The NFL’s decision to suspend Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict five games for his illegal hit on Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman resulted from a new rule that will also be a point of emphasis for officials this year. (Let’s go ahead and informally name the rule after Burfict, in the grand tradition of eponymous NFL…
The biggest issue with mic-ing up umpire crews to explain replay decisions, which the Associated Press reports is potentially in the works, is that it’s simply not necessary. At a time when streamlining baseball games, especially the inactive parts, is seemingly of paramount concern to the commissioner’s office, why…
Today is the day when NFL teams submit proposed rule changes to be debated at next week’s owners meeting, and the Baltimore Ravens have come in with the silliest proposal.
MLB announced its rule changes for the upcoming season, and the big ones have to do with pace of play and dangerous slides, two issues that have grabbed a lot of attention over the past few years.
The Atlantic League, and eight-team professional independent baseball league, has decided to get a little creative and institute some new rules that will help speed up the pace of play.
The MLB rules committee has voted to make collisions at home plate illegal. This isn't an official rule change yet, as the decision still has to be approved by the players, but it sure looks like the home plate collision's place in baseball is no more.
Last night, the NBA Board of Governors approved the implementation of a handful of rule changes, which include a few tweaks to the league's instant replay policies.
Recently, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a "Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport," which sought to define concussions, lay out diagnostic procedures, differentiate between types of concussion victim (teenage athletes vs. adult athletes, for example), and determine how best to manage the risk of…
Dennis Rodman's bizarre visit to North Korea has led to many dissections of North Korea's strange relationship with basketball—or rather, the Kim family's strange relationship with basketball—and one happy consequence is the opportunity to remember that, despite the Kim family's love for the NBA, they sometimes ignore…
Yesterday, we discussed the possibility that the NFL will do away with kickoffs and instead institute a punt-or-4th-and-long option. On its face, the idea seems logical, maybe even preferable, if not necessarily a top-priority reform. The NFL can frame it as an issue of player safety, but truthfully, the increasing…
Let us, for a moment, discuss the intricacies of golf. Putting is perhaps the most difficult aspect of the game. One inch to the left, you win; one more to the right, you lose. Good putting requires an incredibly smooth stroke. In recent years, some players have started to use long putters—which they press to their…
Auriemma is about the only man in the world who can say this and not have it come off as condescending, but the UConn coach has a radical proposal he plans to present to the rules committee next spring—he'd like to see more scoring, fewer missed layups, and the way to do that is to lower the hoop for women's college…
The Competition Committee passed a few rule changes at their annual meetings, not insignificant stuff. Kickoffs are moving and we're getting more booth reviews, and we'll get to that. But the most noteworthy of all is Proposal 5, which ensures that football will be played on green fields for the foreseeable future.
