"Are you blind ref? I could see that from here!"
Just imagine that you lived in a world where we had the technology to avoid a referee determining the outcome of a game because of a bogus call. Oh wait… This is one of many things that could easily be fixed…if I was commissioner of sports. And what a great job that would be. For one day, let’s just pretend that this was the case (scary, I know). Let’s first keep in mind that sports are awesome and are a great place to turn when you want to escape your problems and forget about the real world. But just think if this world was (gasp) even better than it was now. Here are the top ten things that I would change about sports.
First, here are a few that just missed the cut:
-Move the 3 point line back in college basketball
I understand (better than anyone) that the three point shot has become much more prevalent as basketball has progressed. However, if you’re going to make a basket made behind an arc worth one more point, at least make it a little challenging. When you see 7-footers stepping out and draining a 3-pointer, something’s wrong. Move it back to NBA length (23.75 ft, 22 ft on the sides instead of 20.75 ft) and we’ve got a better brand of basketball in college.
-Go back to the way racing used to be
Yes, I at one point followed NASCAR. Key words there: one point. Get rid of the chase, design cars the way they used to be designed (but keep the safety devices) and NASCAR will get a lot of fans back that they’ve lost over the past five years as a result of these unnecessary changes.
-Eliminate the NFL Pro Bowl
Can we all agree on this one? Football is a contact sport. Therefore, there is a higher risk of injury than other sports. This pretty much goes hand in hand with pre-season games, which, believe it or not, nobody wants to play in! Plus, it takes place after the season is over, which is lame. Just name an all-star team of some sort and keep it at that. Nobody wants to play in it and nobody wants to watch it.
-Eliminate NCAA football down without contact rule
-Eliminate NCAA football time stoppage on first-down
-MLB Copyright issue
Ever notice how you can’t ever find a major league baseball video you want to see? That’s because baseball is stupid and doesn’t want people to know about its product. Basketball and football aren’t like this. Just let us watch your videos on YouTube…I think you’ll still manage financially somehow. Oh, and more people will like you, too!
-Eliminate NBA defense 3-seconds
This is possibly the most ridiculous rule in sports. Obviously, the offense shouldn’t be allowed to camp under the basket but with defense, there are many different things going on and it’s nearly impossible to decipher when someone is being guarded or when a defense is playing a zone or when a defender is just chilling under the basket for no reason. Even if they are, who cares? Plus the other team is awarded a free throw attempt because it’s a technical foul. Get rid of the rule please.
Now for the ones that did make the cut.
10. Change the MLB All Star game
So many things are wrong the midsummer classic. How about we get rid of/add the following rules:
- Don’t make it so that the league that wins the game receives home field advantage in the World Series. Pretty sure an exhibition game shouldn’t have that much of an influence on the biggest series in the sport. I also wouldn’t feel comfortable as a member of the New York Yankees putting your faith in some guy from the Kansas City Royals when the game is on the line.
- Don’t allow every team to have a representative. If you aren’t one the top 33 players in your league, GTFO. Sorry your team sucks, not my fault.
- Designate at least one starting pitcher to be ‘the emergency pitcher’. Have this guy saved for an extra inning game so we don’t see a repeat of this.
9. Better clarification in golf/keeping up with the times
Unfortunately, this issue was magnified recently at this year’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. I believe the PGA needs to address this problem by allowing rules officials to step in and alert players if they are about to create a violation. I would also say that instant replay should be enforced, but apparently it already is since they looked at Dustin Johnson’s violation on replay after the round was over to penalize him. Good job there, PGA. Another tiff I have is how the players must sign their opponent’s scorecard and make sure it is correct. Really? I’m pretty sure there are other people around that can keep score. The players have enough to worry about.
8. Remove the designated hitter
I understand that this position helps extend careers, but it takes all the strategy out of the game. If you aren’t in good enough shape to play in the field, it’s probably time to call it quits. Besides, if you’re going to have it in one league, you have to have it in both leagues. In my opinion, just get rid of it.
7. End the NBA Draft lottery
I didn’t know it could get any worse for the lowly 12-70 New Jersey Nets. And then it happened. They didn’t even get the first pick of the 2010 NBA draft because apparently, a lottery is the best way to find that out. So instead, a team with 14 more victories received the first overall pick. Let’s dump the lottery and order the picks the same way as the NFL.
6. Salary cap in baseball
It’s hard to ignore this problem. Teams in the biggest cities have the richest owners that spend a ridiculous amount of cash on players, normally giving them an unfair advantage over their opponents. An exception this year is the Cubs and Mets compared to the Rangers and Padres. The latter two teams have a minuscule payroll compared to the first two teams, but are almost sure bets to make the playoffs while the Cubs and Mets are all but eliminated from contention. My point is that this rarely happens, and if things don’t change soon, teams like the Royals and Pirates will forever be the laughing stock of baseball.
5. Instant replay in soccer/accurate time keeping
Now I’m still learning my way around the sport of soccer and I know this doesn’t happen too often, but anytime there is question about a goal or a non-offside call that leads to a goal, I think that play should be halted and a review should take place. Goals are so hard to come by in this sport and each one is so important, so just make sure the call is accurate. Besides, we can just add the time stoppage to stoppage time! Wait, this just leads to another problem. How many times do you see eight to ten minutes of stoppage time added? That’s right. Never. How many times should there be at least six to seven minutes of stoppage time? More times than not, that’s how many. Either keep an accurate account of how much stoppage time there should be or just stop the clock when play is delayed.
4. Instant replay in baseball
Now before you get your undies in a bundle over this one, let me clarify: only on important calls. These include close plays at the plate, home runs (already instituted), or any calls that clearly determine the outcome of the game (See: The Armando Galarraga Game, this call and other calls we’ve seen over the years similar to these). This should keep delays at a minimum, and if my next change was applied, then it would hardly matter anyway.
3. Eliminate stepping out of the batter’s box/stepping off the rubber
I don’t really need to say more, do I? If the batter steps out, he is penalized a strike. If the pitcher steps off, he is penalized a ball. I think that sounds fair. Moving on…
2. Change the NFL Overtime rule
Back in May, there was an overtime rule change adopted, but it only applies to the postseason and in my opinion, it still isn’t as good as it should be. I believe that overtime should take place as such:
- A coin flip still determines who gets the ball, and whoever chooses to receive gets the ball via kickoff
- Each team has two timeouts to use during the overtime period, which is 15 minutes long
- The overtime period is played out to the end, and whoever has the lead when the period is over wins the game
This way, there is no dilemma over a team not getting to touch the football. And if a team does hold the ball for the entire 15 minute period and wins at the last second, well, I think they earned it. Also, this rule should apply to the regular season as well.
1. The BCS is BS
Perhaps the facet of sports that has received the most scrutiny over recent years, the Bowl Championship Series needs to go. The BCS is a system derived of computers that determines who plays in the BCS National Championship Game in college football. C’mon. Computers? There are so many things wrong with this picture and so many ways it can be fixed. In the end, a playoff should determine the national champion, just like every other sport at every other level, and that’s as far as I’ll go with this one.
Doesn’t everyone feel a lot better now?
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