Prospector Sam - The Best Rule in Every Sport

The Prospector is here to break down a host of major sports, pulling out the best rules from football, basketball, hockey and more!

Today, I’m going to take a step back from the nitty gritty of gambling and go big picture. Despite my scatter brain and impulsive need to discuss every shiny sports object that crosses my path, I do have the ability to think about things broadly when I want to.

And, every once in a while, I get a spark that takes my writing in that direction, which is why we have arrived here today. It all happened while watching a video clip of two hockey players before an NHL game, pretty clearly discussing their plan to fight as soon as the game started. It was at that moment that I thought “wow, what a wild sport. You can actually stop playing hockey mid-game just to have two thugs take part in a quasi-MMA match while also trying to balance on ice.”

From that seed grew the inspiration for this article, when I realized that it’s absolutely wild for the NHL to still allow fighting, but that’s its also fucking awesome. In my opinion, its one of the coolest rules in sports, which got me thinking; what would you say is the best rule in every major sport?

The word “rule” doesn’t generally have a positive connotation. Every time you hear it, it makes you think of annoying red tape and boundaries to the way you live your life. Rules can be formal, like the government telling me I’m not allowed to drive 100 on the highway even though its my god given right, or rules can be social, like society telling me that it “isn’t appropriate” to start drinking at noon on Tuesday.

Similarly, rules don’t usually have a good rap in sports. Every fan can bitch about the shitty rule that screwed their team over, or all the bad rules in sports that slow the game down. Basically, despite the fact that we all know they’re necessary, rules are generally viewed as bad.

But maybe we need to take a moment to appreciate certain rules that are actually great for their sport. While most tend to be benign, every sport has a certain number of rules that are very noticeable and important, in ways that can, at their best, be a huge benefit. And, of those, every sport undoubtedly has a rule that doesn’t seem obvious (at least, as part of the game being played) but makes things way better.

So here I am, asking us to all take a moment to appreciate rules that have a positive impact, because we spend so much time complaining when they don’t. Here is my homage to the best rule in every sport (every sports worth discussing, at least. I don’t give a damn about your love of curling):

Hockey 🏒

Fights

I teed this one up at the start of the piece, so I figure I may as well start here. The fact that fights exist in hockey isn’t all that crazy, at least as a general idea. It’s a violent sport filled, to be diplomatic, less than intelligent humans (actually, that notion only applies to the men of the sport, since the women seem to be a much more respectable class of individual). So the fact that, when people started playing hockey, there would be fights that broke out mid-game isn’t surprising. But, as with everything in the world, hockey evolved and now players get paid millions of dollars to move a little rubber cylinder around the ice and try to hit it into a small net guarded by a padded person with a glove. And yet, somehow, the idea that hockey shouldn’t allow the entire game to stop for two players to try to beat each other’s face in hasn’t ever taken hold.

And thank god it hasn’t. Hockey as a sport, and the fans that watch it, tend to be their own breed. It generally attracts a more blue-collar type of fan, and I’ll be the first to say that you may find no better place to watch a live game than the upper deck of a hockey arena. And, along with that idea of not adjusting to societal norms and reasonable thought, hockey said “fuck it” and never got rid of mid game fights. As a practical matter, its fairly stupid that they are allowed. Fights pause the actual game, and the only mildly acceptable reasons for keeping them are that (1) they can be used to motivate the team and (2) fans just love watching them. Its not a coincidence that we don’t allow fighting in other sports, and that kind of conduct actually gets you kicked out of a game in any other professional league in America. But turn on a hockey game, and there’s still a chance you see two meatheads swinging wildly at each other while also trying to pull each others shirts over their heads.

That uniqueness, and the pure existence of these fights, is why they’re so damn great. It’s a crazy rule that probably should have died out a long time ago, but its stuck for long enough that nobody even considers getting rid of it any more. And, while fights dont really do a lot for the actual game being played, they’re undoubtedly still a fun spectacle to watch every time they do happen. So thank you, hockey, for sticking to who you really are and keeping fighting alive. Most others would have caved to modern society and pulled live displays of men punching each other mid-game out of the rulebook and into the suspension list. But not hockey, and we’re all the better for it.

Baseball ⚾

Design Your Battle Field

Baseball doesn’t have a ton going for it these days. The game has pretty clearly modernized in ways that are awful for the viewing experience and pace of the game, and it's killing the sport slowly like a python sucking the life out of some helpless rodent. But, despite baseball’s myriad of problems, the sport still holds a priceless gem in the form of unique field design for each team. In almost every sport you watch, the most basic tenant is that at least the field is exactly the same wherever you go. Imagine a football team being able to design their own field size or a basketball team changing the height of the hoop. It seems crazy. But in baseball, aside from the size of the infield, pretty much anything else is fair game. You have high walls, short fences, and we even used to have an MLB park with a hill in center field until people complained about it too much.

Now, quite honestly, I wish teams used that power a little more than they actually do. I know that stadiums are designed with one field shape in mind, but how cool would it be if teams adjusted the height of their fence or how deep it was based on the opponent they were facing. About to go up against a team of lefty sluggers? Well, lets move that right field wall back 50 feet and see how they like it. I understand that might be a bit of a stretch, but on a more basic level, it would be cool if teams took the ability to get creative and actually used it. Aside from a few features like the Green Monster, the Wrigley Ivy, and the now-dead Astros Center Field Hill (RIP), its hard to think of all that many interesting and unique choices at ballparks. It would be great if teams thought outside the box and tried some new ideas, because having the power to make that choice is really cool.

But, despite the fact that it isn’t used all that well, giving teams the ability design their field differently is a really cool rule in itself. It may not be surprising that baseball people, most of whom wish we were back in the 1920s, aren’t willing to think outside the box, but when I get rich and buy my MLB franchise you bet your ass there are going to be some changes to whatever poor team gets stuck with me.

Cricket 🏏

Let Me figure Out the Rules First

To be honest, Cricket seems like an awesome sport. Full on running starts for pitchers and exploding wickets and bats that look they were designed to kill people rather than hit balls. But I’m also from America, and I have not one clue how to play or, more importantly, how to win a cricket match. All I’ve figured out as of now is that you want to hit the ball in a place it doesn’t get caught. So I’ll leave this one as TBD.

Football 🏈

College Overtime

Making a selection for football was hard, mostly because it actually has very few cool rules. Maybe that’s a testament to how good the sport is in itself, because it doesn’t need any weird or gimmicky ideas to make it more interesting then it already is. But it was also kind of surprising that I couldn’t think of even one damn rule that seemed to fit here. That didn’t stop me, though, and I flexed my brain muscles hard (I have a super strong brain, as I’m sure you already knew) until I got creative and remembered the one rule I’ve been advocating for for a long time; College football overtime.

College football’s overtime really is perfect. The NFL has struggled for decades with their current format, mostly because its so heavily influenced by a fucking coin flip. Sure, they added in the rule that gives the opposing team a chance if the team who starts with the ball only kicks a field goal, but the entire course of overtime is set based on who can guess heads or tails. Meanwhile, college said to hell with that and created about the fairest and most fun option possible. Both teams get a chance to score, from the same short distance, and if they tie we do it all again until one team wins. Sometimes simplicity can be brilliant, and this rule is Nobel Prize worthy. Sure, it cuts out certain meaningful aspects of football like special teams and field position. But guess what? Its overtime, the whole point is that the regular game didn’t settle things so we need a quick solution to determine a winner.

So while not everyone in football is smart enough to use it, I am giving a tip of the cap to the NCAA (who don’t have a lot going for them right now, and probably need it) for their overtime rule. It makes perfect sense and is damn fun to watch.

Soccer ⚽

Card System

This pick isn’t going to be all that interesting or surprising. The card system is a unique rule that’s pretty widely acknowledged, good or bad, for its significance in the sport. You can watch any number of skits online pretending what it would be like if the card system was used in other places in sports or life. So, I’m not dropping any major headlines or being all that creative with this one. But, in all seriousness, it’s a pretty damn good rule.

If you want to know why, just look at every other sport. Know what happens when a player gets thrown out of a game in any other team sport on this list? The player leaves, and the team trots out someone to fill their spot on the field/court/ice. Other than the fact that you might be losing an important player, its not all that painful. Soccer said to hell with that, and figured that, if you lost a player, it didn’t make sense that you should just be able to replace them like nothing happened. Sure, a red card changes a game dramatically and can kill a team’s chances by forcing them to play a man down for the rest of the way; But that’s the damn point.

Imagine if you had to play with four guys after someone fouled out in basketball (the sport where players most commonly get thrown out). That would completely shift the dynamic, and players would have to be way more careful about how and when they foul because the stakes become much higher. In soccer, the strategy surrounding the game is heavily influenced by that reality, and you see tons of decisions intended to ensure that you don’t end up playing down a man.

But it’s a great rule because it relies on one simple, meaningful premise – If you do something stupid enough to get sent off (which is a fairly high bar), then you have to suffer the consequences of your stupidity. It may not always be great for gameplay when there’s a red card, but it’s a creative and significant way to force players not to be reckless or mess up the flow of the game by making dangerous or unnecessary fouls. As a soccer fan, I may be slightly biased on this one, but I think it’s a fantastic rule.

Basketball 🏀

Charge

This is probably going to be the most controversial item on my list. The charge rule, and pretty much every foul in basketball, is an absolute clusterfuck. Refs don’t call it consistently, which is a huge problem, but that’s pretty much just a reflection of the fact that refs are human. Every sport is plagued by issues with refs, so the rule itself isn’t entirely to blame for their failure. And, despite those shortcomings, the charge rule also has a lot of value and makes the game more interesting, even if it does have limitations. I understand you might think I’m a fool (which is probably true, to be fair) for this take, but just hear me out.

The charge creates some of the most memorable and soul crushing moments in basketball. There is a massive, 6 foot 7 man screaming down the lane about to throw down a tomahawk dunk, and poor little Jimmy, the second string point guard who barely made a D1 roster, has to decide if he’s got the balls to sit there and get plowed over for a foul. On top of that, he has to do it right, or he risks giving up a foul himself and looking like a damn fool by getting posterized. It creates the ultimate risk-reward scenario, while also giving players a chance to defend when they’re completely undersized.

Call me a sucker for flashy moments, but I think it creates a lot of excitement by forcing players to think quickly and to willingly sacrifice their body for the team. The charge rule might not be perfect, and it sucks when an amazing dunk is overturned by a charging call, but I think it’s a pretty fair and interesting way to stop guys from just running head first through people who are smaller than them. Would it be better if it was called a little bit less and if refs were a little more consistent? Sure, that would definitely be nice. A rule is only good if it can be used appropriately, and this one definitely isn’t called perfect. But its still a great idea and pretty well implemented overall, so I’ll let it slide in spite of the deficiencies.

Golf ⛳

Self Policing

I went back and forth for a while on this one. Golf’s most obvious and significant rule is that players are supposed to follow the rules without anyone forcing them to. Its about the spirit of the game and respect for your competitors, and, as an idea, its pretty cool to think that players have the decency to not cheat even without anyone watching them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. These days, players will still call over an official for a second opinion on almost anything that requires a ruling, and there have been players over the years who have been notorious for cheating (looking at you Vijay, people don’t forget).

But the purist in me likes the idea, both because it seems honorable (for whatever that’s worth) and because of the issues with refereeing I’ve already mentioned. I don’t necessarily blame refs, but they’re human which means they’re prone to inconsistency and mistakes all over the place. As the common trope goes, the best ref is one you don’t notice. And so, while they may be necessary at times, the less refereeing involved in sports the better. For that reason, golf’s commitment to self policing gets a golf clap for the effort, and I respect players who are able to punish themselves for rule violations even when they know nobody would ever have noticed there was one.

Tennis 🎾

None

Tennis is the worst. I don’t commend tennis for anything, ever.

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