What is the worst rule in sports?

[Coach25]

What would you say is the worst rule in all of sports? This could get interesting…

 

[B1GTide]

Targeting - not because the rule isn't needed, but because it is impossible to fairly administer.

 

[Bama_N_Va]

On the field - Officials using picture books to see if a penalty occurred....

Off the field - Officials using picture books to learn what a penalty is....

 

[CrimsonBloodn62]

Allowing the QB to throw the ball away when out of the pocket instead of taking the sack. Patrick Mahones has that play mastered.

 

[colbysullivan]

The Supreme Court NIL rule…

 

[bamamc1]

The Supreme Court NIL rule…

We have a winner.

 

[Cruloc]

The Supreme Court NIL rule…

Welcome back.

NIL is indeed the worst, it has ruined everything it has touched.

 

[B1GTide]

NIL is not a rule.

 

[Bluegrasstide]

Targeting.

 

[Cruloc]

NIL is not a rule.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

VAR in soccer. I hate it. Idk if it really counts as a rule but I stand by it.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

Most NIL rules were set by State Legislatures after the Supreme Court ruling.

Tracker: Name, Image and Likeness Legislation by State

We are tracking name, image and likeness legislation state-by-state.

businessofcollegesports.com

Targeting is the worst rule!

 

[2003TIDE]

3yd downfield rule for college ball is terrible. They really need to work harder to sync up rules with NFL

 

[TexasBama]

The two-foot down rule on a catch in the NFL is perhaps the dumbest rule in all of sports.

 

[RammerJammer14]

Red card rules in Rugby. They are entirely too punishing and legalistic. Think targeting rule where a player gets ejected for a subjective hit, but you can’t replace him and so have to play a man down the entire rest of the game. Red card ejections often involve contact to the head or neck area, but there is no real concept of a “defenseless player” or intent, so players have their full speed tackles analyzed in super slow motion and the ref makes a judgement call on if maybe he could have tackled the ball carrier slightly differently. The ref usually decides that yes, the player should have been able to control all aspects of the tackle at full speed and the guy gets ejected. It often renders entire games uncompetitive or drastically changes the outcome. Some examples:

Italy reduced to 13 players vs 15 because a guy got a red card while making a tackle, but he was also the replacement for a guy who got injured and they had no more qualified subs, so they lost 2 guys for one tackle.

This is the Rugby World Cup final from October, New Zealand vs South Africa. 1/3 of the way into the game, the NZ team captain got a red card for a high tackle in which the runner basically turned and ducked into his arm as he tried to wrap up. NZ had to play the last 2/3rds of the game a man short and without their captain, and lost the game 11-12. Again, this was for the World Champion title. Outcome influenced by some dweeb sitting in a room of TV monitors reviewing a tackle in super slow motion and deciding he knew what the player could have done differently (This one gets me a little heated because it’s my team).

Again in the World Cup (pool play), Curry for England gets ejected from the game only 3min in due to basically incidental head on head contact with the ball carrier (first 40sec of the video). England played 76min with a man down, but did manage to win by playing keep away. As an aside, I was at this game and it was pretty fun. Never seen so many drop kicks in one game in my life.

A key point to notice in all of these is that it is the replay guy (the “TMO”), not the ref on the field, making the calls well after the fact, and they then bring the play back. Think the replay guys calling down to the on field refs in football to reset the game several downs prior for some penalty that they saw in slow motion replay.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I nominate the rule in football where a fumble through the end zone results in a touchback and possession for the non-fumbling team on their own 20.

We’ve been the beneficiary of the rule (Tennessee Rocky Stop) and the victim (the barn in 2010, and the BC game in Boston in 83. And an LSU game early in Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa).

Regardless: If a player fumbles, and the loose ball crosses the goal line, then subsequently goes out of bounds through the sideline or back of the end zone, still unpossessed by either team, it should be the fumbling team’s ball at the point of the fumble.

The current rule is just too punitive. So sez me.

 

[HighlandOak]

NIL is not a rule.

Correct . . . even though I hate it.

 

[HighlandOak]

I'm not sure what the exact rule is, but it's that the punting team has to have possession of the ball before it goes into the end zone to down it, as opposed to just touching it . . . which seems to result in a dead ball everywhere else on the field.

 

[bamafaninbham]

I nominate the rule in football where a fumble through the end zone results in a touchback and possession for the non-fumbling team on their own 20.

We’ve been the beneficiary of the rule (Tennessee Rocky Stop) and the victim (the barn in 2010, and the BC game in Boston in 83. And an LSU game early in Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa).

Regardless: If a player fumbles, and the loose ball crosses the goal line, then subsequently goes out of bounds through the sideline or back of the end zone, still unpossessed by either team, it should be the fumbling team’s ball at the point of the fumble.

The current rule is just too punitive. So sez me.

This gets my vote in football.

In baseball it's the grounds rule double where a player that obviously would have scored running from 1st or second if the ball would have stayed in play is sent back to 3rd base.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I nominate the rule in football where a fumble through the end zone results in a touchback and possession for the non-fumbling team on their own 20.

We’ve been the beneficiary of the rule (Tennessee Rocky Stop) and the victim (the barn in 2010, and the BC game in Boston in 83. And an LSU game early in Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa).

Regardless: If a player fumbles, and the loose ball crosses the goal line, then subsequently goes out of bounds through the sideline or back of the end zone, still unpossessed by either team, it should be the fumbling team’s ball at the point of the fumble.

The current rule is just too punitive. So sez me.

It is a dumb rule. It kept the Chiefs from going up 2 scores early in the game last night