Stupid Sports Rules I Would Change

A couple nights ago the Giants and Dodgers were playing a fairly important series in LA. With Joe Torre getting ejected earlier in the game, Don Mattingly had taken over as Dodger manager for the night. Late in the game he went to talk strategy with his closer and, after saying whatever he needed to, had begun to walk back to the dugout. Mattingly had taken a step or two off the mound when one of his infielders had a follow-up question. Mattingly turned to answer him, took a couple steps back towards the mound and in the process put one foot back on the mound while he answered the question. Giants manager Bruce Bochy came out of his dugout to point out that technically this was Mattingly's second mound visit in the inning, which in baseball means the current pitcher has to be lifted. The Dodgers were forced to bring in a pitcher with no time to warm him up and that pitcher promptly gave up the winning run.

While technically that is the rule, this seems like one of those ones you would let go considering Mattingly never made it out of the infield, let alone all the way back to his dugout. But for now we'll save my thought on people like Bochy, who would rather win by citing rules to the letter instead of letting some things slide in the interest of not being a dick, for another post except to say that if Bochy has ever driven 45 in a 40 MPH speed limit zone he's a hypocrite. Anyway, this got me to thinking about how some sports rules should be either relaxed or straight gotten rid of. Now, I like the intention behind the "no two-mound visits" rule because it is one of the few rules in place that is meant to speed up baseball, so that is not on my list (though allowing a five-foot buffer for the mound isn't a bad idea). Instead here is one rule from each of the major sports that I would like to see changed or stricken from the rule books.

Golf: If, after grounding your putter, the wind moves your ball while it is on the putting surface it is a stroke penalty. First off, golf has about 700 rules that could/need to be relaxed, but this one is on my mind after last week's British Open. How is wind moving the ball my fault? I didn't touch it, that's God. Play the ball as it now lies and let's get on with it.

Football: No leaping. There is a rule in place that states during field goal attempts you are not allowed to run towards the line, leap into the air and come down onto the back of your own teammate. Considering that is essentially the only way to play defense against a field goal attempt, I have no idea why this rule is even in place. I'm sure it's to prevent guys from taking out their own teammates, but if you block the field goal I'm pretty sure he'll be fine with you landing on him.

Baseball: Unlimited time-outs for runners. You know what, you want to wear five different pieces of armor so that you stand on top of home plate without fear of getting hit by a pitch then you can try to run the bases while wearing all that crap.

Basketball: Defensive three-seconds. I know this rule is in place to prevent guys like Shaq from just camping in the middle of the lane, but teach your big man how to shoot from 15 feet out and that problem is solved. Also, why is it a rule that I have to open up the lane for the other team to drive to the basket? Not to mention, the way NBA fouls are called you are practically guaranteed free-throws if the other team's center is even in the same area, so it actually hurts the team that is on offense.

Hockey: No contact with the goalie outside of the crease. If the goalie leaves the crease, he should be fair game. He's already wearing more protection than the rest of his team, you shouldn't coddle them. I mean, I keep hearing how much tougher hockey players are than everyone else, so goalies should be prepared to take the occasional hit. After a puck to the face it seems like it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Soccer: Offsides. So, let me get this straight: if my forward has managed to get passed the defense and I can get a perfect pass through their defense to him, it's my fault and they get the ball back? To me that's simply crappy defense and they should pay the consequences.