The reason for pulling the starters when your team is winning in a blow out is actually based in practicality, not good-sportsmanship. You pull the starters so the bench warmers can get some experience. You need to keep the bench as sharp as you can, so when you need them in a clutch situation, they aren’t rusty from disuse.
Also, in cases of football and basketball especially, why risk having your starters injured? How much would it suck if your football team was leading by 35 points and in the 4th quarter your Qback was sacked, got a concussion, and was out for the next two weeks? That would be a completely pointless, and pontentially season-wrecking, injury.
I don’t think this has anything to do with the feelings of the other team. As in the scenerio I’ve already given, what’s the point in risking an injury to an important player at the end of a game you’ve already won? Take the knee and save the Qback.
Reminds me of a game I saw in Tom Landry’s final year…can’t remember who they were playing, but the game was effectively over, the Cowboys having lost. Suddenly, their opponents, rather than taking the knee, take a stab at the end zone. The Cowboys, not expecting an actual play, are caught flat-footed. The play served no purpose other than to run up the score.
Traditionally, opposing coaches will at the very least wave to one another as they leave the field at the end of the game. Landry didn’t even look at the other side, he was so mad.
That game was the Eagles, with the redoubtable Buddy Ryan as coach. They were miles ahead, Cunningham fakes the knee and lobs it over the line for an easy score. Now that I think about it, this may have been the cause for someone (Bengals under Wyche, maybe?) kicking a field goal in the final seconds against Ryan’s Oilers when the Bengals were up 58-3, or some such.
I’d disagree that there are many unwritten rules in golf, unless we’re talking etiquette.
[hijack]As for sports with few/no rules, how about Shinty? As I understand it, there are only two rules: the ball must be brought back into play by tossing it in the air and hitting it with your stick coming straight down over your head, and, more importantly, NO CURSING. [/hijack]
Speaking of the phantom double play, how about the third period of any hockey game, particularly in the playoffs, when anything goes? This is a particular pet peeve of mine, and it occurs in virtually all sports. There’s nothing worse than an announcer, coach or player suggesting the refs should just “let them play.” There are rules for a reason!
[sub]And of course, as I’m typing, they call a penalty in the third period of game 3…
Oh, this pisses me off beyond belief. All season long, the NHL complains about violence, saying how they have to crack down or players are going to get injured, etc.
Yet in the post-season, anything goes (and not just in the third) unless it’s flagrant. AFAIK, no penalties unless fighting or the “victim” bleeds or is hurt.
It just encourages rougher and rougher play, which pretty much escalates to an all out brawl by the third. I’m all for rough play, but I think the NHL is being VERY hypocritical when they allow things in the post-season that would get people suspended in the regular season.
Grr.
That said, it’s tradition that NHL rookies take all their teammates out to dinner. I happen to have it on good authority that Nabokov had to split a $21K dinner bill this year.
Those Sharks…they really know their wine. 
I read an interview with an MLB first baseman in which he stated this unwritten rule: If the other team’s first baseman is on first, you don’t let him get picked off. Professional courtesy, I guess (and first basemen probably aren’t their team’s primary threat to steal anyway).
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
I just read an article about this somewhere. This game is played on a remote island in northern Scotland, between two halves of the same town, around Christmas. That’s not to say a similar version might be played elsewhere.
Looks brutal. Would love to have the tape!
**Reminds me of a game I saw in Tom Landry’s final year…can’t remember who they were playing, but the game was effectively over, the Cowboys having lost. Suddenly, their opponents, rather than taking the knee, take a stab at the end zone. The Cowboys, not expecting an actual play, are caught flat-footed. The play served no purpose other than to run up the score.
That game was the Eagles, with the redoubtable Buddy Ryan as coach. They were miles ahead, Cunningham fakes the knee and lobs it over the line for an easy score. Now that I think about it, this may have been the cause for someone (Bengals under Wyche, maybe?) kicking a field goal in the final seconds against Ryan’s Oilers when the Bengals were up 58-3, or some such.**
I think someone already pointed this out, this was when Ryan coached the Eagles, and was in retaliation for what Ryan said was Landry running up the score on his team during a 1987 strike scab game.
By the way, as for Landry not even waving, Buddy was notorious for trotting off the field and not shaking the opposing coaches hand after the game. Asked about this breach of etiquette, Buddy explained that football was war, and you’re not there to make freinds.
I remember after an Eagles-Dallas game in I think '89 when the Cowboys went 1-15 Jimmy Johnson whined after getting killed and said that Buddy put a bounty on his kicker, and he wanted to confront Buddy, but he couldn’t because Buddy had run his “fat butt” off the field before he had a chance. Buddy retorted that Johnson’s gameplan was a “crackerjack.”
I love Andy Reid, but God do I miss Buddy. He was a hoot.
**That said, it’s tradition that NHL rookies take all their teammates out to dinner. I happen to have it on good authority that Nabokov had to split a $21K dinner bill this year. **
I didn’t want to bring this up since it belongs more in the “hazing” category, but in the New York Giants summer camp it has been tradition for the #1 draft pick to bring cofee and donuts to the veterans every Thursady morning.
This years #1 didnt do it, and it actually caused quite a controversy. I doubt it cost them the Super Bowl, though.
I have to chime in with a slight hijick to identify this as the Calcio Storia, played each year in June in Florence, Italy. It is even more violent, and just plain unusual, than you can imagine. Four teams, one of each of Florence’s main disticts, compete in this tournament.
In addition to having no rules, other than the unspoken rule about no unconscious head or testicle kicking, this game is played in 16th costume, although as soon as game play starts, the costumes are hard to see because they are covered in dirt and blood. Another interesting feature is that copious amounts of alcohol are consumed during the game, by both fans and players on the field. I am morbidly curious enough to think that perhaps, just for a weekend, the NHL might try this just to see what would happen.
Oh, another unspoken rule has developed in recent years. A popular strategy of years past was for the teams to “recuit” players from local mental hospitals and prisons. This is now considered somewhat poor form, but as an American watching this game, I was hard-pressed to figure out how you would actually tell if another team did this.
Florentines translate Calcio Storia to “soccer in costume.” I’m not sure why they say “soccer” in this instance, because they usually say “football” when talking about normal soccer.
Re ruadh and ]casdave.
The match was Arsenal vs Sheffield United, FA Cup, year or two ago. An Arsenal player was injured, a Sheff Utd player kicked the ball out of play, then (I think) Ray Parlour’s throw-in somehow ended up with Nwankwo Kanu, who promptly scored past a half-bemused/half-enraged Sheff Utd defence.
The replay was not required by the FA. Arsenal volunteered to play it again, since the original match had been at 1-1 and Kanu’s goal was the winner. Since it was in the latter stages of the Cup, both teams agreed to replay it in the spirit of fair play and the FA agreed.
I don’t know about NASCAR, but in Formula One, there is the Blue Flag for this. Waving the blue flag to a driver warns him that a faster competitor is coming up to lap him. He is obliged to then make room for the faster driver. Usually, this happens by moving wide on a straight, or leaving room in a corner. When the slower driver is too reluctant to move over, he is shown a held (i.e. non-waving) Blue Flag. If he ignores two of those, he is given the Black Flag - disqualification, and an order to leave the race immediately.
Last weekends Monaco Grand Prix showed that even track marshalls are confused sometimes. David Coulthard, having stalled his McLaren on the warm-up lap and thus starting from the back of the grid instead of Pole Position, got stuck behind Enrique Bernoldi’s Arrows car after making fine progress through the field up to that point. But since Bernoldi and Coulthard where in the same lap, Bernoldi was be no means obligated to move over for Coulthard. They were racing for a position. The fact that DC’s McLaren is a lot faster than Bernoldi’s Arrows is no excuse. After a couple of laps, the track marshall near the tunnel entrance started blue-flagging Bernoldi. Wisely, he chose to ignore the flag and continue racing. Coulthard ended up chasing Bernoldi for 45 laps before the latter pitted, giving the Scot a clear track. After the race, McLaren Mercedes hotshots Norbert Haug and Ron Dennis furiously walked up to Bernoldi’s pit box and called him every name in the book. They were WRONG to do so. They’d better focus their attention on their malfunctioning Launch Control System which kept a McLaren stalled on the grid for the THIRD race in a row, whereas all the other teams seem to have that problem tackled.
Bernoldi should have been complimented for his excellent driving, fending off a much faster car for the lions share of the race. And Coulthard should have been slapped silly by his team bosses for not showing enough balls to overtake an obviously inferior car.
OK, I suppose that’s elaborate enough. Can you tell I love Formula One? 
Why did it have to be replayed? How come Arsenal couldn’t just let the other side waltz in and score the tying goal? Finishing the game and then saying “lets do it all over again [presumably on another day” seems like an incredibly inelegant way to be a good sport. I’ve gotta think that the story is a little more complicated than that; perhaps Arsenal’s coach wasn’t such a good sport until he read the papers the next morning?
Wow, who was the 1B who was intereviewed? To be frank, it sounds like another UL. I mean geez, if the game’s close or tied, why wouldn’t you want to get a guy out?
Yep, and the kicker was Luis Zendejas. Who later played for the Eagles.
Actually, Wenger made the offer to the other coach as they shook hands after the game and made the offer public in the post-game interview. It wasn’t a morning after decision.
You do make an interesting point, though. I think that they didn’t want the game to turn into a complete mockery by just letting somebody score. Plus, there are no timeouts to allow the teams to come to a decision.
Another example of the unwritten rule of soccer happened this season in England. The goalkeeper made a save and blew his knee when he ran after the ball to get the rebound. A forward from the opposing team got to the ball and crossed it to a teammate who had a wide open goal in front of him. He ended up catching the ball to stop play so the goalie could be attended to. The teams ended up tying.
Paolo di Canio for West Ham against Everton - when Paul Gerrard, the Everton keeper, injured himself, and di Canio caught the ball rather than score past him. I think he won a UEFA/FIFA fair play award for that.
Which is HIGHLY ironic, if you’re anywhere near familiar with the rest of DiCaneo’s carreer!
Yeah dan! I was just about to say…courtesy to another player? Friendly competition? Professional respect? That’s not baseball!..win win win at all costs!
And just one more question on the bunt/no hitter.
Just when IS it ok to respect a no hitter? When you’re down 11-0? 9-0? 5-0? What’s the line you draw? What if it’s 2-0 and you’ve already got two outs in the ninth?
jarbaby
I am not a pro ballplayer by any stretch of the imagination, but if it were me at the plate, I’m sorry - my goal is to break up his no-hitter. I’m on the other team! I’m not his pal. If he’s so damn good to deserve a no-hitter, then let him get me out. Short of cheating, I’d want to beat him. That’s not wrong, is it?
No, but tell me. If nobody’s on, and there’s two outs, why aren’t you swinging for the fences (like Sammy does, every damn time he’s up to bat :rolleyes:)?
We’re never going to agree on this. That’s clear, and I know I’m in the minority. But trust me, I’m not the only one in the world who thinks it’s dickish.
On the subject of ‘letting the game run wild at the end’. This bugs me in football as well. The commentators always bitch that you shouldn’t call defensive pass interference at the end of a football game because you should ‘let the players play it out’.
Well, they’re playing it ILLEGALLY. What’s the difference if it’s 1 minute into the game or there’s 4 seconds to go? grrr
jarbaby