Yes, it is true that I could sit on my couch all day everyday and do nothing besides watch sports, but it is also true that these sports and their respective entertainment value and quality could be increased. The idea that I could possibly improve the most watchable and popular sports on the planet is a little arrogant, but none the less I am willing to try. The following are five simple rule changes that will help increase fan interest and lessen fan angst.
1. Make all "blows to the head" penalties reviewable .
Far too often crucial drives are either extended or built entirely on a blow to the head penalty that should never have been called. The referees and officials in today's NFL, which may be one of the toughest jobs in America, are receiving so much pressure from their superiors to "protect the players" that they are hurting the game. We are at the point that any big hit is automatically being called a personal foul and it is starting to effect the game in a negative manner - football is a contact sport and the officials are trying to remove the contact. For starters, hitting with your shoulder is not leading with your head and if the receiver catches a pass and lowers their head into the defenders, that is also not a penalty. If you only watched the games on Sundays, you would think those are fouls. Finally, if a receiver is in the air and the safety separates him from the ball before he hits the ground then there should be no flag - the defender is doing his job. The whole idea of a helpless receiver is outrageous. How can we fix this issue on Sunday and Monday nights? Make all these penalties reviewable. The point of the official is to get the call correct and if we can take the time to review a 7 yard crossing route, then why not take the time to review a possible drive extending 15 yard penalty flag that was thrown simply because the wide receiver got smoked. It is time for flags to stop being thrown simply because a play looks violent and let football get back to being the hard hitting game that it used to be.
2. Allow handchecking in the NBA
The players are too big and too fast to continue giving the offensive player so many advantages in the NBA on an everyday basis. If you are able to play in the NBA then there is no reason that you should be given any advantage offensively, these are already the best shooters in the world and possibly the most athletic individuals in any professional sports. A typical NBA player will have no issue with making a jump shot when no one is guarding him and by eliminating the handcheck, the NBA is basically giving open jump shots whenever someone wants them. In the NBA game, you are open if you are an arms' length away from the defender. In order to even the playing field and bring the idea of defense back to the NBA it is necessary to allow handchecking to be legal. Like most of our sports, and society in general, the NBA has become too soft and personally I believe a large reason for this is the lack of guys willing to sit down and play defense. The reasoning behind this lack of defensive desire is that every advantage is given to the offensive player in order to keep the game faster paced and exciting for the fans, but what is more exciting than seeing Charles Oakley bodycheck Michael Jordan going to the rim because he is not willing to give up easy baskets. The grit and toughness of the NBA has been stripped away and this shell of the game that we watch now is all that is left. I know that allowing handchecking will not bring back the game from the 80's and 90's but it will help it get closer.
3. Eliminate the Home Run trot
This suggestion may not go over as well as the others and some may think of this as a stupid change but I have legitimate reasoning behind why I want this to occur. I love the game of the baseball and there are few things I like more than sitting down and watching a Reds game but even I can admit that the pace of the game is way too slow. There is no reason why a player who hits a home run can not simply peel off at first base and head back to their dugout to celebrate with their teammates. Yea, this would only eliminate maybe two total minutes from each game but it would also help to eliminate the "me" factor from the sport. While rounding the bases after a home run, the player is basically just doing a "look what I did" lap while everyone cheers but if everyone was cheering while he was celebrating with his teammates rather than alone, the idea of team would be much more present. There is one exception to this rule: a walk off homerun. You must jog the bases after the walk off simply to participate in the homeplate celebration.
4. Institute the "Must be passing" rule into NASCAR
NASCAR is supposed to be a high energy and high speed car race around the track, but it has become more of a quick traffic jam. The amount of cars making passes on the track is decreasing and the idea of driving single file around the track is increasing. In order to stop this, I suggest NASCAR institute a rule stating that each driver must attempt to pass another driver at least once per lap. This would not only make for a more exciting afternoon of watching cars make left turns but it would also bring into the game a new need for strategy. With more cars passing eachother, there would be more changes in positioning and a bigger need to drive aggresively and to determine when you had to attempt to make your pass. An attempt would be considered legal as soon as the car trying to pass moved to a different spot on the track and had the front of his car break the barrier of the back of the car infront of him. Obviously, the man running in the first position would be the exception to this rule. To make it more appealing to the drivers as well, for every pass attempt counted the driver would receive 1 additional point per attempt at the end of the race and for every lap not passed the driver would receive another additional point.
5. Change the rules of Hockey.
All of them. No one understands the game, no one cares. Go back to Canada.
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