had an injured player “supposed” to kick the ball back to the team that put it out of play?

No base stealing when you are up X runs (unless you are playing at Coors Field).

Pull your starters and don’t run up the score, in any sport, unless you want to have it done to you at a later date.

10

I might want to disagree with this one. The reason for “taking a knee” is to avoid running a play. This prevents the risk of a turnover, which could result in the other team scoring.
Although you did say “when the game is out of reach,” which I suppose makes sense.

11

In hockey, you are not supposed to take runs at “ambassadors of the sport” such as Gretzky, Mark Messier and Mario Lemieux, though I saw Marvelous Mario take a few shots this year.

Also, in the old days of hockey when helmets were optional, you were expected to keep your stick down when facing a player without a helmet.

I’m almost 99% sure that when teams line up and shake hands after a playoff series is NOT mandated in the hockey rule book; it’s just tradition and it would be considered highly taboo if one of the teams didn’t participate, no matter how bitter feelings are between teams. It’s actually an amazing display of sportsmanship when you consider what goes on during the game.

There was also a controversy in a Busch NASCAR race this weekend when one of the racers was being lapped by the lead driver, and wouldn’t move aside to let him through even though there was no shot of him winning the race, which would also be a breach of ettiquette. Maybe a racing fan can clarify is that is code.

In professional wrestling, if a wrestler has a legitmate injury, and lets his opponent know about it, the other guy is supposed to take it easy on that part of the body. I know its fake, but lets say one guy has a bad neck. Okay, no piledrivers tonight. I think this might actually apply to amateur wrestling as well, but I am not 100% certain.

12

The custom to lapped racers moving out of the way of faster racers extends into track and field. On a longer race (1 mile or 2 mile) if a runner was being lapped it was considered poor manners to force the lead runners to work to get around. The slower runner was supposed to move up a lane or two.

13

If a superstar is traded and his number is currently being used, he has to “buy” it from the current roster player. And, the player has to sell it. This usually includes some small service or fee (dinner, a watch, etc…). Trouble occurs when a superstar joins a team that has a superstar alread with the same uniform number. I believe this occurs across all sports.

14

More hockey . .

during the pregame skate around, it is taboo to shoot the puck towards the other teams net. This will definitely cause a fight.

15

Yes. Whichever team puts it out of play is “supposed” to get it back at the throw-in.

16

I don’t think the player absolutely has to sell it, though. If he doesn’t, he’ll be shunned by his teammates, perhaps, but he’s no under strict obligation to sell it, exactly.

17

Baseball:

Phantom tag - If you’re stealing a base or trying to score, and the ball beats you there, the umpire will call you out in many cases. This is true even if the fielder or catcher misses the tag before you touch the base.

Catching line drives - If there is a runner on 1st, and a line drive is hit to the 2nd baseman (for example), he won’t intentionally drop it to secure an easy double play. But of course, baseball did need to “write” the infield fly rule, so sometimes you cannot trust players to respect the unwritten rules.

Ball 4 - With 3 balls and no strikes, a pitch has to be pretty far out of the strike zone to be called a ball.

Tennis:

Net Cord - If you hit a ball and it hits the net and trickles over, players “apologize” with a hand wave.

New balls - When you are serving with brand new balls, you should raise the ball up before serving so that the opposing player knows that the balls are new.

Net smashes - If two players are at the net, and one of them has an easy slam, he or she is supposed to hit the ball around the vulnerable player. Hitting the other player is frowned upon.

Golf: Too many to list.

I can’t think of any for football and basketball.

But the best unwritten rule that I’ve heard is the following:

I was a watching an ESPN program a long time ago in which they showcased odd sports from around the world. There is a sport that is played between 2 opposing teams in Italy or Spain (I can’t remember which) only once a year. The object is to score a goal (like in soccer or hockey) into the opposing side’s goal. There are absolutely no rules. The opposing sides can kick, punch, bite, grab testicles, etc. No rules and no holds barred. It makes a violent hockey game seem like a friendly game of croquet. Players often have to be carried off of the field unconscious. The remaining players are all bruised and bloodied. Anyway, the one unwritten rule is:

You shouldn’t kick an opposing player in the head or in the testicles if he’s already unconscious.

Sounds like a good rule to me. Maybe they should write that one down.

18

I’ve heard national baseball pundits moan and groan about the bunt-breaking-up-the-perfect-game deal. Please. Just because a pitcher takes a perfect game into the seventh inning, the other team is supposed to quit trying? That’s ludicrous.

I seem to recall Pete Rose, back when he was chasing the all-time hit record, got upset at a pitcher who faced him. Pete was maybe one hit shy of the record, and the pitcher didn’t back down – pitched to Pete as if it was the last out of the World Series. Rose complained about that later, which I thought was the epitome of whininess. Earn the hit (or the perfect game) knowing that the opposition did everything they could to mess you over. Only then does it mean something.

19

Ruadh

The “rule” you are thinking of is that when a player from either team is downed and possibly badly the team with possession puts the ball out of play, and when the throw-in is awarded to the other team they then return possession to the team that put it out of bounds.

I think you are right that it was Arsenal who did the scoring when the ball had been put out of play by their opposition for an injured player, when by all, convention it should have been returned.
I’m not sure but I think it was Kanu who did the scoring.

The Arsenal manager showed us the true meaning of sportsmanship by offering to replay the match since it was won in such dubious yet legal circumstances.

Arsene Wenger enhanced his and his teams reputation in the eyes of many that day.

20

I agree. This wasn’t the last out in the bottom of the ninth with a score of 11-0. This was the seventh inning and they were only down by 2. With the ball game still in reach, the offense tries to get a runner on however they can. Perfectly legitimate batting strategy, and not that uncommon. The opposing team doesn’t care about Schiling’s no-hitter and why should they? The point is to try and win the ball game. The offense caught the defense flat-footed and now they’re whining about it. That’s the ball game, Schilling’s team got outsmarted on that play. Deal with it.

And on the subject of no-hitters, this is more of superstition than an unwritten rule on the field:
Do not discuss the no-hitter/perfect game in progress. To do so would jinx the pitcher.