Reading this article in MSNBC.com caused me to think of some changes I would make in sports.

Boxing
Go back to 15 rounds for championship fights, with 4 judges, one on each side of the ring, each positioned mid-way between ringposts (with a box around them to give them ample room to see the action when necessary), and the referee as the 5th judge.
A federally appointed CPA to certify that each fighter has been paid properly.


Olympics
Any news agency that announces, prints, or shows medal totals by country immediately loses its credentials for the current and next Olympics. Victory is a triumph of an individual or a team, but not a country.

Basketball
Enforce all the rules as written, for all the players.

College Basketball
Coaches can only leave the bench during a called time-out. No post season play for violent outbursts by coach or any team member.

All Sports
Striking an official - Minimum of 1 year suspension
Assault on a fan - Career Counselling for up to one year during transition from athlete to regular guy with job.

Professional Sports
Fines based on percentage of income

What changes would you make?
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09-24-04, 01:26 PM
juanruiz
Pro Hockey- you drop your gloves on the ice and you are disqualified. Do it twice it's a 3-game suspension. Three times and your season is over. Three majors and you're done for the year. (This works for the NCAA, and the result is more hockey and less nonsense.)

Baseball-umpires will call the official strike zone or be replaced.

NBA-Ditto DGS

09-24-04, 02:56 PM
teeceeum
For boxing I back John McCain's idea of a Federal Boxing Commission. The only way I ever see it being cleaned up.

09-24-04, 04:06 PM
coldfuse
I'd like to see fewer teams making the playoffs in both baseball and basketball. The post-seasons are too long, involve too many games, and do not reward excellence during the season.

Having said that, I'd like to see a four-weekend playoff system in NCAA Division 1 football. Conference champions and an independent only. No whining by any team about why it should have a shot at the big prize when it couldn't win its own conference. No more mythical national championship.

09-24-04, 05:22 PM
juanruiz
I'll second CF on the playoffs...throw the NHL into the mix, too.

Also in re hockey, make them play on an Olympic-size sheet of ice, and cut down the size of the goalies' pads. One of the reasons the NHL is dying (it had to accept half of what it previously got for a US tv contract), it that there is next to no scoring. The goalies' pads are so wide they practically block the whole net.

09-24-04, 09:15 PM
FredPuli
The netcord rule in tennis. The game is hard enough without points won or lost by flukes. If it's such a good rule why play a let on a serve when a netcord produces an otherwise valid serve?

The second serve in tennis. A confident, good player would still go for a 'first serve' shot in spite of risking more by that than by a conservative one. The poorer one will not dare risk it when lacking the chance to play his safe shot if he misses.

The rule in darts whereunder a dart that hits the thin wire dividing two scoring sections of the board and bounces off is counted as a valid throw but scoring nil. A good player might hit the wire between, say, treble twenty and twenty and score nil against a poorer one scoring just a simple, safe three.There too a fluke is affecting the scoring

09-24-04, 09:38 PM
Kelleygirl
Immediately get rid of the designated hitter in baseball.

Somehow even out the payrolls--per team--, especially for baseball so that everyone might have a chance.

Also for baseball, have the minor leagues teach the major leagues the meaning of "fan friendly".

And once again in baseball, have better scheduling of the games --- don't have the Reds play Pittsburgh 3 games at home and then the next week play Pittsburgh at home 3 homes, etc.

And with a few exceptions -- Reds vs. Indians, Metts vs. Yankees, Rangers vs. Astros ---- I don't think that interleague games matter much.

09-24-04, 10:51 PM
coldfuse
Were I the King of Sports, halftime for post-season games would be the same length as halftime in the regular season.

And could we get a World Series game, "National Championship" football game, or NCAA basketball finals game to start at an hour when kids east of the Mississippi could watch the thing once in awhile?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,