jason
02-21-2007, 09:44 AM
From MSN.com (http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/6468274?MSNHPHCP>1=9131)
Dave Golokhov / AskMen.com
There are a number of rules, customs or traditions that exist in sports that, at one point, may have been logical, but today they no longer make sense. These types of enigmatic practices range from the mundane, such as the "foul pole" that marks fair territory in baseball, to the more serious, such as the tolerance to fighting in the NHL versus the zero tolerance in the other major sports.
Those useless habits don't make much sense and here are 10 others:
10. Eye black or antiglare stickers
To reduce glare from the sun or stadium lights, athletes often apply grease known as eye black under their eyes. While it does have a minimal value to subdue the shine, it has become more of a fashion statement than anything else. From the rest-in-peace memo worn by Rutgers running back Ray Rice to Reggie Bush displaying his area code 619, the under-eyes have become the chic place to display a message. This grease is the modern day reincarnation of face paint and the usage to diminish blinding light is merely a side effect.
Solution: Sunglasses or a visor work just fine to fight the brightness. Athletes should save the cute messages and shout-outs for MySpace.
9. NFL overtime rules
Most sports use the "equal opportunity" model when it comes to overtime rules — most sports except the NFL, that is. The NFL rules give an advantage to the team that wins the coin toss. The team that wins the toss and receives the first possession in sudden-death overtime gets a leg up, even if they fail to score. While the statistics don't indicate an enormous edge in winning percentage to the team that earns the first possession, it still creates an uneven playing field at the beginning of overtime. It may be rare, but the system is always scrutinized when the uncommon case of a team with the first possession scores and wins.
Solution: Like college football, both teams should have at least one possession in overtime. If the team that wins the toss scores on its opening possession, the opposing team should be given a drive with the football to equal the score. If the team that earned the first possession of overtime fails to score, sudden-death rules fall in place.
8. NBA Draft Lottery
In sports, the team that finishes with the worst record in the regular season is typically awarded the best pick of the litter when the new batch of prospects comes around in the draft. Not so in the NBA.
In the NBA, the non-playoff teams make up a lottery of ping-pong balls, with the worst team receiving no better than a 25 percent chance to net the top pick. But since every nonplayoff team is in the lottery, they all have a shot — no matter how small — at garnering the top pick. This backward system typically gives the shaft to at least one franchise per season and allows another team a much higher selection than deserved.
Solution: Instead of using this system of chance, the NBA should employ the fair system that is used by the other three major leagues. If you finish with the worst record, you get the first selection overall; if you finish with the second-worst record, you earn the second selection overall; and so on.
Team representatives sit and wait and hope that the ball will bounce in their favor in the NBA Draft Lottery.
7. Soccer penalty shootouts
Soccer is a game of skill that tests endurance, finesse and teamwork, and shootouts are a cheap way to come to a decision. In games that need to crown a winner, the shoot-out system is used if added time hasn't settled the match. This is simply a system of chance. With such a wide net, goalkeepers have only two prayers to stop a penalty kick: guess the right direction or hope that the ball misses the net completely. Furthermore, the shoot-out format eliminates defensive play, passing and coaching — all of which are key elements of the game.
Solution: The first step is to remove the silver goal method and return to the golden goal system, which means the first team to score in overtime wins. Next, each team will remove two players from the field, creating more space and therefore more goal-scoring opportunities. Lastly, grant each team two substitutions; fresh players are likely to create an offensive spark.
Lou Piniella is famous for his discussions with the umpires.
6. Arguing with MLB umpires
Peanuts, crackerjacks and the seventh-inning stretch are as much of a part of baseball as seeing a clash between a manager and an umpire. The problem, though, is that the latter custom serves no purpose.
Managers such as Lou Piniella have thrown plenty of fits, but regardless of whether they are arguing balls, strikes or a close call on the base paths, their appeal is rarely upheld. Umpires almost never overturn a call and managers never cease to try.
Solution: Frustration mounts among fans and players when a speculative judgment is made. Engaging in heated shouting matches is not only a bad example for young onlookers, it doesn't solve the problem. Baseball should get with the times and implement an instant replay system that will allow managers to make a formal challenge.
5. NCAA basketball play-in game
The March Madness play-in game is as irrelevant as Vince Young's Wonderlic score, yet somehow it has become an annual event.
The men's tournament includes a game between two mopes that battle for the right to earn a bid as a No. 16 seed and to play the No. 1 seed. In the history of the tournament, no No. 16 seed has ever defeated a No. 1 seed, thus making the game meaningless.
Solution: The NCAA awards a bid to each conference winner and an extra entry was created when the Mountain West Conference split from the Western Athletic Conference in 2001. The solution is to eliminate an at-large bid and the play-in game; this is the route the women's tournament decided to follow when they were faced with the same dilemma.
4. Diving in soccer
With the incessant diving, faking and pleading to referees, soccer has earned the reputation as a poor-sportsman sport. Only in soccer can the slightest shin-to-shin contact turn into somersaults, wincing and a stretcher — only to see the player return to the field within minutes. Coaches preach exaggeration to their players and the leagues never penalize or fine the actors after the fact.
Solution: Instant replay would catch the culprits on the spot, but it is the league officials who should take responsibility. They must start reviewing game film and doling out suspensions if they want to change this pattern of behavior.
3. NHL overtime losses
Can you imagine a team earning half of a win in the NBA if a game is tied after regulation? How about in baseball, awarding teams half of a victory if a game goes into extra innings? Sounds far-fetched, but that is what happens in hockey.
The NHL awards a point to each team that makes it to overtime, which is a carryover of a rule that was implemented when the league experienced an inordinate amount of ties. It was installed to encourage offensive play in the extra frame in order to avoid neutral outcomes.
Now that the shoot-out is in place and ties are not a possible result, this rule essentially awards free points and just clutters the standings picture.
Solution: When a game requires overtime, neither team has accomplished anything in terms of a win or a loss. The NHL should ditch this rule.
2. BCS rankings
It's said that sports are decided on the field and not on paper, but in college football it is the other way around. With an unreliable system that depends on a speculative computer formula to produce National Championship candidates, it leaves fans with nothing but questions and very few answers.
The bogus debates about rankings and bowl matchups are incessant and the conversation has been dumbed-down to the point that the following expressions are frequently heard:
"Team A has a better loss than Team B."
"Team A hasn't garnered as many style points in their wins as Team B."
"Team A has more quality victories than Team B."
Sports allow teams to answer for themselves, but that is not the case in the NCAA football playoffs.
Solution: The simple solution that most fans and coaches are begging for is some sort of a playoff format. For starters, place the 10 teams that play for the five BCS bowls into a tournament. This will allow the fans to see more of the best teams, since the eventual champion will play three playoff games, and will allow the top 10 contenders a chance to decide who deserves the No. 1 spot.
1. Referee discretion
Have you ever heard a commentator say, "The referees are letting the players play" or "The referees have put their whistles away," and wondered what that really meant?
Essentially, the commentators are referring to the biggest enigma in sports, which is inconsistent officiating.
In some hockey games, a play that is deemed a penalty in the first period is not viewed the same way in the waning minutes of the third period. Similarly, a basketball referee has a different definition of what constitutes a foul, and it often depends on who is the victim. If it's Dwayne Wade, he's going to the free throw line and if it's Tyronn Lue, the show goes on.
In baseball, some umpires have small strike zones, while others have large ones.
From period to period and game to game, the only thing consistent about officiating is that it is in fact inconsistent.
Solution: Nobody is perfect and nobody is demanding perfection from referees, but while professional sports spend billions of dollars to perfect marketing, stadiums and talent, investing more money to teach officials consistency would help. A better usage of technology, such as instant replay, would also make the system more reliable.
Dave Golokhov / AskMen.com
There are a number of rules, customs or traditions that exist in sports that, at one point, may have been logical, but today they no longer make sense. These types of enigmatic practices range from the mundane, such as the "foul pole" that marks fair territory in baseball, to the more serious, such as the tolerance to fighting in the NHL versus the zero tolerance in the other major sports.
Those useless habits don't make much sense and here are 10 others:
10. Eye black or antiglare stickers
To reduce glare from the sun or stadium lights, athletes often apply grease known as eye black under their eyes. While it does have a minimal value to subdue the shine, it has become more of a fashion statement than anything else. From the rest-in-peace memo worn by Rutgers running back Ray Rice to Reggie Bush displaying his area code 619, the under-eyes have become the chic place to display a message. This grease is the modern day reincarnation of face paint and the usage to diminish blinding light is merely a side effect.
Solution: Sunglasses or a visor work just fine to fight the brightness. Athletes should save the cute messages and shout-outs for MySpace.
9. NFL overtime rules
Most sports use the "equal opportunity" model when it comes to overtime rules — most sports except the NFL, that is. The NFL rules give an advantage to the team that wins the coin toss. The team that wins the toss and receives the first possession in sudden-death overtime gets a leg up, even if they fail to score. While the statistics don't indicate an enormous edge in winning percentage to the team that earns the first possession, it still creates an uneven playing field at the beginning of overtime. It may be rare, but the system is always scrutinized when the uncommon case of a team with the first possession scores and wins.
Solution: Like college football, both teams should have at least one possession in overtime. If the team that wins the toss scores on its opening possession, the opposing team should be given a drive with the football to equal the score. If the team that earned the first possession of overtime fails to score, sudden-death rules fall in place.
8. NBA Draft Lottery
In sports, the team that finishes with the worst record in the regular season is typically awarded the best pick of the litter when the new batch of prospects comes around in the draft. Not so in the NBA.
In the NBA, the non-playoff teams make up a lottery of ping-pong balls, with the worst team receiving no better than a 25 percent chance to net the top pick. But since every nonplayoff team is in the lottery, they all have a shot — no matter how small — at garnering the top pick. This backward system typically gives the shaft to at least one franchise per season and allows another team a much higher selection than deserved.
Solution: Instead of using this system of chance, the NBA should employ the fair system that is used by the other three major leagues. If you finish with the worst record, you get the first selection overall; if you finish with the second-worst record, you earn the second selection overall; and so on.
Team representatives sit and wait and hope that the ball will bounce in their favor in the NBA Draft Lottery.
7. Soccer penalty shootouts
Soccer is a game of skill that tests endurance, finesse and teamwork, and shootouts are a cheap way to come to a decision. In games that need to crown a winner, the shoot-out system is used if added time hasn't settled the match. This is simply a system of chance. With such a wide net, goalkeepers have only two prayers to stop a penalty kick: guess the right direction or hope that the ball misses the net completely. Furthermore, the shoot-out format eliminates defensive play, passing and coaching — all of which are key elements of the game.
Solution: The first step is to remove the silver goal method and return to the golden goal system, which means the first team to score in overtime wins. Next, each team will remove two players from the field, creating more space and therefore more goal-scoring opportunities. Lastly, grant each team two substitutions; fresh players are likely to create an offensive spark.
Lou Piniella is famous for his discussions with the umpires.
6. Arguing with MLB umpires
Peanuts, crackerjacks and the seventh-inning stretch are as much of a part of baseball as seeing a clash between a manager and an umpire. The problem, though, is that the latter custom serves no purpose.
Managers such as Lou Piniella have thrown plenty of fits, but regardless of whether they are arguing balls, strikes or a close call on the base paths, their appeal is rarely upheld. Umpires almost never overturn a call and managers never cease to try.
Solution: Frustration mounts among fans and players when a speculative judgment is made. Engaging in heated shouting matches is not only a bad example for young onlookers, it doesn't solve the problem. Baseball should get with the times and implement an instant replay system that will allow managers to make a formal challenge.
5. NCAA basketball play-in game
The March Madness play-in game is as irrelevant as Vince Young's Wonderlic score, yet somehow it has become an annual event.
The men's tournament includes a game between two mopes that battle for the right to earn a bid as a No. 16 seed and to play the No. 1 seed. In the history of the tournament, no No. 16 seed has ever defeated a No. 1 seed, thus making the game meaningless.
Solution: The NCAA awards a bid to each conference winner and an extra entry was created when the Mountain West Conference split from the Western Athletic Conference in 2001. The solution is to eliminate an at-large bid and the play-in game; this is the route the women's tournament decided to follow when they were faced with the same dilemma.
4. Diving in soccer
With the incessant diving, faking and pleading to referees, soccer has earned the reputation as a poor-sportsman sport. Only in soccer can the slightest shin-to-shin contact turn into somersaults, wincing and a stretcher — only to see the player return to the field within minutes. Coaches preach exaggeration to their players and the leagues never penalize or fine the actors after the fact.
Solution: Instant replay would catch the culprits on the spot, but it is the league officials who should take responsibility. They must start reviewing game film and doling out suspensions if they want to change this pattern of behavior.
3. NHL overtime losses
Can you imagine a team earning half of a win in the NBA if a game is tied after regulation? How about in baseball, awarding teams half of a victory if a game goes into extra innings? Sounds far-fetched, but that is what happens in hockey.
The NHL awards a point to each team that makes it to overtime, which is a carryover of a rule that was implemented when the league experienced an inordinate amount of ties. It was installed to encourage offensive play in the extra frame in order to avoid neutral outcomes.
Now that the shoot-out is in place and ties are not a possible result, this rule essentially awards free points and just clutters the standings picture.
Solution: When a game requires overtime, neither team has accomplished anything in terms of a win or a loss. The NHL should ditch this rule.
2. BCS rankings
It's said that sports are decided on the field and not on paper, but in college football it is the other way around. With an unreliable system that depends on a speculative computer formula to produce National Championship candidates, it leaves fans with nothing but questions and very few answers.
The bogus debates about rankings and bowl matchups are incessant and the conversation has been dumbed-down to the point that the following expressions are frequently heard:
"Team A has a better loss than Team B."
"Team A hasn't garnered as many style points in their wins as Team B."
"Team A has more quality victories than Team B."
Sports allow teams to answer for themselves, but that is not the case in the NCAA football playoffs.
Solution: The simple solution that most fans and coaches are begging for is some sort of a playoff format. For starters, place the 10 teams that play for the five BCS bowls into a tournament. This will allow the fans to see more of the best teams, since the eventual champion will play three playoff games, and will allow the top 10 contenders a chance to decide who deserves the No. 1 spot.
1. Referee discretion
Have you ever heard a commentator say, "The referees are letting the players play" or "The referees have put their whistles away," and wondered what that really meant?
Essentially, the commentators are referring to the biggest enigma in sports, which is inconsistent officiating.
In some hockey games, a play that is deemed a penalty in the first period is not viewed the same way in the waning minutes of the third period. Similarly, a basketball referee has a different definition of what constitutes a foul, and it often depends on who is the victim. If it's Dwayne Wade, he's going to the free throw line and if it's Tyronn Lue, the show goes on.
In baseball, some umpires have small strike zones, while others have large ones.
From period to period and game to game, the only thing consistent about officiating is that it is in fact inconsistent.
Solution: Nobody is perfect and nobody is demanding perfection from referees, but while professional sports spend billions of dollars to perfect marketing, stadiums and talent, investing more money to teach officials consistency would help. A better usage of technology, such as instant replay, would also make the system more reliable.