ETHAN MAY
I love sports. Sports are pure entertainment as they can both excite and relax. Each sport entertains in its own unique way, but none of them are perfect. Today I’m going to explore the issues in the core four American sports. You will notice three themes as rule changes are discussed: Safety, Speeding Up the Game, and More Offense.
National Hockey League
I’d like to start with the NHL because they actually made substantial rule changes before the 2013-2014 season. The biggest change was actually the implementation of hybrid icing. In an effort to both speed up the game and stop unnecessary collisions, the NHL gave officials the power to call the play dead if a player from the team accused of icing does not beat the opposing player to the faceoff dots in the far zone. The rule change went over smoothly with less injuries and only a few minor in-game discrepancies. Safety was also in mind in the other rule changes as the league will begin to grandfather in mandatory visors much like they did with helmets in the past. They also changed rules with fighting by stating players can’t purposely remove their helmets before a fight; furthermore, the previous penalty for fighting while wearing a visor was removed. The league also tightened rules around sweater modifications adding minor penalties if sleeves are too short or sweaters are not properly tucked.
These rule changes have been a step in the right direction, but the NHL is under constant pressure from fans to make more changes. You’ll notice critics of each sport want to modify rules in order to increase offense; hockey fans are no different. Last season the NHL made the net more shallow giving room for plays to be made from behind the net. I am encouraged by the changes made to this point and only have one suggestion: I would like the league to standardize the equipment the goalies are allowed to use. I believe the league would be much more fair if goalies were held back from using certain equipment. {Look at that, a section on NHL rule changes and the shootout was not even mentioned. It really can be done.}
National Football League
Much like the NHL, the NFL has also been tinkering with rules recently. Most notably is the experiment with kicking extra points from a farther distance to remove the essential free point after a touchdown. It will be interesting to see what the league’s response is after the preseason experiment. Other football rule changes are designed around safety, especially in the case of concussions.
A few years ago the NFL created rules against excessive celebrations in the end zone. The theory was that the celebrations were showing up the other team and slowing down the game. Talk about a buzz kill. I say change the rule so that celebrations are allowed as long as the lead is not more than a certain number (say.. 3 touchdowns) and as long as it doesn’t last longer than 20 seconds. Fans pay good money to go to football games and should be allowed to watch Calvin Johnson preform an elaborate dance with his other receivers if he beats Richard Sherman in the endzone. A smaller change I would like to see is a rotating NFL Draft much like other sports use. Why should Seahawks fans have to travel all the way to Radio City Music Hall to see the draft? Rotate it from division to division or time zone to time zone each year to make it more fair. Finally, I think the blackout policy needs to be lightened. These days stadiums are largely paid for by the taxpayers so they should be able to see the games regardless of attendance. I think it’s rude for the NFL to not air the games, especially when the TV revenue is so great.
National Basketball Association
On the hardwood, the NBA has been tinkering with instant replay much like the other sports. The league’s biggest [on court] issue of late has been the abundance of flopping. Commissioner Stern implemented fines for those found to be purposely flopping, but he later admitted the rules did not accomplish much. I believe the issue is in the clarity of the rules between a charge and a defensive foul. Perhaps the fix is in the rewriting of the defensive rules all together. If the league wanted to be extreme they could even experiment with the removal of charging penalties in the summer league and preseason.
My biggest recommendation for the NBA is a pretty core idea: Call travelling! The league we see today is becoming less and less basketball and more showing off. The first step to reeling the game back to where it should be is to make the players dribble as they should. Regardless of what the rules say the league gives players 3, 4, or even 5 steps so they can make the spectacular dunk. That’s not basketball.
Major League Baseball
Commissioner Selig may have made the biggest changes of all the sports I’ve discussed. Baseball finally came around and implemented instant replay into the entire game through a challenge system familiar to the NFL’s. Replay has taken MLB through a roller coaster through the 2014 season and it is obvious changes are necessary. The league even changed the transfer rule half way through the season and has been battling the issue with home plate collisions all year. Clarity is the issue as rules seemed to be enforced in some games but not others.
While critics beg for rules to add offense, I would like to discuss a different type of rule change. There’s something historic about baseball that the other sports simply cannot match; however, in the old days games didn’t last 4 hours. Why? The games had a great pace to them that is simply gone today because pitchers received the ball from the catcher and promptly through the next pitch. Batters also didn’t step out of the box to essentially undress and redress between every single pitch. Hitters who left the box were often ridiculed by their peers and would even occasionally see an uncomfortably inside pitch in response. My rule change? Don’t let batters completely leave the box unless they are dodging a pitch or consulting an injury. After each pitch the batter may put one foot out to readjust but do not let them take a stroll ten feet away. At the same time keep the pitchers pace up by using a pitch timer. While fans won’t allow the removal of the DH to speed up the game, they all should support this method.
What changes would you like to see? Which sport needs to change the most? Let me know!
Ethan May 