Ship of Fools: The Stupidest Thing In Sport

Thread: The Stupidest Thing In Sport Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

On the Motorsport thread Imaginary Friend suggest that NASCAR is the Stupidest Thing In Sport.

For what it's worth I'm no NASCAR fan, and I prefer two wheels to four, but motor racing is way batter than any of those sports that rely on judges to determine the relative merit of the competitors.

Amongst others that puts gymnastics, ski-jumping, dressage, professional boxing as well as synchronised swimming in the Room 101 of "Competitive Sport".

Anyway, my contender for TSIS is from cricket. The "six" should be abolished. No premium should be given for balls clearing the boundary without pitching in the field of play. Batsmen are still welcome to hit over the infield, but they shouldn't get a bonus for it, especially when there is often a limit on how many fielders can be on the boundary.

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

Oh, Sioni, you're SO wrong, but I don't have time to type the mini-essay that would fully explain why. Watch this space.

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

I might be stepping on some traditions sacred to the Great Unwashed* here, but the ridiculous diving in soccer would have to be up there. Any player who takes a dive and wants a free kick should have to wait until an ice hockey player comes off the sideline and beats the snot out of them before putting the ball on the spot.

ETA - SS, you're wrong. Clearing the boundary is a worthy achievement since the number of fielders on the rope won't make a scrap of difference. And it's not regulated in all forms of the game anyway.

* Australian term for the English race.

[ 24. March 2013, 02:14: Message edited by: the giant cheeseburger ]

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Ski-Jumping.
Style points? WTF does style matter? Whatever gets you the furthest. In fact, if your style is horrible, but you still land further, you should receive extra points.
If you land further, your style is by default better. Instead skiers are judged by whether a ski might have wandered a millimetre off line. What utter bollocks.

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Ski-Jumping.
Style points? WTF does style matter? Whatever gets you the furthest. In fact, if your style is horrible, but you still land further, you should receive extra points.
If you land further, your style is by default better. Instead skiers are judged by whether a ski might have wandered a millimetre off line. What utter bollocks.

I think there's room for keeping this part, but democratising it to measure entertainment value over technical skill.

Hold the ski jump rounds on the opening day or two of the Olympics, then post all the clips to YouTube. The one with the most views before the closing ceremony then gets the most style points.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Do that and I shall win Olympic gold without reaching the end of the ramp.

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

Silver maybe, I think going off the end of the ramp followed by a headplant into the snow would get a few more hits, and much greater potential for memes.

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

baseball: designated hitter!

Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :

If it's a sport, it can be measured; if it must be judged, it's an art. If they're going to have figure skating in the Winter Olympics, they should have ballroom dancing in the Summer Olympics.

[NASCAR GPS: "Turn left...turn left...turn left..."]

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
Silver maybe, I think going off the end of the ramp followed by a headplant into the snow would get a few more hits, and much greater potential for memes.

Aye then, I think I can manage that. I'll start constructing a display for my medals.

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
I might be stepping on some traditions sacred to the Great Unwashed* here, but the ridiculous diving in soccer would have to be up there. Any player who takes a dive and wants a free kick should have to wait until an ice hockey player comes off the sideline and beats the snot out of them before putting the ball on the spot.

Amen.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
I might be stepping on some traditions sacred to the Great Unwashed* here, but the ridiculous diving in soccer would have to be up there. Any player who takes a dive and wants a free kick should have to wait until an ice hockey player comes off the sideline and beats the snot out of them before putting the ball on the spot.

What the man says. Cheating (and persistent foul play) will only reduce when points are deducted, as they are for clubs going into administration.

quote:

ETA - SS, you're wrong. Clearing the boundary is a worthy achievement since the number of fielders on the rope won't make a scrap of difference. And it's not regulated in all forms of the game anyway.

* Australian term for the English race.

OK, let's compromise. Boundaries have been shortened to make fielding safer (and increase scores) so revert to the 19th century rule that sixes were only awarded if the ball went out of the ground! No more sixes for chip shots.

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

Stupidest thing in sport, team rules in F1.

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

Or I might mean team orders [Ultra confused]

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
I might be stepping on some traditions sacred to the Great Unwashed* here, but the ridiculous diving in soccer would have to be up there. Any player who takes a dive and wants a free kick should have to wait until an ice hockey player comes off the sideline and beats the snot out of them before putting the ball on the spot.

Soccer? Surely you mean football. Anyway, I'm a big hockey fan and totally agree with the point. In fact, I think they should allow fighting in football.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

They do. Its called Gaelic and Australian football.

Stupidest things in football now: that refs can't take advice from an official not on the pitch or from instant video replay when judging a foul. (Just ask Newcastle). And the automatic yellow card for a player who takes his shirt off. (And why do players still do it?)

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Timothy the Obscure:
[NASCAR GPS: "Turn left...turn left...turn left..."]

The beautiful thing is that they basically have that - spotters sit on top of the grandstand and are in radio communication with the driver telling him when there's a car alongside or what line to take through an accident!

Posted by McChicken (# 2555) on :

quote:
If it's a sport, it can be measured; if it must be judged, it's an art. If they're going to have figure skating in the Winter Olympics, they should have ballroom dancing in the Summer Olympics.

Funny you should say that

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

Normally I quite like watching cycling but there is one bit of velodrome cycling where the competitors wobble at the top of the boards for as long as possible and then make a mad dash for the line - one of the daftest things I've ever seen.

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

If we're talking about cycling, then the Madison is pretty nuts as well. Riders taking sling-shots off their teammate seems unnecessarily foolish.

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
If we're talking about cycling, then the Madison is pretty nuts as well. Riders taking sling-shots off their teammate seems unnecessarily foolish.

Wash your mouth out! If it was unnecessary then nobody would be doing it, given it's not a compulsory part of the Madison. But they do keep doing it, because a big sling can be a big advantage coming just before contesting a sprint lap or when trying to break off the front of the pack.

A good hand-sling is a great example of an advanced tactic that can be an important winning move but also carries the risk of failure. Diving for a catch, an overhead scissor kick or a risky tennis shot aimed right for the corner of the court are other examples of the same thing.

Interestingly, the Madison is the only regular track cycling event which is contested at elite level by only the men. Cycling Australia held the first ever Madison for women cyclists as an exhibition race late last year, most of the ladies have never trained for it (not being a regular event ... yet) so they mostly just tagged each other or went for the middle option of a less effective push on the incoming rider's butt as they went past.

Had the Russians gotten this move right on the second lap of 200 at the last World Championships, they could well have been in position to shake up the race right from the outset. As it was, they instead had the replay posted on YouTube [Snigger]

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Stupidest *recent* thing in sport must have been Alistair Cook's decision to ask New Zealand to bat first in the current Test match.

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

I've always thought that the polished boards of a velodrome look really slippery. Looking at how that rider's back wheel stepped out on him I guess they really are!

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
I've always thought that the polished boards of a velodrome look really slippery. Looking at how that rider's back wheel stepped out on him I guess they really are!

Not particularly, it slipped because it was lifted off the surface by the front wheel digging in after being turned to one side while moving at high speed.

With the nice sticky tyres you get on a track bike there is no shortage of grip unless the track is very dusty from lack of use or cleaning, and that would not have been the case at the Track World Championships.

If you haven't ever ridden on a velodrome, it's a lot of fun. Most velodromes will have "come and try" sessions run by the local clubs on a regular basis where they'll get you on a hire bike with toe straps so you don't even need cycling shoes. I've done a couple at the Adelaide SuperDrome (the home of our national team) which were great fun. I'm sure the nearest city to you with a velodrome (London? Manchester?) would have programs like that available, especially Manchester where there will always be somebody from the national team staff keeping an eye out to see if you have some previously undiscovered talent they can nurture [Biased]

[ 25. March 2013, 15:53: Message edited by: the giant cheeseburger ]

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:

If you haven't ever ridden on a velodrome, it's a lot of fun. Most velodromes will have "come and try" sessions run by the local clubs on a regular basis where they'll get you on a hire bike with toe straps so you don't even need cycling shoes. I've done a couple at the Adelaide SuperDrome (the home of our national team) which were great fun. I'm sure the nearest city to you with a velodrome (London? Manchester?) would have programs like that available, especially Manchester where there will always be somebody from the national team staff keeping an eye out to see if you have some previously undiscovered talent they can nurture

There's even an international standard velodrome here in Newport!

Bugger all else mind. It's quite a way from the centre of town and the railway station, but beginners can hire bikes and helmets.

Sioni, doing his bit for Nooport.

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
...it slipped because it was lifted off the surface by the front wheel digging in after being turned to one side while moving at high speed.

Ah, okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

quote:
Originally posted by the giant cheeseburger:
Most velodromes will have "come and try" sessions run by the local clubs on a regular basis ... I'm sure the nearest city to you with a velodrome (London? Manchester?) would have programs like that available...

Well, given that I've lived in Washington, DC for the last few years (and Canada before that!) I hope there's one a bit closer. I honestly have no idea where though. Might be fun.

But if I'm really honest, I'd rather make the trip to Dover International Speedway, or Richmond VA to watch the rednecks and their stock cars. [Biased]

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
Well, given that I've lived in Washington, DC for the last few years (and Canada before that!) I hope there's one a bit closer. I honestly have no idea where though. Might be fun.

Trexlertown, PA. Seriously. They were planning to build one here—or, really, move it from Chicago—but it was kind of a fly-by-night operation anyway, more wishful thinking and put-up-a-website fundraising than actual work.

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :

Fighting in hockey. If you to know about it, here's a pretty typical example, unusual except for the number of players involved.

Posted by Grits (# 4169) on :

Makes for great jokes, though: "I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out."

I glanced through the thread, and I don't see that anyone's mention mixed martial arts. I think it looks stupid, and I'd think one would have to be just a bit stupid to participate.

Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :

And if you weren't stupid, you would be after getting kicked in the head a few times.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Timothy the Obscure:
And if you weren't stupid, you would be after getting kicked in the head a few times.

Never mind the relationship between Hocky and fisticuffs, have you heard of the "ninety-nine" call used by the British Lions Rugby team on their 1974 tour to South Africa? In those days the host authorities provided the referees and they did nothing to prevent or stop foul play by home players, so the Lions captain (All Hail Willie John McBride) gave the instruction that if any player was hit or threatened he only needed to call "ninety-nine!" and all his teammates would lay into all the opposition, causing a 30-man scrapfight! The theory was that no ref could sent everyone off, so he would send no-one off. It worked and cut down the violence too, but who on earth thought that non-neutral referees was a good idea, especially in a rugby-mad nation?

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :

quote:
Originally posted by comet:
baseball: designated hitter!

Have I ever told you I love you, comet?

Apart from the DH, which is clearly the final word on any thread like this for all right-thinking people, I'd also like to nominate the current state of rugby scrums. As ways of restarting the game go, a couple of minutes of adjusting and grunting followed by a randomly assigned penalty don't seem ideal.

And to slightly subvert the thread, I'd like to nominate Plaxico Burress. Crazy name, crazy honourable mention in the Darwin Awards.

Posted by Caissa (# 16710) on :

The DH rule makes watching baseball tolerable. The NL will eventually adopt it. The sight of pitchers flailing away in the batter's box is farcical.

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
The DH rule makes watching baseball tolerable. The NL will eventually adopt it. The sight of pitchers flailing away in the batter's box is farcical.

Vile heretick!

It's a fundamental principle of the game that the same nine players are expected to both bat and field, and it affords a much richer game than the picking and choosing of a DH. Whether the pitcher bats or not is less relevant to my mind than whether the DH fields, although it comes to the same thing. Players can be more skilled in one area or another, but they must all play their part in both the top and bottom of the game. I don't want batters who can't field and don't have to.

It's more interesting and strategic when there's a question of how to manage a notably weak link in the batting lineup (and in some cases, this would be a harsh description). When do you make the double switch? Do you order your pitcher to sac bunt, or do you trust him to hit? Your pitcher's been on fire, but the scores are level and he's up next with 2 out and bases loaded. Do you bring in a pinch hitter?

For people who prefer their baseball bland and unimaginative, the AL isn't going to drop the DH any time soon. The rest of us will carry on watching the stuff for grown-ups.

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

wow... I've never actually met anyone who supports the DH.

it's not about having a line-up of all winners. a team game is about different members having different strengths. and weaknesses. THAT is what I find enjoyable about watching the game.

to mangle a metaphor: too many rock stars spoil the soup.

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

quote:
Originally posted by comet:
to mangle a metaphor: too many rock stars spoil the soup.

Or to put it another way: not everyone can be the lead guitarist. [Biased]

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by comet:
baseball: designated hitter!

I know! I want so badly to love my Seattle Mariners but they're still using designated hitters, aren't they?! God, what a terrible idea!

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
The sight of pitchers flailing away in the batter's box is farcical.

Funnily enough, it's not so many days since the
equivalent of a picher flailing away in the batter's box created a nail-biting finish to a series hat was utterly unlike all predictions.

AG

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

quote:
Originally posted by The Great Gumby:

quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
The DH rule makes watching baseball tolerable. The NL will eventually adopt it. The sight of pitchers flailing away in the batter's box is farcical.
Vile heretick!

It's a fundamental principle of the game that the same nine players are expected to both bat and field, and it affords a much richer game than the picking and choosing of a DH...

In church league back in the 90s, I couldn't pitch, couldn't run, couldn't field and was marginal as catcher, but I was always good for a single and sometimes managed to get home. I would have relished the position of DH as I would not have needed to borrow a glove!

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
The sight of pitchers flailing away in the batter's box is farcical.

I've decided after watching less than a whole lot of baseball, that the sight of some superannuated, lard-arse waddling out to bat with a fair chance of popping his clogs if he runs a triple is pretty absurd too.

Why can't pitchers learn to bat?

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

Most pitchers, when young, are among the best general athletes on their teams. But somewhere along the line as they get older, coaches decide that skilled pitching is so critical to the team that they don't want their pitchers to waste a moment or a neuron on anything but pitching and fielding during practice. So their batting skills don't keep up with the pitching skills of their opponents.

I like pitchers batting. There is always that moment when I wonder "Is he gonna surprise us this time?" And sometimes he does. [Cool]

Posted by basso (# 4228) on :

Walter Johnson was an excellent hitter - batted .400 one year.

But if they're too good, pitchers tend to get made daily players. Babe Ruth is the classic example, but Lefty O'Doul remade himself as a power hitter after his pitching career went downhill.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

I have to say that I have a hard time taking racewalking seriously.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

quote:
Originally posted by basso:
Walter Johnson was an excellent hitter - batted .400 one year.

But if they're too good, pitchers tend to get made daily players. Babe Ruth is the classic example, but Lefty O'Doul remade himself as a power hitter after his pitching career went downhill.

No need to go far into the past. Rick Ankiel was a Major League pitcher for 4 or 5 years (2000-2004) and then reinvented himself as an outfielder and is still a respectable batter today. Not great. Not a Babe Ruth. But he can hit.

There is no reason that every pitcher could not be a halfway decent batter. The concept that because somebody pitches they can't swing a bat effectively is just wrong.

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Fighting in hockey. If you to know about it, here's a pretty typical example, unusual except for the number of players involved.

LOL! Here's a good site that has the videos for all the fights and has rating for them. Here's easily the best fight of last season from the AHL.

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Grits:
I glanced through the thread, and I don't see that anyone's mention mixed martial arts. I think it looks stupid, and I'd think one would have to be just a bit stupid to participate.

OI! I have a few MMA trophies under my belt (NHB Ground & Pound type events mainly). If you like fighting then there is no finer test than fighting people who train in lots of different Martial Arts. It certainly put my Karate/Kung Fu on a whole new footing as soon as I wasn't playing by the rules of one particular art.

As for stupid sports, Synchronised Swimming is my particular dislike. Not-quite-drowning while wearing rictus grins and plenty of leg and gusset flashing is not a sport.

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

A stupid sport (again, is it really a sport?), that thing in the gymnastics where a girl prances about waving a ribbon or throwing a ball about. What's all that about?

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
A stupid sport (again, is it really a sport?), that thing in the gymnastics where a girl prances about waving a ribbon or throwing a ball about. What's all that about?

Its about the large number of men who watch sport on TV getting to see fit young gitls in tight clothes. You can fill in the rest yourself.

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:

quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
A stupid sport (again, is it really a sport?), that thing in the gymnastics where a girl prances about waving a ribbon or throwing a ball about. What's all that about?
Its about the large number of men who watch sport on TV getting to see fit young gitls in tight clothes. You can fill in the rest yourself.

Yeah, but aren't they all about thirteen or fourteen?

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

I think that's kinda ken's point.

But let's move the thread gently away from accusations of impropriety, shall we?

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

quote:
Grits: I glanced through the thread, and I don't see that anyone's mention mixed martial arts. I think it looks stupid, and I'd think one would have to be just a bit stupid to participate.

(It's probably not a very good idea to say this out loud to someone who practices MMA [Biased]

)

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

Unless of course you're confident that could take them using one unmixed martial art.

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Fighting in hockey. If you to know about it, here's a pretty typical example, unusual except for the number of players involved.

Oh, but the fighting in hockey is so much fun to watch! I love when grown men beat each other to a pulp for a stupid sporting match!

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

quote:
Originally posted by The5thMary:

quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Fighting in hockey. If you to know about it, here's a pretty typical example, unusual except for the number of players involved.
Oh, but the fighting in hockey is so much fun to watch! I love when grown men beat each other to a pulp for a stupid sporting match!

It is great. Usually you'll see a couple of guys throw their gloves off once in a match. In European hockey that's not allowed though.

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

Strictly speaking, it's not allowed in North American hockey either in the sense that you get an automatic five minute penalty for doing it.

I have to say that I frequently find fights in hockey somewhat unsatisfying. The one linked to above was rare in the sense that both guys actually managed to land meaningful blows on the other. Most of the time, they just grapple with each other's shirts and all over.

(But the sight of one guy landing punches on the other guy's helmet is always amusing.)

I don't remember if this has been mentioned already, but another completely pointless thing in sports is the existence of UEFA's behind-the-goal line officials in Champions' League and Europa League matches. What, exactly, do they do?

Posted by EtymologicalEvangelical (# 15091) on :

The most stoopid thing in sport has got to be some of the complex rules governing rugby union, such as when a player with about five 19 stone blocks of human concrete pinning him to the ground, gets a penalty for "not rolling away".

FFS!

[ 11. April 2013, 16:28: Message edited by: EtymologicalEvangelical ]

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

Speaking of rugby union, when I was at school I played a bit and the rule then was that you had to release the ball immediately when hitting the ground, but watching the Five Nations the referees don't seem to apply this rule rather loosely.

Posted by Ad Orientem (# 17574) on :

Football. An addition to the offside rule. For quite a while now if a player is in an offside position but not involved with the play offside is not called. I think this rule is stupid. For instance, where do the referees draw the line? And even if an offside player is not directly involve din the play, surely a defender still has to be aware of him etc. which means he could be drawing defenders away from the play without being penalised for being offside.

I dislike this addition and find it stupid.

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
Speaking of rugby union, when I was at school I played a bit and the rule then was that you had to release the ball immediately when hitting the ground, but watching the Five Nations the referees don't seem to apply this rule rather loosely.

I've only watched badly played rugby, so I assume it is less of an issue in the real game, but the knock on rule, while necessary, always seemed to defeat the argument that rugby is a free flowing sport. In high school matches, it seems like you are constantly stopping for knock on whistles.

Re: the DH, ESPN is running a story about how it will inevitably make its way into the NL. Why? First, the move to 15 team leagues means that there will be inter-league play throughout the season, and at some point this September, an AL team in a pennant race is going to have to play three games on the road with its pitchers batting, which is going to drive the fans and managers nuts. Second, NL teams are losing batters to the AL, because an AL team can offer a longer term deal, knowing that they can use an Albert Pujols as a DH long after he can't play first base any more. So uniformity is on its way, and the player's union would probably prefer creating 15 new jobs rather than destroying 15 old jobs.

[Frown]

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
Re: the DH, ESPN is running a story about how it will inevitably make its way into the NL. Why? First, the move to 15 team leagues means that there will be inter-league play throughout the season, and at some point this September, an AL team in a pennant race is going to have to play three games on the road with its pitchers batting, which is going to drive the fans and managers nuts. Second, NL teams are losing batters to the AL, because an AL team can offer a longer term deal, knowing that they can use an Albert Pujols as a DH long after he can't play first base any more. So uniformity is on its way, and the player's union would probably prefer creating 15 new jobs rather than destroying 15 old jobs.

ESPN must be hard up for new news because that is the same basic argument that has been raised practically since the start of the DH. At first it was the fact that the fans wouldn't stand for AL pitchers having to hit in playoff games and so the NL will crumble. Then, when interleague play started, it was that AL fans would not stand for it during the season either. Now that there is (essentially) one interleague game per day, the same argument is coming up. It is nothing new.

And they are right that the players union wants more DH because the players union has a lot of old players who are liabilities in the field but who still want to make money. What this argument forgets is that it is the team owners that would need to agree to the change--and AL team owners have long regretted creating yet another highly paid player spot on the roster. For the NL to change, NL owners will have to be convinced to spend more money. That's gonna take a lot of convincing.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
Speaking of rugby union, when I was at school I played a bit and the rule then was that you had to release the ball immediately when hitting the ground, but watching the Five Nations the referees don't seem to apply this rule rather loosely.

Each season this seems to vary and early in the season (the northern hemisphere autumn) it was more strictly applied than in the NH spring. I think some conversations were had at referees unions Xmas dinners. There, now I've told you where rugby law decisions are made.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:

I don't remember if this has been mentioned already, but another completely pointless thing in sports is the existence of UEFA's behind-the-goal line officials in Champions' League and Europa League matches. What, exactly, do they do?

Nothing for the games they have been employed in - I don't think I've seen one assist the referee yet and one had to admit that "The goalpost got in the way"!

What they have done is hasten the introduction of electronic goal-line aids.

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:

quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:

I don't remember if this has been mentioned already, but another completely pointless thing in sports is the existence of UEFA's behind-the-goal line officials in Champions' League and Europa League matches. What, exactly, do they do?
Nothing for the games they have been employed in - I don't think I've seen one assist the referee yet and one had to admit that "The goalpost got in the way"!

What they have done is hasten the introduction of electronic goal-line aids.

Not true. I've seen a couple of difficult calls (I forget the games, because all these European games merge into one) which were made thanks to the goal-line official. Even then, you might not notice at first, because they don't run up and down with a flag or anything like that, but speak into their microphones to tell the referee what's going on. The commentators picked up on these incidents, and revised their knee-jerk opposition to them almost on the spot.

Calling them goal-line officials is a bit misleading, as if they're just standing there to see if the ball crossed the line. The more important reason for them to be there is to be close to the site of any incidents around the penalty area, while seeing it from the opposite side to the referee, so the chance of anything being missed because he was unsighted are massively reduced. It's a significant investment of effort for indeterminate benefit, but they're not useless.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

Birmingham vs Millwall the other week there was a discussion for nearly four minutes between the ref, the lineo, and the mysterious Fourth Man about whether or not the ball had gone over the line, if so who put it there, and if so was he offside. Each took a different position and the referee changed his mind twice - first it wasn;t a goal, then a goal had been scored, and then it wasn;t again.

Posted by the giant cheeseburger (# 10942) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Birmingham vs Millwall the other week there was a discussion for nearly four minutes between the ref, the lineo, and the mysterious Fourth Man about whether or not the ball had gone over the line, if so who put it there, and if so was he offside. Each took a different position and the referee changed his mind twice - first it wasn;t a goal, then a goal had been scored, and then it wasn;t again.

A referee with access to TV replays would have had the whole thing sorted out in pretty quick order. They've even worked that out in Rugby League!

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Joey Barton

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

That's a really good shout.

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

...but not good enough.

Charlie George of Arsenal in the 1970s.

His post-match interviews made Joey Barton look like Wittgenstein. [Killing me]

Posted by Mere Nick (# 11827) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Caissa:
The DH rule makes watching baseball tolerable. The NL will eventually adopt it. The sight of pitchers flailing away in the batter's box is farcical.

Tim Hudson hit a double and went yard last night. They get paid plenty enough to show up and take bp, it seems to me.

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

Fencing right of way rules.

It's nice to know that in the bad old days a sword thrust only killed you if your opponent had priority...

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Fencing right of way rules.

It's nice to know that in the bad old days a sword thrust only killed you if your opponent had priority...

It isn't much different from the way the Queensbury rules regulates boxing. It's so unfair not being able to kick your opponent in the cobblers.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Definitely stupid, but does the PFA or Reginald D. Hunter take the prize?

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :

Undoubtedly the PFA. It takes about three microseconds to google or youtube Hunter and find out that talking about race is his entire schtick.

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

Mahmood Al Zarooni - how on earth did he think he'd get away with doping virtually an entire string of racehorses?

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0