Seed the NFL playoffs by record, not division champion status. Don't reward mediocre teams from terrible divisions.

I agree. The angleshooting that goes on in hoops at the end of games is just unbearable.

The arguments against this is so weak, too. "Oh, it gives a team behind more of a chance to win, making the game more exciting!" So does making it so any time a team makes a half-court shot, they get to equal their opponents score, but that is ******ed.

its like basketball is 2 games. the 39 minutes (or 47 minutes) of regulation, and the 1 minute foul/freethrow fest at the end.

imagine if beaning the batter or shooting the puck over the boards or some other stupid action prolonged other sports the same way. would be so stupid

In general, I'm against the idea of willingly and openly committing a penalty ever being super advantageous. At best it should make it incredibly hard.

Examples:

* Intentional walk in baseball - not sure how to get around this, though
* Intentional pass interference from DBs when they get beat
* Fouling in basketball at the end of games
* Handball on that guy in soccer who got a red card at the end of the game, but made his team advance in the WC. I almost don't mind this one because the penalty was pretty severe. He had to sit the rest of the tourney, they had to win a man down in extra time, they had to save the PK, etc...

Trying to think of any other examples where you can increase your chances of winning by committing a penalty and get "punished for it". Obviously things like holding in football where it isn't called don't count because you "got away" with it. Holding when you get caught is never to your own advantage (at least I can't think of any cases, since it's always a spot foul).

Some general basketball rules:

-College basketball and high school should adopt the NBA's cylinder under the rim to avoid stupid/cheap charges.

-All basketball should somehow (would be hard, but I'd like to see it attempted) incorporate some form of play-through/advantage rule on shot clock violations that are caught by the defensive team. So frustrating to see your team have a potential 3-on-1 and have it negated by a shot clock violation.

-Jump it up on all jump balls. No possession arrow, please.

there's a huge disadvantage to intentional walks. you're giving the guy first base.

the easiest way i can think of to cut down on both the number on ibbs and the strategic advantage of ibbs would be instituting designated hitters in the nl.
if an o-lineman knew in a particular situation that if he didn't hold it would result in a sack 100% of the time and he knew that he would get called for the hold 100% of the time then he should hold because sacks can result in turnovers.

obviously there is no way for him to know this. but i think holding a whole hell of a lot is probably good strategy in the nfl.

Fouls should have penalties, not rewards. All sports have strange situations where a penalty benefits the teams committing it but most sports seek out to keep these at a minimum whenever possible.

Basketball is the only sport in the world that seems to embrace with open arms the concept that committing fouls on purpose should be beneficial to the team doing it and pretty much every non-blowout basketball game ends with this, it's pretty absurd. The people who are against changing it are just used to it and like the "excitement" that it adds.

Someone was actually complaining about how in college basketball the ball doesn't advance to half court on a timeout....

Basically, basketball has pseudo-rigged the rules to generate as many buzzer beaters as possible and that's just lame.

The easiest way to fix it is to simply allow teams to decline free throws for non-shooting fouls once in the double bonus. Foul shooting would still be an important part of the game because you couldn't decline them for shooting fouls or for the 1-1 portion of the bonus.

how many times has shortening 35 second shot clock been said, cause i wanna say it again

This would probably be a more interesting rule rather than a better rule.

Switch hitters can only hit from 1 side of the plate per game.

I agree with you on your first two points but i disagree with this one. I like the possession arrow because it keeps the game moving. I feel like jumpballs in the nba disrupt the game flow.

nah, a height contest is definitely a good and fair way to determine which team should get the ball after shared possession

Better soultion, no more tie ups, keep fighting till someone gets the ball damn it.

Adding extra pressure to teams that already shoot and execute poorly on the offensive end seems like a bad idea.

Tell the short guys to stop going after the big guys then. :P

Also, some rule limiting the # of timeouts in the final minutes of a basketball game would be sick. Only sport (outside of time wasting in soccer) that slows down more in a close game.

idk, here a coach actually tries to manage his timeouts properly and you want to punish him for it? andy reid would love this plan.

Cricket
- No runners, if you can't run then you shouldn't be able to bat.

Baseball
- A batter who is walked should be sent straight to first base instead of going through the whole throwing four pitches a mile away from him thing.

Tennis
- One serve, which would speed up the game and make it more interesting.

Darts
- There are a large variety of darts games that can be played rather than 501, it would be nice to see the top players trying them on TV.

Boxing
- Catchweight fights should not be for titles.
- If you spit out your gumshield you must fight the rest of the round without it (so boxers can't buy time when they are hurt)
-Get those stupid slippery adverts of the canvas
-Standard ring sizes

So many more for boxing I can think of, I love the sport but it is completely ******ed in many respects.

If there was a huge disadvantage, no one would intentionally walk a batter. IBB gives defenses an advantage by not having to face a tough hitter, which is worth giving up one base.

One way around this could be on a walk, you are allowed to keep the same batter at the plate, and put the next guy on base to do the running.


Good point, but highly unlikely to happen. Wouldn't the hold result a worse position than just taking the sack (assuming no turnover)?

you are ignoring the fact that most mlb managers don't understand correct strategy. teams definitely issue ibbs in situations where they shouldn't.

the most common situation where it's clearly correct to ibb a batter is in the nl with two outs, the 8th hitter up and a man on base because pitchers are terrible at hitting. this is why i suggested instituting the dh rule in the nl.
it depends on where the qb gets sacked. some are less than 10 yards and some are more. i dunno what the average sack distance is in the nfl although i'd guess the average is less than 10.

once you include sack fumbles i don't think it's particularly close though.

A jump ball rule where you actually jump for it but can pick the people doing the jumping from the guys on the court would be perfect imo. That way the Ty Lawson's of the world would actually maybe get rewarded for doubling down on Dwight Howard and tying (GET IT??!?) him up.

hmm the qb can still fumble after a hold is called and defense can decline the hold so the point seems moot. I mean the % of the time the QB will fumble lowers when someone holds but it's still a major factor in considering the +EV of a hold

Is there any reason not count shots greater than half court as 4 pts? I mean it's not gonna change offenses, it'll just add in some occasional ridiculous 4 pointers and some more interesting end-game situation.

Get rid of the "we're going to triple the points" round in Family Feud. At least, make it a question where it's not an easy run out. Although I do like the sudden death format.

in the asu vs oregon game, an offensive hold on oregon benefited them late in the game. ASU had to decline the hold because it would reset the game clock and they wouldn't have gotten the ball back.