What Are The Dumbest Rules In Sports
I know this is something we discussed a little over a year ago, but it’s worth talking about again. We all know how game 1 ended in the NBA Finals. Thanks to JR Smith, part of what got overlooked was the dumb rule that changed the charge call on Durant to a block on LeBron. Now, was it a block? Yeah, probably. However, the fact that refs can claim ‘they didn’t know he was outside of the restricted arc’ to review the entire play, reverse the call, but only on this and under 2 minutes is just so dumb. It’s a 50/50 call. Refs get those wrong quite a bit. We saw them get a 50/50 call wrong just a few possessions before and even a few possessions later.
So I posed the question and got a bunch of different results. Listen, there’s no doubt there’s a million dumbass rules in sports. There’s a handful of different ways to improve all of them, but that’s not what this is about. This is about hate. This is about what one thing happens during a game that drives you nuts. Is there something that should be on the list here? Did we miss something? Let me know @barstoolreags
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I got this one quite a bit. Now, I know this is also mostly a NBA vs college basketball fan thing, but I’m not willing to die on this hill. I actually don’t care about advancing the ball in the NBA for a timeout. Both set ups have given us awesome finishes (see: Tyus Edney for college and Derek Fisher with .4 seconds left for advancing the ball). Now, if you want to adjust it to where you can only advance the ball after a stop/missed shot, then I’ll listen. But, again, I’m not dying on this hill.
Steve chiming in with a high school rule and you know what? I like it. There are too many times you see an inferior high school team sit and hold the clock trying to limit possessions. Games end up being in the 30s and they aren’t even games. You can still milk the clock if there’s a shot clock, but yeah, I’m all for a shot clock.
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Targeting was another tweet that came through quite a bit. I do like the idea behind the rule – trying to take out the hits to the head and protect the players. However, there’s too much of a grey line in terms of what’s targeting vs what’s a regular hit vs what’s the intention. As for stopping the clock, similar to advancing the ball, I’m not willing to die on that hill. I get stopping it, it rewards you for a first down.
Yeah, I agree with this one. I hate that teams spend time just hacking players. Now, I get the punishment of not being a good free throw shooter, but by rule it should be an intentional foul. I’m not sure why it’s not called that way. I don’t want to watch free throws. I want to watch dudes play ball. Just hoop, man.
If you don’t want to see me dance, don’t let me score.
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I actually don’t mind the spot foul for DPI in the NFL. What I do mind is how it’s called so inconsistently. I actually should mind this because I have to cheer for Eli Apple, who gives up roughly 1,000 penalty yards a game because he can’t ever find the ball and turn his head. That said, I don’t mind the rule because if you do get burnt and just tackle a dude 35 yards downfield, you should be punished as such. Not just a 15 yard penalty.
This one has to be changed this offseason and I feel pretty strongly that it will. It’s been talked about quite a bit during the NBA playoffs, but the fact that teams are just giving a foul to stop a fastbreak is insane. Again, this is an intentional foul. Call it as such. It’s called that way at the FIBA level, call it at the NBA level.
If a hockey guy says a hockey rule is dumb, I trust him.