The Alternative: Time for some new rules

[Wassit3]

All sports have rules. Rules are meant to keep order and stability and ensure safety among players. I have been thinking lately about some rules that need changing in a few sports, and here's what I got:

The designated hitter in baseball is beyond moronic. I find it amazing that a guy can have a 15-year baseball career and never own a mitt. If you are going to allow the designated hitter, you should also allow the designated fielder, someone other than the pitcher that can play the field but does not have to put a bat in his hands. Think of all the great glove/poor hitting shortstops that would still be playing today.

Also in baseball, I think that if a pitcher hits a guy, he should be forced to lead off the next inning.

The ground-rule double should be modified. It is pretty impressive to make a ball bounce out of a major-league stadium — almost as hard as driving it out of the stadium on a straight line. There is a fielder involved too, so maybe a ground-rule double could count as a run after all. The outfielder chasing it might get on his horse and chase it a little faster if he knows that the runner isn't going to pull up satisfied at second base.

I say let the batter keep running. If the fielder chooses, he can climb the wall and try to get the ball like when we were kids. He could act like he can't find the ball and then gun the guy out at home plate. That would be exciting.

Pitchers and opposing teams can no longer get upset if a guy drops a slow trot after a home run. You should be much more upset that you just gave up a home run. Why are you paying attention to the way a guy runs anyhow?

In the NBA, no more hand-check fouls can be called, especially if the refs are going to continue the beatings that go on under the boards every night. Why don't refs ever call a foul on a 3-pointer? At least two dozen times this year I have seen a guy launch a 3, and the defender runs into him and he falls backward onto the floor. That is a foul. Call it.

How about on the weekends, no goaltending? That would be awesome. You roll into a Laker game with your kid one Sunday and half the team leaves with 15 blocks. Lakers win 22-9.

In tennis, if your opponent is seeded much higher than you, you should be able to use the doubles alleys. This would at least keep the matches a little closer.

For women's tennis, underwear should be optional.

Let's do away with offsides in hockey. If an alley-oop is good enough for basketball, then why not for hockey? Scoring (thus interest) would go up if you could shoot a pass across two blue lines to your teammate, who is cherry-picking down by the other net. I turn offsides off when I play hockey on Playstation. Let's have commissioner Gary Bettman turn it off for good.

Also in hockey, if two guys start fighting, play should continue. Why stop an entire game just so two goons can mash each other? I would like to see the smaller guys have to skate around the brawl and navigate the puck around some elbows and fists. Also, if you fight in hockey, you no longer will have to go to the penalty box. You should have to stay on the ice for as long as the penalty minutes would have been. Those would be some tired goons out there skating around. Imagine fighting for two straight minutes and then having to continue skating and playing playoff hockey for an additional five! The guy would be in slow motion.

In the NFL, I think we can all agree that we need to stop calling timeouts from the sidelines to "ice" a kicker. Keep the timeouts on the field where they belong. Come to think of it, let's get rid of kickers entirely. Keep field goals, punts and kickoffs, but they have to be performed by a first-string player at another position. (Brian Urlacher could do it). Maybe the other team could decide beforehand who they want kicking the ball. More teams would go for it on fourth-and-one if the alternative was Warren Sapp punting into the wind.

I have always hated the too-many-men-on-the-field penalty. If you can figure out a way to sneak 14 guys out of your huddle, more power to you.

There are lots of ways to make all the games we love more enjoyable. These are just a few recommendations I have. I would love to hear yours.

Best of lucky,
jay mohr

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7686942

[boomboom]

For women's tennis, underwear should be optional.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7686942

lol, well maybe not all of them Lady Tennis players

[Rongar]

All sports have rules. Rules are meant to keep order and stability and ensure safety among players. I have been thinking lately about some rules that need changing in a few sports, and here's what I got:

The designated hitter in baseball is beyond moronic. I find it amazing that a guy can have a 15-year baseball career and never own a mitt. If you are going to allow the designated hitter, you should also allow the designated fielder, someone other than the pitcher that can play the field but does not have to put a bat in his hands. Think of all the great glove/poor hitting shortstops that would still be playing today.

Also in baseball, I think that if a pitcher hits a guy, he should be forced to lead off the next inning.

The ground-rule double should be modified. It is pretty impressive to make a ball bounce out of a major-league stadium — almost as hard as driving it out of the stadium on a straight line. There is a fielder involved too, so maybe a ground-rule double could count as a run after all. The outfielder chasing it might get on his horse and chase it a little faster if he knows that the runner isn't going to pull up satisfied at second base.

I say let the batter keep running. If the fielder chooses, he can climb the wall and try to get the ball like when we were kids. He could act like he can't find the ball and then gun the guy out at home plate. That would be exciting.

Pitchers and opposing teams can no longer get upset if a guy drops a slow trot after a home run. You should be much more upset that you just gave up a home run. Why are you paying attention to the way a guy runs anyhow?

In the NBA, no more hand-check fouls can be called, especially if the refs are going to continue the beatings that go on under the boards every night. Why don't refs ever call a foul on a 3-pointer? At least two dozen times this year I have seen a guy launch a 3, and the defender runs into him and he falls backward onto the floor. That is a foul. Call it.

How about on the weekends, no goaltending? That would be awesome. You roll into a Laker game with your kid one Sunday and half the team leaves with 15 blocks. Lakers win 22-9.

In tennis, if your opponent is seeded much higher than you, you should be able to use the doubles alleys. This would at least keep the matches a little closer.

For women's tennis, underwear should be optional.

Let's do away with offsides in hockey. If an alley-oop is good enough for basketball, then why not for hockey? Scoring (thus interest) would go up if you could shoot a pass across two blue lines to your teammate, who is cherry-picking down by the other net. I turn offsides off when I play hockey on PlayStation. Let's have commissioner Gary Bettman turn it off for good.

Also in hockey, if two guys start fighting, play should continue. Why stop an entire game just so two goons can mash each other? I would like to see the smaller guys have to skate around the brawl and navigate the puck around some elbows and fists. Also, if you fight in hockey, you no longer will have to go to the penalty box. You should have to stay on the ice for as long as the penalty minutes would have been. Those would be some tired goons out there skating around. Imagine fighting for two straight minutes and then having to continue skating and playing playoff hockey for an additional five! The guy would be in slow motion.

In the NFL, I think we can all agree that we need to stop calling timeouts from the sidelines to "ice" a kicker. Keep the timeouts on the field where they belong. Come to think of it, let's get rid of kickers entirely. Keep field goals, punts and kickoffs, but they have to be performed by a first-string player at another position. (Brian Urlacher could do it). Maybe the other team could decide beforehand who they want kicking the ball. More teams would go for it on fourth-and-one if the alternative was Warren Sapp punting into the wind.

I have always hated the too-many-men-on-the-field penalty. If you can figure out a way to sneak 14 guys out of your huddle, more power to you.

There are lots of ways to make all the games we love more enjoyable. These are just a few recommendations I have. I would love to hear yours.

Best of lucky,
jay mohr

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7686942

Hi Wass,
I may not agree with all your suggestions, but I'm impressed with the work that you've put in - A for effort, Mate!

I think that you answered your own argument when you write of a great fielder who can't hit...therefore, why should the world be deprived of a great hitter 'cos he's all thumbs with a glove?

If one thinks that a pitcher be penalised at all for a HBP (I don't), then I think that the punishment should be more wieldy than wot Wass suggests...mebbe, sending the pitcher off, altogether?

I regard the hit that hops over a wall, a flub rather than a feat...I assume that the hitter was swinging for the fences, but mistimed it...as for running forever, whilst a ball is retrieved, the variety of fencing around the MLB is a factor there...the left-fielder guarding the "Green Monster" for example, would not need to be a hitter nor a fielder, as long as he could climb !

I consider all the "emotions" displayed by either side after a home run, mere psychological warfare, the hitter hangs about to rub it in, the fielding side pretends to be more irked by his style, rather than by the substance of his hit.
It's uncool to show that an opponent's success has bothered you

I totally agree with Wass on NBA fouls...if, in hockey, it's legal to, for example, lift an opponent's stick, why not allow a check on a Hooper's tool -his hand? As for running into 3-pointers, I'm all for penalising any extra-curricular stuff that could possibly end, or interfere with a guys career thro un-neccesary injury - from ankle-tapping in soccer, to spikes up in baserunning.

I know little about basketball, and I'm totally confused by Wass's para beginning "How about on the weekends, no goaltending?"

"Weekends"? "Goaltending"? "Blocks"? ...these suggest to me, respectively, amateur sport; ice hockey; North American football; ...anything but hoops.

I'm much more amenable to his "double alleys in tennis" suggestion..the only question being, how great the disparity in seeding, ere this rule be invoked ?

As for girl-watching, I aver that curling has it over tennis, or any other sport...the ice-reflected light lends loveliness to the ladies!

Yeah, I'd like to do away with offsides (in soccer, too)...if your strategy is to have a forward hanging around the opponent's goal area, then it's up to your opponent to devise a counter-strategy, rather than leave it to an official to get it wrong, as, imo, so many do.

I've always assumed that play is stopped during a hockey brawl, so that the officials can concentrate upon the mayhem in hand.

The stuff that guys do to each other whilst playing under observation, leads me to believe that, if they were allowed to skate when the officials' attention was elsewhere, blue murder would ensue.

I can't make up my mind over Wass's big para on the NFL...I, largely, enjoy the game the way that it presently is, but Wass's ideas have a lot of merit.

If I were a player, I'd certainly want the too-many-men rule abolished...even as a fan, I can't keep track of all them busy bodies - they run in and out, so!

Once again- well done, Wass!

[JayC]

Hi Wass,
I may not agree with all your suggestions, but I'm impressed with the work that you've put in - A for effort, Mate!

Heh... all that work cutting and pasting from http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7686942?

It was written by so-called "comedian" and now alleged sports commentator Jay Mohr, who knows a lot about sports because he was in the movie Jerry Maguire.

[Rongar]

Heh... all that work cutting and pasting from http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7686942?

It was written by so-called "comedian" and now alleged sports commentator Jay Mohr, who knows a lot about sports because he was in the movie Jerry Maguire.

You mean that Wass's post was tongue-in-cheek?...it sure had me fooled! Talk about a con-man being conned...

[beerchaser]

lol, well maybe not all of them Lady Tennis players

I agree with this 1000%.

I also agree with changing the DH and making the pitcher face the music at the plate if he hits somebody on the other team.

The rest of them, bah. What exactly is the NBA, anyway? That doesn't exist to me.

[JayC]

You mean that Wass's post was tongue-in-cheek?...it sure had me fooled!

One more testimony to the "comedy" skills of Jay Mohr.

[Wassit3]

lol, well maybe not all of them Lady Tennis players

afraid you might find out something you rather not? lol

[Wassit3]

Hi Wass,
I may not agree with all your suggestions, but I'm impressed with the work that you've put in - A for effort, Mate!


Once again- well done, Wass!

sorry but i just copied and pasted, didn't mean to mislead ya rong

[Wassit3]

Heh... all that work cutting and pasting from http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7686942?

It was written by so-called "comedian" and now alleged sports commentator Jay Mohr, who knows a lot about sports because he was in the movie Jerry Maguire.

yep, it took a toll on me physically

[Rongar]

sorry but i just copied and pasted, didn't mean to mislead ya rong

S'okay, Wass, no harm done...in fact, it made me think about what I thought about these various sports