I’m not super into sports so I don’t know what the best specific rule to deal with this would be, but there needs to be more accountability for bad calls from referees.
All sports have an alternative league where performance enhancing drugs are mandatory to participate. That’s way more fun.
I wouldn’t go with “mandatory” but no doping tests would be quite something!
I’d remove the size constraint on darts, so you could choose to use a lawn dart on your last turn, for example, to score 6352 points.
Backcourt violation in Football (also known as Soccer).
MMMMMMMULTIBALLLLLLL
Any sport, doesn’t really matter. Periodically during the game more balls start getting added into the playing field to spice things up, a la pinball tables.
Tennis, Football, Volleyball, Baseball, Basketball etc etc
imaging the absolute chaos that would result if an announcer shouted out “MULTIPUCK!” and extra pucks rained down on an NHL game
I’m for this.
I’m all in for crazy hockey. Boosters, bumpers, multipuck, moving goals, tilting ice, pucks made of different materials, sticks made of different materials, boxing gloves appear at centre ice giving the player who grabs them 30 second free pass for roughing.
Can we just finally have rocket skates on bigger rinks? Put some ramps in it and you’ve got full rocket league.
Can I interest you in twelve ball?
For any pro sport known for rowdy, destructive fans - the clubs get to pay for the police and insurance expenses.
Oh, this would bankrupt the clubs, I hear you say? Oh no. Anyway…!
American football
I would remove defensive pass interference from the game. It’s been abused by offenses, they just throw it up to the guy way down field and if anyone touches him, first down there.
I would also get rid of the QB slide rule so many abuse for extra yards. You have the ball? You can get hit.
I’ll agree on the defensive pass interference, as long as we have it where if it’s over the top egregious holding then that isn’t allowed.
Otherwise the pass game would be dead
Something I’d like to see on every hard cap league is a cap relief calculation for team drafted players, going up the later that player was drafted. Maybe 5% per found, maybe 7.5%?
So many times teams are basically forced to move on from role players that are fan favorites because it’s literally impossible to pay a team of veterans under the cap unless you have no star players and I think it would be genuinely interesting to provide a benefit on the cap side to keeping drafted players in house past their first or second deals. Part of why it’s so hard to be a fan is knowing that anyone but the absolute TOP stars are just consistently going to be moving on in a few seasons.
In basketball, you must always have two limbs touching the ground when you have the ball, unless you are standing, shooting, or jumping. Why? I don’t like basketball and think it would be funny as he’ll.
As someone who is forced to watch baseball by their fanatical wife: the MLB should adopt most of the rules that the Savannah Bananas use, including a fan catching a foul ball counts as an out, trick plays, inning timer, etc.
Also stilts.
College football: when you win the coin toss, you have 2 choices: kick or receive. No more deferrals.
All sports: ban gambling sponsorships. Ban teams from wearing gambling company logos or otherwise promoting gambling companies. Ban leagues and networks from incorporating gambling sponsorships into the programming.
I would also say ban gambling advertising entirely, but that’s a government law, not a sports one. With the sports rule change, gambling companies could still buy ad spots during as breaks. Just no commentators going “and now over to Lad Brokes so the punters can know the odds in this game”.
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Soccer: yellow card for faking injuries (you can easily see players close to death that jumps us and run if no whistle is blown) and for protesting with the referee. Also, microphoned referee so that the whole audience can hear what they say (it will result in LOTS of red cards until respect is shown)
Basketball: intentional foul is two free throws and ball, three in the last 2 minutes
Football: proper helmets
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Yellow card for faking injuries
Make it red, and add a multi-match ban for repeat offenders. This is a culture problem in the sport that should have been dealt with years ago. I can only imagine how effective it would be to just send off a player for simulating. No questions asked. I would love to see the look on their face when they flop down and are immediately escorted off the pitch.
Is a yellow for simulation just a Premier League & UEFA thing then? I assumed most top flight leagues did this now
Miked up refs should have been a thing for years, it very obviously will reduce corruption. In rugby, anytime the ref is making a decision it’s all over the PA, plus you can get a little earpiece in the stadium to hear every single word they say
Soccer: yellow card for faking injuries
Yellow card for simulation is already a rule. It’s just not applied all that consistently, possibly because it’s very hard to be sure that someone definitely wasn’t fouled and also was deliberately feigning anything, as opposed to genuinely being hurt or at least being knocked over by a nonetheless fair challenge.
Microphoned ref is becoming a thing now, but I absolutely hate it. Just like VAR it slows the game down horrendously and is not needed. Refs have the tools they need to run the game (including hand gestures and red cards, as you said). They don’t need to explain every last thing verbally.
I’ve maintained that for VAR, if they can’t figure out if there’s a mistake in the call within 30s then just uphold the prior decision. I can’t think of many situations where this would be enough of an issue
I’d go even further and say red card for taking a dive. Pretending to be struck/hit by another player in an attempt to get an advantage = cheating. Cheaters shouldn’t be allowed to play.
It got a little better after they started with video ref’ing, but 90’s Italian football still left its disgusting mark on the sport.
yellow card for faking injuries…and for protesting with the referee.
Huge yes. I support the others saying it could even be a red card. The astonishingly bad sportsmanship from soccer players compared to other sports is a big reason it will never be taken seriously in countries like Australia. Diving is nothing short of cheating, and it’s developed to such an extent that even children are frequently imitating the stars they see on TV and doing it in local club games.
In Australian football, which is played on cricket ovals ranging in size, but ~150 m long is a good ballpark figure, it takes very little talkback to the umpires (tbh, I’ve seen the rule overused in cases where it really didn’t seem appropriate) before they’ll march you 50 m. The opposing team gets not just a free kick, but a free kick from 50 metres closer to their offensive goal than where the original infringement took place.
Football: proper helmets
Assuming you mean gridiron football, I don’t know exactly what you mean (how are the current helmets not “proper”?), but I would say exactly the opposite. The illusion of safety the helmet gives is part of what leads to concussions and CTE.
I’d do away with the helmet entirely. Go bald, or with a simple scrum cap, like in rugby union and rugby league. Techniques will have to adapt somewhat, but that’s how all sports have to adapt to technological changes.
Baseball. No sponsorships on uniforms.
I guess we could extend that to most sports. I know soccer is much more lax in that regard.
All professional teams that are televised must be broadcast free of charge to their local area. No local blackout restrictions. (Fuck you, Marquee Sports. Put the Cubs back on WGN.)
Beer must be under $10, in stadiums. It’s $16 for even shitty domestic beer at Wrigley. It’s damn robbery.
The social contract with soccer has always been that in exchange for shirt sponsors, you get zero commercial breaks except halftime. While American football gets a bad rap for its native flow (which is indeed quite slow and staccato, admittedly), the fact that they literally have “TV timeouts” is what’s most egregious.
And I say that as an American who, while also a soccer fan, just can’t quit gridiron.
The beer is priced high to keep from having to deal with a critical mass of drunken idiots. No one gets wasted on $16 beer.
I know, but even $8 for a Budweiser is a lot. $16 is egregious.
I would implement two salary rules for baseball:
- A hard salary floor and cap. Super cheap teams like the current Rockies that are all but guaranteed to lose is a detriment to the competitiveness of the entire league, as are pay-to-win juggernauts
- No deferred money contracts. They’re bad for competitiveness (see the current Dodgers) and a bummer for fan bases when the time comes to pay out the deferred money and the team can’t afford a viable roster.
